Time to Sleep, Perchance to Dream

[oozeboss]

When I was first drawn to Malifaux, it was with the intention of playing those paragons of parody, the Gremlins. But in almost no time at all, my reading of the background for this game brought me in to the grasp of the Neverborn, and in the blinding light of this majesty and an infinity of possibilities, the banjo jokes were instantly forgotten.

Bewitched by their background, I collected Zoraida & Lilith (with all intentions of eventually graduating to Pandora), which initiated my search for a theme - visual & literary - through which to unite the various diverse Neverborn crews that I knew I would ultimately collect.

That inspiration, when it struck me, was wholly centred upon the distorted visions of The Dreamer, and my emphasis & imagery mutated from "Zoraida's Sugar Daddy" to the avatar and signature which you see here now.

This week, the first elements of my Dreamer crew wafted in to my grasp, and tonight, they - although resplendent only in the tincture version of their lingerie (ie, white undercoat), & reliant on proxies for the Daydreams & Alps - will commence my journey of discovery.

This is basically intended to be a history of my exploration of The Dreamer - his aesthetic themes, his tales, and his tactics - from literally Game 1 till who-knows-when. I expect to make mistakes - most probably quite a lot - and I hope that by recording them I will both enrich, in some small way, the knowledge base so well established here by so many others.

I also hope that this might lure new converts in to "the tummy of the Neverborn", that they may gain an insight in to what inspires the beating core of this specific forum to produce some of the most sensational collections of figures ever presented in any game. Art lives here, and even the Avatars, Signatures & Scripts found here are unrivalled among the other factions.

I shall point out here that I am hopelessly addicted to the Doppleganger and - since actually holding that sensational miniature for the first time this week - Copellius, so they may appear far more often than sense or a ruthless pursuit of tabletop victories should dictate.

With that introduction now done, my opening gambit of 35ss shall comprise:

The Dreamer

Nytmare (I prefer to use his name to the pet name issued by another)

Copellius

Doppleganger

1 Daydream (represented tonight by some large metal frogs)

5 Alps (which will look remarkably like GW Ghouls)

> 6ss cache <

(And we seriously need a Copellius 'smiley', please Mr Admin!)

I hope that you may enjoy this ride.

:masks:masks:masks:masks:masks :daydream:dreamer:daydream :masks:masks:masks:masks:masks

Edited December 10, 2010 by oozeboss

[Iamwyrd]

I hear ya on the neverborn love. I luv collodi, his background is a depressingly delightful story. It has a dark sinister side to it as well as a kind of happy feel (for him) to it. Plus I cannot wait to see how Wyrd sculpts him. I scuplted my own for now, but it is mediocre and I want a real one.

But as of now dreamer all the way, I luv everything about him, his tactics, his models, and his fluff.

You know what I just luv Wyrd overall.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Iamwyrd

[oozeboss]

It was almost looking like an anticlimax.

Straight after initiating this thread, I packed everything together and set off, on a hot and humid evening, up the steep(ish) 10 minute walk to the Friday night home of Southern Battlegamers.

Luckily, my son does Ju-jitsu in the same building, so my wife drove me up in an air conditioned vehicle on her way to collect said fruit of loins/ pride of heart/ yada yada yada.

Then, for about 2 1/2 hours, I got to watch Malifaux (and sundry other games) being played. Elcia (from this list) was using her newly raised Nicodem against a Victorias crew (and I have to say that the Vics player was being a trifle ... shall we say? ... gamey). And Tiny was doing his inevitable Henchman impersonation, sharing the joy with 2 - count 'em - 2 demonstration games (adding to the one he'd run the night before in another venue).

BTW: Tiny is one of the best adverts Malifaux has going for it in our neck of the woods, and nobody promotes our game more intelligently, unselfishly or enthusiastically. But I will be glad when Movember ends & he gets the ridiculous looking hairy caterpillar off of his upper lip.

(Movember is a charity where Aussie blokes grow moustaches throughout November in order to raise money for cancer research.

