Into the dojo : Part five - Elite vs. Performers

[Regelridderen]

So I wanted to get Lucius on the table, while dusting the saw dust off Cooper and his Flying Monkeys.

Schemes & Strategy 

Corrupted Ley Lines in Wedge deployment

Breakthrough, Catch and Release, Claim Jump, Spread them out, Detonate Charges

THE TABLE

A couple of bonfires and drifting clouds of smoke among ruins and a couple of dense forests.

TACTICS - LUCIUS

This was one for the Dishonorable. Plenty of terrain to jump around, changelings to juggle the ball, and then use Alan Reid and his Investigators to make a staggering ball of death.

Dishonorable w. The Scribe + 9 stones

Alan Reid - Claim Jump

2x Investigator

Guild Lawyer

False Witness - for Detonate Charges

2x Changelings

TACTICS - MR. COOPER

Simple, abuse the superior mobility and speed of the performers. Distract the lawyers with a good fight and dump a ton of scheme markers in their back field to score Spread then out and Breakthrough.

Mr. Cooper w. 3 Flying Monkeys and 6 stone

Baritone Lola

Carlos Vasquez

Coryphee Duet

Angelica Durand

Ferdinand Vogel

THE GAME

Round One the two forces started unpacking, Lucius forced the initiative on the performers who sent their monkeys up the field. The lawyer started a chain effect ordering the False Witness to make a False Claim, then having the two investigators examine the evidence, pushing themselves and Alan Reid into the center. Cooper sword tricked Alan into the ground, so Lucius tried engaging Cooper, but the circus master vanished in a puff of smoke. Other blows were exchanged, yet no blood were drawn, except for when the Coryphee Duet charged across the field and killed a poor scribe. Meanwhile Angelica and Vogel advanced on one flank, Vogel scoring a Ley Line, while a Changeling did the same across the field.

Score nil - nil

Round Two Cooper returned in the centre, pulsing out distracted and placing himself to stun Lucius and an Investigator. Meanwhile the False Witness and another Investigator killed off a Coryphee, avenging the poor Scibe. The two changelings scrambled to get the ball into the centre, while Vogel passed the ball to Angelica and went to join the scrum in the middle, where Carlos and Baritone Lola did their worst trying to set people on fire. Lucius got assisted off his Distraction, but the Stun really hit him and the Investigators hard. Not being able to pulse out Staggered put a damper on their damage output. Yet, still the amount of scheme markers secured the first Detonate Charges.

Score 2 - 1 (Both strategy points and Detonate Charges)

Round Three Again Cooper stole the initiative, and set up to neuter the Investigator, Reid and Lucius, but the little brave Changeling assisted them. While Lucius pumped all his energy into avoiding Stunning strikes, but to no avail, he only managed to put two wounds on Vogel using a full activation. Meanwhile Carlos had a good round, saving a red joker for flame breathing the guild lawyer, splasing damage on to a changeling, witness and investigator. And the three fought to stay alive through assists and shielded. At the end of the round, both investigators had died, along with a false witness, both changelings were down to one wound, and so were the lawyer, while Reid were below half, so unable to score the second Claim Jump point, and he hadn’t even scored the first. The performers lost their second Coryphee and the replacing Mannequin, while the first Mannequin and Angelica started dumping scheme markers, while Angelica moved towards her third objective.

Score 3 - 4 (Both strategy and Performers scored Breakthrough and Spread them out)

Round Four things were looking grim for the Elites, while the performers started to doubt, whether they were able to produce the 6 scheme markers and get the final two objectives. Lucius finally won initiative and through sheer luck, he seized the moment and used his claw and a lucky severe damage flip to rip out the heart of Cooper. While blocking LOS between Reid and Baritone Lola to score Claim Jump. Carlos and a suicide bombing Flying Monkey killed off the lawyer and a changeling and then ran off to scheme along with Angelica and the Mannequin, while the second changeling ran desperately with the ball towards a third strategy marker. 

Score 4 - 5 (Claim Jump and a third strat point)

Round Five Lucius messed up, scared that Lola would burn the changeling to a crisp, he killed the clown making it impossible to score the second Detonate Charges. Instead he then jumped to meet Angelica. He couldn’t touch her, but he made it impossible for her to scheme. While the changeling scored the third strat and Calos and the Mannequin collaborated on Breakthrough.

Final Score 5 - 6 (Strat and Breakthrough)

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AFTERMATH

A great game, after getting dominated by Cooper in turn 2 and 3, I didn’t imagine that the Elite stood a chance. The use of assist to rid models of Distracted and Burning was key to surviving. Cooper did play the better game, but was too ambitious about the amount of scheme markers he could get out, while Lucius underestimated the dangers of bundling up, between flame breath, exploding monkeys and Coopers Showstopper.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Angelica did amazing, she isn’t the most popular choice, but she was instrumental in scoring 5 out of 6 points. On the Lucius side it’s a toss-up between the two changeling, the False Witness and the Lawyer. The false witness distraction aura and handing out adversary was key to dealing with the coryphee. The changeling and lawyer in turn were key to keeping everyone alive.

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I’ve fallen in love with the combination of investigators/witness, but it just doesn’t work for me beyond the initial unpacking, and I never succeed in abusing the garotte/stagger combo. I think, I’ll have to look to the puppets to get some more staying power and a stable source of staggering.