Need a little help to beat up some Explorers.

[Regelridderen]

My next League game is into Explorers in this :

Flank // Symbols of Authority

Hidden Martyrs // Death Beds // Outflank // Research Mission // Spread them out

I’m playing dirty Arcanists, but I have only had two encounters with Explorers, so I’m curious how you’d approach this?

[hydranixx]

*Obligatory "Get out of here you filthy Arcanist" comment *

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For me, that pool looks very, very open and pretty much any Master could handle it. I think it depends more on the board.

That said, with Death Beds + Research Mission in the same pool, it does encourage crews that generate easy Terrain Markers to some extent. Nexus, Jedza, or Ivan could easily go all in on that plan and aim to score big on the schemes. 

Probably best to bring an Arcanist keyword that can create and remove markers easily.

 

If it were me personally, knowing I'm against Arcanists, I'd lock in Anya. Depending who the Arcanist master is, I can either go Anya 1 to  manipulate movement and go for the death of a thousand cuts approach to overcome Armour, while running schemes of my own, or I can go Anya 2 with Treasure Map (for Deadly Pursuit) to deny Spread Them Out, Research Mission, and Death Beds, while relying on Winston to Scheme, Vernon & Welles/Sovereign to run the strat, and probably taking Hidden Martyrs on an Operative and one of our numerous 7-8ss keyword models.

[Regelridderen]

7 hours ago, hydranixx said:

*Obligatory "Get out of here you filthy Arcanist" comment *

*Riposte with snide and condescending remark on Explorer’s being Malifaux on easy mode 😏*

And thanks. I’ll look into it. I suspect my opponent will be bringing Maxine - he’s done so for the rest of the games.

[hydranixx]

17 hours ago, Regelridderen said:

*Riposte with snide and condescending remark on Explorer’s being Malifaux on easy mode 😏*

And thanks. I’ll look into it. I suspect my opponent will be bringing Maxine - he’s done so for the rest of the games.

A little less so now, since the nerf bat hit us for 6 

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If he does take Maxine, there's two things that specifically come to mind to me:

1) EVS has a lot of models that ignore Hazardous and a few that can also ignore terrain entirely with either Flight or Place effects. So, if you had hoped to rely on Pyre Markers via Kaeris 2, Hazardous Scrap Markers with Mei or Ice Pillars etc for value and scoring etc (which would be great in the pool for you), be mindful that EVS have a lot of options to play around that. Calypso in particular is a big problem, as it can not only ignore E V E R Y T H I N G terrain wise, but it can also remove all nearby Destructible Terrain with an action. 

2) If they decide to hire Kiya, you need to have a plan to neutralise her. She is very clunky, and not popular in general - but a 2/4/6 damage track with Irreducible, backed up by Focus and good cards, is still able to one or two shot almost anything in the game - so long as she doesn't receive a to the damage flip, at least. I know Arcanists lean on Shielded and Armour more than most factions, so that Irreducible really stings if you're not prepared. You could consider hiring more Soulstone users, models with Hard to Wound, or just put Soulstone Cache on your key Minion/Enforcer to get access to that on demand. 

[Regelridderen]

Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind @hydranixx 😊

I’ve devised a cunning plan - and like any good antagonist, I can’t deny a chance to monologue and reveal it all *Mu-ha-ha!*:

I plan to go with : Research Mission and Spread them out.

For this I choose :

Mr. Cooper and his Flying Monkeys

Coopers Flying Air Rapid Travel Service will get everyone in position, while dumping scheme markers all over the opposing table half, before you can say “Presto-Chango”.

Baritone Lola and Carlos Vasquez

A little known fact about the two hottest name in showbiz is that they’re brillianyt scientists as well. Ready to dump scheme and pyre markers while turning the opposition into corpse markers. Combine this with phenomenal speed and they’ll put on quite the pyrospectacle and score both the strategy and research mission

Coryphee Duet

The scariest scheme runner not to be alive.

Soulstone Miner

Not as useful as they used to be, but again it is a source of alternative terrain markers, soulstones and can grab distant symbols.