Great cause. Abysmal fashion statement.)

Both games (Elcia's and Tiny's first) were well in to their second half, and I was reflecting on how inane my starting this thread was going to appear, when Pete piped up. Pete - with Tiny - is arguably the best Malifaux player in our highly inexperienced group. And he is running Lilith these days preparing for Cancon in late January.

In for a penny/ in for a pound I thought, so I accepted his offer.

His Lilith crew comprised:

Mature Neph

Young Neph

3 Terror Tots

Cherub

Hooded Rider

Pete's experiment for the night was the Rider - he was proxied by JuJu. He ended up loving it. He'll do so even more when he gets that amazing pewter lump in his hands!

The terrain featured a 3 level tall square step pyramid in the centre of the table, a 2 level version in Pete's deployment zone, a patch of scrub on the right centre and several sizable patches of soft sand punctuated by large clumps of incredibly spikey cacti (Height 3 & wide enough in places to cover most of LCB).

Pete drew Line In The Sand as his strategy (which was SO appropriate for the terrain), while I got Treasure Hunt. We both opted for single schemes: Pete announced Kill Protegee, while I (needlessly) announced Kidnap. And then made a mental note that the card actually talks about secrecy. It almost goes without saying that the Tiny Tots were targeted.

Deployment was Corners, and after that, all the action in the game essentially took in the central step pyramid only.

Pete set his crew up in a clump as far in as possible, while I placed The Dreamer, Daydream and Doppleganger as close as possible to the Treasure.

The Doppla inevitably won me the initiative, and taking "I Can Fly" from The Dreamer, wafted up in to base contact with the Treasure token. This was to be as close as I got to that all game. The Dreamer & Daydream kinda waddled around aimlessly at the base of the pyramid (failing to raise a Daydream in the process), although Pete did point out that by temporarily separating them I had left The Dreamer in line for a possible visit by Lilith (using Move - Transposition with Doppla - Charge - Fast to hit him).

But he opted not to try.

Instead, his army divided in two: a Tot and the Cherub skirting the pyramid to the left while the rest swung around the right. Two Tots sprinted successfully to reach the first two dynamite markers, but could not activate them in the Turn.

Turn 2 opened with Pete's negative flip for Initiative turning over a 2 & a 3, only for me to flip a 1. It was the Doppla's last mistake.

The Mature declared a swooping charge, and alighting on the very top level of the pyramid, destroyed the Doppla in a brutally effective mincing action.

I responded with my best play of the night.

Dreamer activated, & cast inflict Dreams on the Mature (negative flips on Df, Ca & Wp when defending against Nightmares), followed immediately by Nightmare Friend.

Hello Nytmare, aka Lord Chompy Bits!!!

Charge move reached the Mature & 10" Claws (with Flay triggered) did to the creature dubbed in a Lilith tactica as the most reliably potent offensive threat available to Neverborn what it had done to a naked girl clutching a sheet. Only quicker.

The mist of black blood which marked the demise of the Mature Neph hadn't dissipated when LCB cruised back down to the foot of the pyramid & tagged in The Dreamer.

It's a mark of how classy a player Pete is that he seemed to derive almost as much unbridled pleasure at that mindnumbing display as I did, but then he is planning on collecting The Dreamer as his next crew next so the potential was as much for him as for I to savour.

It was to be, regrettably, the highwater mark for me in this game.

Pete pushed Lilith & The Rider around the left of the pyramid, while his Tots activated both dynamite markers on that flank and moved along the line to reach the next ones. The Young Neph flew up to the top of the pyramid (on top of the dynamite marker there) and pretended to be his departed bigger brother.

Round 3 was not particularly well played on my part. The third Tot sprinted up to the 4th dynamite marker, and I unburied Coppelius right on top of him. So far, so good.

Then in 3 rounds of combat I did a total of 3 wounds on him, leaving Coppelius inert & frustrated. The brain dead bit was that I twice triggered Remove Eye, which would have done the little creep in two moves & gained me two eye counters. And had one move to spare! But I arrogantly anticipating a flogging, I played incautiously & paid the price.

