Rhubarb Games Escalation Battle Report

[Fedral]

December's Wrath

A rundown of the 15 SS fight between myself and Chris S in the first week of the Rhubarb Games Escalation League.

My Crew:

Rasputina

Ice Golem

December Acolyte

Opponent's Crew:

Pandora

Baby Kade

3 Sorrows

Rasputina rested her cheek against the icy back of her construct Sleet, as she observed the approaching enemy. The river had long been the unofficial border between Neverborn and December. If her spies were correct, the Neverborn planned an incursion today to destroy the farms and homes in the village of Rhadak. She had ordered the village evacuated as soon as she arrived. December was harsh mistress and did not tolerate the loss of her faithful.

She watched from behind the corner of the stone building closest to the pair of bridges and scanned the shrubs near the older wooden bridge. Although she could not see him, she knew that her bodyguard and sometime lover, Sergei was patiently waiting there for his opportunity to strike. A low, piercing wail that brought a spike a pain behind her eyes told her that the enemy had brought Sorrows with them. "Probably two or three." she thought, judging by the amount of pain she felt.

When the finally got close enough to see, she cursed and pounded her fist into Sleet's back as she recognized Pandora. "That blonde bitch!" she growled to herself. "I warned her what would happen if she crossed my path again." Pandora, flanked by a pair of Sorrows, arrogantly approached the far side of the great stone bridge as if she had nothing to fear. To her right, another Sorrow and the diminutive form of Baby Kade waded across the shallow river, between the two bridges. Rasputina gave Sleet a gentle push, propelling him forward as she advanced behind him. She hoped that her very appearance would make the contemptible Neverborn back away, but it was not to be.

Baby Kade emerged from the water, dragging his sodden, stuffed bear behind him. A moment later, the Sorrow glided effortlessly onto the dry riverbank, it's keening wail bringing a burning pain to Rasputina's head. Without warning, a large iron spike transfixed the chest of the Sorrow and it was dragged inexorably by an attached cable into a some nearby shrubs. Sergei appeared, as if from nowhere, and grabbed the head of the Sorrow, bending it backwards and finishing it off with his razor sharp blades

Rasputina advanced behind the huge form of her Golem. She gathered her power and flung it at the first Sorrow crossing the bridge. Ice and sleet swirled and cut into the body of the Sorrow and Baby Kade. Icy beads of sweat trickled from beneath her hat as she once again lashed the two lead intruders with December's might. Both Baby Kade and the Sorrow fell, covered in sheets of snow and ice. Baby Kade's frozen body fell back into the water and drifted slowly downriver.

Pandora, seeing the all but one of her minions out of action, gathered her power and directed it with all her fury at Rasputina. The spike of power burning her brain, nearly drove Rasputina to her knees. A narrow ribbon of blood ran down from her ears and nose. Rasputina said a quick prayer to December as she saw the bitch, once again, gesturing her way. She felt the chill of December's grace wrap around her and Pandora's spell shattered before it struck.

Rasputina saw Sergei break from cover, heading straight at Pandora, trying to draw her spells upon himself. Rasputina gave a wintery smile as she watched her bodyguard fire his crossbow, but the range was too far and his harpoon fell short. Knowing how hard it would be to cast a spell directly upon Pandora, Rasputina concentrated all her might on the Sorrow just behind the Neverborn witch. Once again, razors of ice lashed out in a huge wave that engulfed both of the intruders. Rasputina nearly fell unconscious as her vision went red. A huge, frigid wind lashed from behind and would have knocked her down had she not clung to the massive arm of her construct.

Rasputina gathered her composure as her strength returned. Sergei hovered nearby, not wanting to draw her ire by touching her without permission. His pale blue eyes showed a mixture of concern and awe. The concern she understood, but the awe was a mystery until her eyes focused on the bridge. Two unrecognizable forms stood frozen on the bridge. They were so covered in ice, that their exact nature was impossible to distinguish, Huge icicles hung from every point on the bridge, and the surface of the river was frozen over as if in the dead of winter.

Rasputina drew herself upright, straightened her hat and coat and brushed some snow off of her sleeve. She turned to Sergei and waved her hand at the small collection of buildings. "Tell the villagers that it is safe to return." Sergei looked over his shoulder at the two frozen forms. "What should I have them do with the bodies Mistress?" She looked towards the bridge with a face as cold as the heart of winter. "Tell them to leave them there until they rot as a warning to all who provoke December's Wrath." With her hand resting lightly on Sleet's arm, the Mistress of Winter disappeared into the woods.

Edited October 18, 2009 by Fedral

[cerealkiller195]

good report, haven't thought of doing a small escalation league till now actually. Unlike other skirmish games even if you only have 2-3 miniatures you still have a lot of options with even the most basic of characters. Can't wait to see more!

[TheBugKing]

Another write up from the league:

By:

Boojum Ok.. I'll start..

I played 2 different people the first week of the league, tho strangely enough I ended up playing the exact same Crew both times. (If you are playing a 15 point game with the Pandora Box set, I guess there are a limited number of options)

My Crew

2x Victorias (0 Points)

Hans (8 Points)

Renegade Steamfitter Johan (6 Points)

Opponents Crew.

Pandora (0 Points)

Baby Kade (6 Points)

3x Sorrow (3 points Each for 9 Points)

I didn't take many notes, but I can remember most of what happened.

The first game was played on a board with lots of woods and hills. We did not flip for any special terrain features. For Strategies Victoria's Army was working on Treasure Hunt (Carry Object from middle of board to deployment zone), and Pandora was working on Claim Jump.(Have the most models in a terrain piece in the middle of the board.) We set up some low wals to mark the terrain area for the Claim Jump, and put a barrel in the middle of that area for the treasure Hunt.

