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Hoffman vs Pandora 35ss


FearLord

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My Crew:

C. Hoffman

Lucius, Governor’s Secretary

Guardian

PeaceKeeper

Guild Guard

Austringer

Strategy: Deliver a Message

Schemes: Bodyguard (C. Hoffman) - announced, traded the other for Soul Stones

Cache: 6ss

My opponent’s Crew:

Pandora

-Poltergeist

Candy

Sorrow

Sorrow

Lelu

Lilitu

Insidious Madness

Strategy: Contain Power

Schemes: Reclaim Malifaux, Grudge (Austringer) - announced

Cache: 6ss

Notes: I built my list specifically around the strategies – my best chance to stop him getting Contain Power was to take Hoffman and the Guardian. The PeaceKeeper was there to be Hoffman’s beat stick. I added Lucius even though he’s expensive, as his “Reinforcements” spell seemed like the best way to achieve my strategy…

I picked Bodyguard because it always seems like a good choice for Hoffman, as he can be a pain to remove, and I was intending to keep him alive to stop my opponent’s strategy anyway – with no reason to engage, I could keep my constructs safely back in a brick, camping protect and Armour +6 from a “Shield Walled” PeaceKeeper, making the occasional healing flips… With 2 models with use Soul Stone on the board, I figured I needed the extra stones more than the extra VPs (if I could achieve my Strategy and keep Hoffman alive, I would win regardless of anything else).

Deployment (all directions from my point of view)

We flipped corners and my opponent deployed first with Pandora centrally as far forward as she could go with the Poltergeist behind a long hedge. Her minions were spread out in a loose line with her – to the right Candy, a sorrow and the Insidious Madness – to the left, the other Sorrow, the Lelu and Lilitu.

There was a large forest in my deployment zone, so I deployed the Austringer behind this for protection. Hoffman deployed to the other side of this forest, base to base with the Guardian and the PeaceKeeper who were positioned to block him – they were deployed about 5” behind the furthest point of my deployment zone. Lucius deployed to the left of this group and the Guard behind them.

Turn 1

I won the initiative flip and started with the Guardian who did an (all) action ‘Shield Wall’ on the PeaceKeeper. The Insidious Madness walked its massive wk over to the right into the middle back square, and did a (1) interact to reclaim a piece of Malifaux. The Austringer walked twice into the wood.

His Lilitu and Lelu activated together, the Lilitu walking twice to get base to base with a building in the left hand front square. The Lelu walked once and Interacted with a fence in the square behind.

Hoffman went next and cast ‘Override Edict’ on the Guardian, and then ‘Assimilated’ ‘Reactivate’ from it. He also tapped its power for ‘Fast’ (although I realised that I didn’t need it!) and ended up forfeiting his last AP. The Guardian cast ‘Protect’ on Hoffman and used ‘Disrupt Magic’ as a (0) action.

He linked a Sorrow to Pandora. Hoffman reactivated and ‘Assimilated’ ‘Protect’ and cast it on the PeaceKeeper. He linked the other Sorrow to Candy. The PeaceKeeper activated and forfeited everything.

Pandora and the Poltergeist activated via ‘Companion’, with the Poltergeist going first. He moved slightly and used ‘Magical Extension’ to cast ‘Dementia’ on Pandora. This turned her into a bit of a speed demon, as she had to take a Wp check every time she attempted to do anything, and she could make a 4” push whenever she succeeded. She made a walk, got the push, attempted to cast ‘Dementia’ on the PeaceKeeper, got the push, but was still out of range. It did put her close enough to a pillar in the central square to try and reclaim it – she made the Wp duel and pushed base to base with the Pillar before reclaiming it. She attempted to use ‘Incite’ on the PeaceKeeper, but failed the Wp check, so remained where she was. The linked Sorrow pushed base to base.

This was the opportunity I had been waiting for! Lucius advanced twice and cast ‘Reinforcements’ to bring my Guild Guard into range of Pandora. I resisted the urge to use ‘Casting Expert’ to make him attack her, as the push to take her out of range if he failed to beat her in the Wp duel…

Candy reclaimed the deployment zone and moved towards the centre with the Sorrow in tow, but couldn’t stop me from delivering the message with a (2) interact from the Guild Guard! 4 VPs on turn 1! Not a bad start…

Turn 2

I lost the initiative flip (went to a reflip after we both flipped a 1!) and my opponent started with The Lilitu and Lelu. She reclaimed the building she was touching and then moved towards the centre and used her ‘Casting Expert’ action to attempt to ‘Lure’ Lucius, however, she failed to cast it thanks to the Negative flip from ‘Highest Authority’. The Lelu moved towards the action in the centre, but he was still some way from the action.

I started with the Austringer who used his (2) Hunting strike to attack the Lelu, but only managing to get 1 wound from him. He also ‘Delivered Orders’ to Lucius, who charged into the freshly wounded Lelu. Unfortunately, he flipped the Black Joker on the attack and missed. He used casting expert to attempt another attack, but this also failed to hit… I think it was my frustration at this failure that made me cast ‘Reinforcements’ again, to bring the PeaceKeeper away from Hoffman and into the sprawling melee, getting both the Lelu and Pandora in melee range…

Pandora moved through the gap between the PeaceKeeper, Lucius and the Guild Guard, not disengaging any of them, but getting closer to my lines. She used ‘Pacify’ to stop the PeaceKeeper activating until last, and winning the Wp duel both allowed her to push out of melee and inflict 2 wounds on the PeaceKeeper (one from Pandora, and one from the Sorrow). She then cast ‘Emotional Trauma’ on Lucius and the PeaceKeeper and I was forced to cheat high with both of them to resist it. She used casting expert to do it again and I cheated for Lucius, but had nothing left for the PeaceKeeper who received another 2 wounds and a negative flip for attacks… At the end of her activation, the Sorrow pushed back into base to base with her.