The Young Neph declared a charge on Coppelius, failed to deal with his Terrifying, and skeddadled the other way.

The Dreamer activated, tried to lay Inflict Dreams on Lilith (nope), then turned into Lord Chompy Bits & charged her. The positioning was critical. Between Lilith & a future charge on Coppelius was the Hooded Rider & a very large chunk of cacti. LCB's charge took both her and the Hooded Rider's charge move on Coppelius clean away.

We both sunk all of our remaining soulstones in to this series of combats, and what remained at the end of it was Lilith still standing due to some impossibly average damage flips, but with only a single wound.

Glory would have been the result had LCB removed the Mature Neph & Lilith in successive turns. Gory is what resulted when Lilith charged. One phase of hitting, with a Red Joker followed by a 13 for damage, and LCB was but the figment of a demented imagination once more.

In our subsequent post mortem of the game, Pete offered a very viable alternative range of actions. Instead of taking on Lilith, LCB should have obliterated the Rider, then turned back on the spot to The Dreamer. Lilith would have killed The Dreamer, only to raise & immediately activate LCB & the Alps, who would have ... erm, should have (my cards got seriously horrible in the 2nd/2 of this game) wiped Lilith out in an immediate retaliatory counterstrike.

Hindsight is inevitably perfect, innitt?

From here, fortune deserted me. The Tot with a single wound remaining and 2 Poison markers refused to let Coppelius flee their fight (although it did die later that turn), then the Cherub shot twice in to combat and wounded the Eye-scream vendor twice. Lilith & then the Rider (despite being reduced to 3 wounds by Alps) eventually got to Coppelius & completed Pete's scheme.

The Alps came on in Turn 4 (far too late), and despite taking out the remaining Tiny Tots (including one which had grown to a Young Neph) - and thus achieving my Scheme - & freezing Lilith for a turn (when to activate would have been to die), fell eventually to the Young Neph scared off by Coppelius.

At the start of Round 6, Pete discarded his lowest card - a 7. My hand for that round had 5 lower than that.

We called the game in Turn 6 as the young Neph squared off against The Dreamer, and Lilith finally reached the last dynamite marker. Everything else of mine was gone.

I've already discussed my thoughts on alternative move options within the context of the narrative, so this summary will mainly be assessing the crew's performance:

* LCB is a monster, but karn987 is spot on in describing him (and the entire crew) as a scalpel. Strike hard & withdraw is definitely the go - the utter obliteration of the Mature Neph was pure genius! Failing to remove Lilith &/or the Hooded Rider was simply the ass without the genie.

* I never thought that i would say this, but my beloved Doppla just felt wrong. Karn987's tactica repeatedly emphasises running purely Nightmares with The Dreamer (and this game reinforced Steve's wisdom & foresight in that amazing screed - it's well worth emailing him for a copy), but I do love the Doppla's fluff & sculpt.

But in the context of this crew, she just felt wrong. This is a twisted little boy and his imaginary friends, and kids' games should form the tactical core of the crew (Tag, Hide & Seek, Red Rover, Brandy/ Pigeon Toe, etc etc etc), and her sheer 'tangibility' just didn't gell with the rest. This is probably just me being a fluffy bunny to the point of silliness, but she's out for my next game (g'day Elcia).

* Coppelius now ranks with Doppla as my favourite scult & storyline in the game, but my professed lurrrve for him didn't show in this game. Leaving him isolated & unsupported - especially knowing my opponent's scheme - was the antithesis of common sense (Steve would have cried to see his profound tactica so inanely ignored). Learning curve applied & lessons learnt. I love him too much to replace him with my Teddys just yet.

(After posting this legthy rave, I went off & had my shave & shower, and it was in the midst of the latter that I remembered yet another mistook made by me. When the Hooded Rider charged & removed Coppelius - I hesitate to say "killed" with Nightmares - I also forgot to apply The Dying Dream. Had I done so, the Rider would have also exited Stage Left.