Joss

A budding star in showbiz. Like Lola and Vasquez, Joss has access to a third action/move, dumps scrap and corpses before him. Pyrotechnics may be a classic, but the hip, young crowd want something a little more Electric.

Soulstones : 5

-

The Strategy

I expect to be able to run circles around my opponent. While Cooper will do his worst presto-chango’ing opponents out of position, should they be able to cross the centreline. I imagine Joss to be doing the brunt of the fighting and distract my opponent, supported by focused Breath of Flame from the other henchmen as needed.

I do consider dumping the Miner for a magically trained Showgirl. They might not be popular, but they do offer some nice Distraction and utility via Lure and Celebrity. But I’m not sure the extra cards are worth it with three henchmen in the crew.

I also consider dumping Joss for Ferdinand Vogel. A little healing, a little shielded, a little anti-scheming and a ranged WP-attack.

[Regelridderen]

So in the end this was the crew :

Cooper + Monkeys

Baritone Lola and Vasquez

Coryphee Duet

Soulstone Miner

Vogel w. Soulstone Cache

And 5 stones. 

Against the EVS. 

First turn set up for a big scrum in the center. The treacherous Calypso-bot and the flying totem hit the flanks - but the totem was cut off by the Duet (lower left corner out of the image).

The center fight was mainly the fire breathers slowly whittling away at the opposing beaters Kira, The Emissary and the Water Golem thingy, Vogel got caught up in the fight. And Cooper was hanging back getting his crew in position. 

Score 0 - 0

Turn 2 is when things got started, of course. The duet killed off the totem scoring the EVS Hidden Martyr. While the other martyr Calypso scored the first Strat marker. Vogel got out of the center fight and scored me a Strat point. While in the center the EVS found themselves catching fire while being unable to hit anything - except for the Water Golem managing to throw Lola into a monkey, but to no effect. 

Score 1 - 2

Turn 3 the center started to clear. Although Kira refused to break, the Water Golem evaporated into steam, and Cooper buried the Emissary - big mistake. The second casualty of the day was a minion healer dude, scrambling to patch up a very Distracted Kira. And with Carlos setting up a pyre marker I had the means to score research mission.

Meanwhile Calypso was running rampant behind my lines, dumping scheme markers, while Maxine had a brush with death in the shape of Lola and ran off dumping even more scheme markers and scoring my opponent Spread them out. 

And away from all that the Coryphee and Vogel conspired to score the first point of Spread them out and the 2nd Strat marker. 

Score 4 - 3

Turn 4 was a mess. Calypso, the Emissary and Maxine caused havoc behind my lines. Calypso scored a Strat marker, so Cooper had to retreat to protect the third - my fourth was in the center. Her path to victory blocked Calypso turned around to go for the center Marker, but her path was soon blocked by the Soulstone Miner and a couple of monkeys. 

The henchmen continued their fight in the middle, while Vogel took yet another Strat marker and the duet scrambled to set up to take the final one in turn 5. 

Score 5 - 4

Turn 5 the EVS fought to get scheme markers down for a second Spread them out, but Cooper cheated Maxine and spoiled her effort. The monkeys and the Miner did their best to deny the second Hidden Martyr point, but only managed to scratch up Calypso. While the Henchmen finally took Kira down - although just for bragging rights. 

So with little effort I scored the final scheme and Strat points. 

Final score 8 - 5. 

And a really good game. The EVS is definitely a tricksy, and a deceptively fast yet tough crew.  I didn’t expect to be outmaneuvered, but I did 🤓

[Maniacal_cackle]

Those terrain walls are fantastic! Where did you get them, and do they come in shorter versions?

[SEV]

Great board! 

 

Good report too 😀

[Regelridderen]

10 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Those terrain walls are fantastic! Where did you get them, and do they come in shorter versions?

They were just my LGS terrain, felt like plaster or resin - and they seemed modular, but glued together. But yeah they did make for an interesting labyrinthine board. 😊

@SEV glad you enjoyed it. Makes it worthwhile.