First test game: Lilith vs. Lady J

[dboeren]

With us being in the middle of moving to a new house it's been hard to grab any gaming time lately, but last night I finally got to play a full test game to get myself more familiar with the rules, mechanics, and tactics...

A few errors were made, and it turns out that I forgot about the Death Marshall's Hard to Wound and Slow to Die all game which probably would have made them do a little better if I hadn't. I also had to share one deck between both sides but I don't think that should affect things too much.

Overall it was a pretty strong victory for Lilith and her Nephalim. Approaching behind her illusionary forest they were fairly safe from being shot up, and for the most part Fate was just on their side. At the end of the game, most of her models were fairly beat up but all three Terror Tots had grown into Young Nephalim and nothing was actually dead.

The tots started out charging some Death Marshalls and once a good scrum had formed on that flank Lilith joined in to help finish them off. Blood tokens were quickly used to Grow (I held onto some high masks to ensure this). Meanwhile, the Mature Nephalim proved himself to be a brute! He charged in and did 4 damage to Lady J, survived the return attacks from her and a nearby Death Marshall, beat on her some more, knocked her aside and got a free charge into another Death Marshall to finish him off which then provided the blood for another tot to Grow.

I used spells less than I'd expected, most of the time they seemed a little costly. Lilith cast forest once and considered transposition at one point but there was a lot of competition for those high mask cards and I thought growing was more important. Lady J's spells honestly just didn't seem that impressive. She just whacked stuff with her sword for the most part and tried to not get killed by the Mature Nephalim.

If I'd remembered the Death Marshall's special rules it would have been a closer game, and the Guild did suffer from some really bad flips. One example: Lady J was trying to dodge another hit from the Mature Nephalim. I only had one high card left, so she decided to cheat with a mid-value card that would trigger Riposte and use a soulstone to flip a second card. I needed at least a 5 to succeed and flipped a 2.

Anyway, the game flowed pretty well and I'm planning to try to get in another 1-2 games soon with some different Masters.

[Zee]

2 questions:

1. How did you manage with 1 deck? Didn't it seem like you were restricting the cards the other side would draw?

2. Who did you play?

[dboeren]

1. How did you manage with 1 deck? Didn't it seem like you were restricting the cards the other side would draw?

Both sides drew from the same deck. When it ran out, reshuffle and keep going as usual. There is a theoretical effect, if one side is currently holding the King of Rams then the other side cannot draw it. But you don't know ahead of time what cards each side will have so it's essentially random and I don't think favors either side. At no point did either side deliberately try to hold back a card of the other crew's main suit or anything like that to deliberately take advantage of this. Two decks would be preferred of course, I just only had one deck ready at the time.

2. Who did you play?

I played both sides. That's what I usually do when first learning a new game, to get all the rules set better in my head before trying to teach someone else. It's much easier to correct myself than to stop bad information once you pass it on to others and of course also the practice will make the demo game run smoother and therefore make a better impression on people you hope to convert.

[Kealios]

Just bust out a deck of Poker cards. They cost like $1 at any given Dollar store. Just mark the Jokers if they arent color coded already - and its never a bad thing having multiple decks around the house

[Zee]

Dbo, I don't think it's about the deliberate holding/withholding of cards, it's more to the line of drastically changing the odds for both decks due to the other draw. It would be similar to having the same 2 dice for both players, and they both have to roll simultaneously and keep them in play.

Are you free on Saturday? I'm expecting my boxes on Sat, so we'll see where that goes.

[dboeren]

That's what I plan on doing. We're in the middle of a move and although I have plenty of spare decks of poker cards they're mostly packed up in boxes somewhere. Just a very temporary problem that will soon pass.

Anyway, my first game was very impressive. I really liked the planning you can do when you KNOW you can "roll" a certain number such as when I intended to Grow a Nephalim. Sometimes you'll have to abandon your plan if you have a pressing need for that card to defend yourself in combat but at least you know the tradeoff you're making. It's a very good balance between determinism and randomness.

As soon as I can get some more games in I'm planning to order 3-4 boxes once I narrow down which Masters I want. Perhaps tonight I can try out Marcus vs. either Pandora or Zoraida.

[dboeren]

Dbo, I don't think it's about the deliberate holding/withholding of cards, it's more to the line of drastically changing the odds for both decks due to the other draw. It would be similar to having the same 2 dice for both players, and they both have to roll simultaneously and keep them in play.

I still don't think it changes the odds that much. I would never do it for normal games, but it's probably good enough for learning the rules which is where I'm at now.

Are you free on Saturday? I'm expecting my boxes on Sat, so we'll see where that goes.

I'll need to check on that. Which boxes are you getting?

[Zee]

'Tina and Doc Mourning. Also, there's WM tourney on Sunday. Grrr... you should come.