Now it shouldn't have won me the game, but it would have made the result just that much more tenuous.)

* The Alps - when they finally were unleashed - are frightening. Used in packs, they can strip wounds off anything within coo-ee like nobody's business, and even Lilith had to stand very very still for almost two entire turns when shadowed by a single, wounded Alp. As with all of this crew, it comes down to timing & placement, but Pete later confessed that he thought that they would steal the game in Turns 4 & 5.

They have to be the deadliest 3 pointers in the game today (this from a former basketball coach), and the release of the miniature is very very imminent. And desired!!!

(I have 12 on order.)

* Funnily enough, my biggest mistake involved my cheapest piece. A single Daydream simply does not cut it. At least 2, but on the basis this experience, more likely all 3 are needed. Mine died in around Turn 3, and it so massively inhibited my hit & run tactics. I had counted on raising more, but found it hard to get the second mask I needed in Rounds 1 & 2.

So, there it is. After the highpoint of LCB's hit on the Mature Neph, my disjointed & unsupported units basically fell piecemeal to a more structured & logical assault. It was a highly enjoyable game, and I am confident that I will absorb the lessons so well handed out.

I'd love to start using an Insidious Madness, but Cancon is not allowing any proxies (which has to be the most idiosyncratic ruling I've encountered in 25 years of tournament playing, but at least it's known nice & early).

At this stage, my crew for my game this next Friday (planned to be with Elcia) will probably be:

Coppelius

3 Daydreams

5 Alps

1 Stitched Together

(5ss cache)

I hope this helps fellow Dreamers .......

Edited December 10, 2010 by oozeboss

[Alondir]

enjoyed the write up and just starting the dreamer myself, but i haven't been able to get hold of is a copy of Karns tactica, and just as i side note, you really need to spend so meny ss on daydreams O.o

[sithkhan]

I enjoy the writeups - keep the coming!

[Xango]

Mr. oozeboss, neverborn does not know compasion nor regret, but they can be very, very vengeful when you turn your back on them, if i were you i would be aware of any sting you feel, or itch, or pimple cause Zoraida... this will not forget :vb_devil:

[oozeboss]

:2in1:

Zoraida doesn't scare me - even Zoraida has to sleep.

Rathnard, however, terrifies the beep outa me.

:ahhhhh:

[Kds54]

Excellent reports, keep them coming.

[Elcia]

Nice write up oozey, I'm all in for a game on Friday too. Looking forward to a more... uh... relaxed game :laughing: Now to go read more Nico strats :<

[oozeboss]

Nico

(born Christa Päffgen, 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988) was a German singer, composer, fashion model, actress, and Warhol Superstar. She is known for both her vocal collaboration on The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, and her work as a solo artist from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. She also had roles in several films, including a cameo in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966), as herself. She was related to Hermann Päffgen, who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne.

She died in July 1988, as a result of injuries sustained in a bicycling accident.

[ame]

[/ame]

That Nico?

:abduct:

[oozeboss]

I blame my underpants.

I should put this into context, huh?

I'm half Irish. This means that I have leanings towards magic, myth, mysticism & am a complete sucker for lyrical poetry and artistic visions/ pretensions of almost any kind. It also makes for a painful paradox as I am also an adherent of atheistic logic. Thus, at times, one part of me sees the other as an incurable primitive imprisoned by illogical superstition, while the free spirit part merely perceives the logical core as being about as much fun as a maggot in a Mortein factory.

And now, for those of you who dig dig D I G dig dig metaphors:

[ame=

Edited December 10, 2010 by oozeboss

[oozeboss]

Maybe pipples aren't reading this endless scribing as my poor play is not drawing any commentary - possibly some think me beyond redemption - but I worked out where simply knowing my own rules better may have had a profound impact upon that last game.