For my tactics I chose Thwart (Keep opponent from completing their strategy) and Bodyguard (Protecting Crew leader) For the Bodyguard I chose Hans, not realizing until later that you could only declare bodyguard on the Master. (Bodyguard can also be called on Henchmen, but that is a Specific type of model that is not listed in the first Malifaux Book) I do not remember what my opponent chose for Tactics. (Possibly Stake a Claim and Breakthrough)

First turn went quickly. Hans dove into a forest and tried to get a good sniper perch. Sword/Gun Victoria rushed forward followed closely by Johan and the 2 Sword Victoria. On the opposing side one Sorrow linked up with Baby Kade, while Kade and the other 2 Sorrows rushed forward with Pandora sneaking along behind.

On the next turn, Sword and Gun Victoria rushed forward to pick up the treasure, and everyone came closer to the middle of the board. Hans tried to get a shot off at Kade's Sorrow, but it was out of range.

Third turn I got the very silly idea to sneak away with the treasure in the very beginning of the match so that I wouldn't need to worry about it for the rest of the game. So I had the Victorias switch places with each other, and haad the Victoria with the treasure move back to the deployment zone. This left the 2 sword Victoria in the Center of the Board with Johan sort of nearby trying to deal with Kade.

The 2 sorrows got closer to Victoria trying to cast spells. Kade kept trying to cast spells on Johan but failing, and I was feeling pretty good about the match.. Then came Pandora's turn. She was the last model in her army to move on turn 3.

Pandora's turn brought to mind the old Speedy Gonzales cartoons that they will no longer play on Cartoon Network.. Specifically it brings one where Speedy rushes past a cat.. who basically explodes.. and then they go back to a "slow Motion camera" version of the scene where you see Speedy putting firecrackers in the cats boots and lighting the fuses. I had to stop my opponent twice while he (very patiently) explained exactly what he was doing.

Pandora started by casting incite on her own sorrows. This did little for her, but since her own sorrows could automatically fail the willpower check she was able to use Fading Memory to move herself 4" per cast. This was her 0 activation cost Action and she could re-cast it every time she cast is successfully. Once she got herself into a good position, she cast the spell onto Victoria. Who had to burn a soul stone in order to win that duel. However it turned out that with +1 Casting expert, Pandora had 3 more spells she could cast on Victoria, and anytime I lost a willpower duel I would loose 3 HP, (1 due to Padora's Emotional Trauma Ability, 2 more due to Sorrows Emotional Stress) Add that to the effects of the Self Loathing Spell (Taget model hits herself with her own sword) and Pandora had the 2 Sword Victoria kill herself in quick order.

By the time I got the Second Victoria back within range, Pandora had done the same trick to Johan. If I remember right Hans managed to kill a single sorrow by the time Pandora got the second Victoria and finally killed Hans. Baby Kade hung back on the terrain feature to make sure he got the Claim Jump Strategy. Total Loss for my Victoria Army. 4 full Victory Points for Pandora plus at least 2 for getting someone in my deployment zone.

Lessons learned.

1. Keep Army together.

2. Kill the Sorrows. (Easier to kill than Pandora, but this keeps her from magnifying her powers)

3. Don't get so disctracted by the Overal Strategy that you ignore the Enemy Crew

Second game against same models. Played on a Docks gameboard. This time Pandora got Assassinate (Kill Victorias) and I got Recconoiter. (Claim all 4 Table Quarters) SInce I only had 4 Models that last would be difficult, but I'd do what I could.

THis time both Victorias rushed together followed closely by Johan. Hans still got into the fight first with his 16" Range. I started going after the Sorrows first.

Highlight of the second game for me was when Baby Kade lurned the two sword Victoria into mele range. At the start of 2 sword Victoria's turn she declared companion (Victoria) Hit Kade 3 times with her linked swords. After that, the other Victoria activated, switched places to get next to Baby Kade, and hit him 2 more times. (Victorias have +1 Melee Expert so they can hit more)

Meanwhile Johan used his hammers 3" melee range to try to play Wack-a-Mole with the Sorrows. He got one before Pandora's spellcasting caused him to hit himsef in the face with his own hammer. (I hate the Self Loathing Spell) Pandora also managed to kill one of the Victorias before the Other Victoria and Han's cleared out the rest of the Sorrows. After that, Pandora fell easier. (I didn't realize until after the game that I should have had a willpower test everytime I targeted Pandora, but at that point it would not have made much difference.

I ended up with 2 surviving Models, which wasn't enough for my Strategy, and Pandora's crew did not get both Victorias, so it was a wash. My tactics were Thwart... (keep opponent from Assassinating me) and Bodyguard Victoria.. (Again.. keep opponent from Assassinating me) So that gave me 4 Victory Points. My opponent had Kidnap.. but he needed Both Victorias to get points.. So Victoria won on Tactics.. (and bodycount)

Thats all I can remember from mine. I'm writing a battle that happend last Tuesday, so if either of my opponents spot an inconsistency, they may feel free to correct me. I'll see what I can do with 20 points next week. I just hope get to fight someone besides Pandora next time.

[ProfWilcox]

Awesome thanks for the great reports guys! Hopefully I can make it next time =D

Edited October 19, 2009 by ProfWilcox

[TheBugKing]

Awesome TBK thanks for the great reports! Hopefully I can make it next time =D

I'm with you there!

I was on Monster duty that evening as the wife had a meeting to go to for work. This tuesday I think I'll be showing the superiority of the M&SU though!

[ProfWilcox]

We have to turn in our video game wed so I doubt I'll be there tuesday, but I'll be there friday for sure. Are you going to play in the tourney?

[TheBugKing]

I'm probably not going to play in the tourny. I'll be there to help run it though and to handle rules questions.