It's all the world of hypothethetifaux, but as soon as Lilith activated after my dropping the Alps in a circle around her, Smother would have forced her to do a Wp -> 12 Duel with 5 negative flips (so it couldn't be cheated), the loss of which would have given her Slow. Feed on Dreams would have immediately caused her 5 Wounds for getting Slow in range of each of the circle of Alps. Then Exhaustion would have given her 5 more as soon as she attempted a Wk or Strike action.

Which would have, 99.9% of the time at least, equalled one dead Mother of Monsters, literally as soon as she even twitched.

Live & learn (I only thought of this last night while reading The Book).

I also ran Poison 2 wrong, allowing poisoned opposition to get away with 1 less wound than the rules actually specify.

To accelerate my learning process, I've decided to both limit my range of minis in each game until I can gain a healthy familiarity with them, and only after that will I begin to expand my range of options for Dreamer crews.

Starting with what promises to be a delightful game - if it does happen - with Elcia's Nicodem crew (hopefully) this Friday, I will be running:

The Dreamer (now painted)

LCB (half done - and looking likely to be finished)

Coppelius (painted)

2 Daydreams (still on order, & yet to be shipped, sigh)

7 Alps (as per Daydreams)

(6ss cache).

Edited December 10, 2010 by oozeboss

[mythicFOX]

If people aren't reading it's because the font you're using is so obnoxious to look at and hard to read it turns people off trying.

Having for the first time been bored enough to copy and paste your posts into word, change it to something legible and read the it's actually quite entertaining.

Limiting your model choice seems to be a good way to go initially. I'm learning the dreamer at the moment and I'm sticking with a straightforward; Dreamer/LCB, Daydreams, Teddy, Stitched together build. Occasionally throwing an insidious madness / coppillius in to mix it up.

There are a lot of intricate moving parts in this crew so limiting the complexity while I get the basics down is helping me see the wood for the trees.

[vybeosa]

I have to agree with mythicFOX here, the font puts me off.

It might look pretty, put it makes the reading harder, and considering the quantity of text, most people won't bother.

[oozeboss]

Fair call.

Thread's dead.

I won't attempt to add colour in the Land of the Bland any more.

(Hope your optical surgery is a success.)

[mythicFOX]

I'm not saying stop the thread. I actually think it might have something interesting to say.

The issue is your choice of; font size / color / itallics / centring making your posts illegible. Fix that and you fix the problem. If however you'd much rather contiune with this that's fine. People will just ignore you.

[The Green Git]

The issue is your choice of; font size / color / itallics / centring making your posts illegible. Fix that and you fix the problem. If however you'd much rather contiune with this that's fine. People will just ignore you.

I have to agree here Ooze. It's not *what* you are saying... it's *how* you are saying (or rather displaying) it.

Loose the centering and italics. The purple is annoying but manageable. Keep the thoughts coming.

[Skipper]

I've been following this thread too, but completely skipped over the last two enties of any size from you mainly because the font made me work to hard and since I'm a lazy git, I'm not willing to put the effort into it.

[karn987]

Honestly Oozeboss, I like your threads but your text and color hurt my eyes so I can only read them sparingly.

If you would please stop using that text, I think I could at least deal with the color. But the centering of the messages to make it hard to read and parse. There is a reason why 99% of the people post the way they do, it's MUCH easier to read man. That's all people are saying to you, not trying to offend you or shun you.

So please, I implore you to use the standard font and keep your posts left justified. It just makes it easier to read and for those of us that spend most of their day at work looking at computer screens, we would thank you muchly for making things easier on our poor eyes ><

[oozeboss]

So there's no more confusion:

Arty format will be for short pieces,

Straight for the long.

(Stupid dancing things for everything!!!)

:marshmell:marshmell:marshmell:marshmell:marshmell

[Xango]

I enjoy your posts a lot, write them with crayons if you like, i started playing diferent crews and configurations until i realize that i have to play A LOT with the same configuration to learn... so i did, and i manage to play Zoraida way better and still loosing 3 to 5 against that Fu...&/%%(/)%$$/($$/()=&$%·"$... bit&$(··%&( Pandora, i just hate her and her crew =)