The Guild Guard tried to shoot the Sorrow next to Pandora twice, but missed both times. Candy moved up and used ‘Sours’ to poison the PeaceKeeper, and then attempted to cast ‘Self-loathing’, but failed. The Guardian walked toward Pandora, sensing that she might be vulnerable, dragging Hoffman with him. The Sorrow linked to Candy used ‘Siphon Magic’ to cast ‘Self-loathing’ on the PeaceKeeper, which got through (causing 2 more wounds from Pandora and the Sorrow itself) and managed to inflict moderate damage on itself. Armour reduced this to 2 damage, but that left the poor PeaceKeeper with 2 Wds and poison 2...

Hoffman tired to reactivate the Guardian, but failed to cast. He assimilated ‘Immune to Influence’ just in case Pandora moved out of range. The Sorrow linked to Pandora failed to use ‘Siphon Magic’ to cast ‘Self-Loathing’ on the Guild Guard. The PeaceKeeper activated and died from the poison. The Insidious Madness moved into the far right hand corner and claimed it. The Poltergeist moved in closer.

Turn 3

I won the initiative flip, but my opponent burned a soul stone to win it. The Poltergeist moved in between Lucius and the Guard and used ‘Persistent Distraction’ catching the both my models and also the Lelu, Candy and her attached Sorrow. Lucius and the Lelu resisted, but the others would have to wait until everyone outside the aura activated.

The Austringer fired twice into Pandora’s Sorrow, dealing only weak damage with the first strike, but flipping the red joker for the second damage flip meant that the Sorrow was killed easily... Lucius received orders again and went to work on the Lelu. Realising that time was running out, I was quite liberal with my soul stone use this turn and Lucius was able to bring the Lelu down to a few wounds.

The Litilu charged in for revenge, but failed to do anything. The Lelu did a bit of damage, but some more Soul stone use minimised what he could actually do. The Guardian backed away twice, pulling Hoffman with him and used his anti magic aura. The Insidious Madness claimed another section of the board.

Hoffman tried to reactivate the Guardian, but failed again. There wasn’t much else he could do! Pandora used ‘Self-loathing’ to inflict some damage on the Guild Guard (leaving him on 1 Wd) and was able to push into and claim the 8th section of the board. The Guild Guard attempted to charge Pandora, but failed the Wp check, and died...

Candy tried to reactivate her harmless, but failed and instead managed to inflict weak damage on Lucius with ‘Self-loathing’ and heal up the Lelu a little. The final Sorrow used ‘Self-loathing’ on Lucius, bringing him down to just one wound.

At the end of this turn we were out of time, so we called it there. Totalling up Victory points, I had scored:

2VP for delivering the message

2VP for delivering it within the first 4 turns

2VP for keeping Hoffman alive

Total = 6VP

He scored:

1VP for reclaiming 6 sections of the board

Total = 1VP

Victory for Hoffman! All in all, an interesting game that shows how important it is to stick to your strategies and not get caught up in the fight. In the end, I still got a little caught up and threw the PeaceKeeper away without needing to. Lucius and the Guard would have died a bit quicker without it there, but once I’d got my strategy, I could have hidden safely at the back, and my opponent would have been unable to win without killing Hoffman (which isn’t easy)...

Edited by FearLord
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[\QUOTE]

Pandora and the Poltergeist activated via ‘Companion’, with the Poltergeist going first. He moved slightly and used ‘Magical Extension’ to cast ‘Dementia’ on Pandora. This turned her into a bit of a speed demon, as she had to take a Wp check every time she attempted to do anything, and she could make a 4” push whenever she succeeded. She made a walk, got the push, attempted to cast ‘Dementia’ on the PeaceKeeper, got the push, but was still out of range. It did put her close enough to a pillar in the central square to try and reclaim it – she made the Wp duel and pushed base to base with the Pillar before reclaiming it. She attempted to use ‘Incite’ on the PeaceKeeper, but failed the Wp check, so remained where she was. The linked Sorrow pushed base to base.

.

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Having given this game a bit more thought over the past week or so, I've come to a few more conclusions about it:

1) I should have brought Ryle rather than the PeaceKeeper - the job I had assigned the PeaceKeeper was to sit in a Triangle with Hoffman and the Guardian and provide Hoffman with Armour +6 to make it next to impossible to kill him and provide a Machine Puppet target to beat up anything that came close.

However, I got frustrated with it so far out of the action that I threw it away by using Reinforcements on it. If I'd taken Ryle instead, I'd have been down to only Armour +5 (which would have been plenty!) but I'd have also had access to a range 12" gun that I could have been using from my deployment zone to damage parts of Pandora's crew, using Machine puppet to add to the damage (Hoffman had very little to do with his AP all game!). Lucius could have also issued him Orders if he kept close to Hoffman.

As an added bonus, I'd have had another Soulstone to play around with, which is never a bad thing when you've got multiple models with 'use soul stone'...

2) Pandora is pretty nasty against Hoffman - 'The Box Opens' screws with one of the major advantages of his crew (immunity to Will power duels) and her preferred method of dealing damage (a wound here and there from failed Wp duels) basically by-passes their other main form of protection - armour...

I didn't attack her much in the game, but the Wp - Wp duel seemed a pretty steep hill to climb while she still has Soul Stones... I'd stick to the plan of avoiding her as much a possible and getting on with the Strategy, but her mobility seems to be very powerful as well. I guess if she gets isolated, she could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and some masters could probably mess her up, but she isn't as fragile as she might appear...

3) Lucius is very powerful in deliver a message - if you're holding a high enough card for Reinforcements, there is little your opponent can do other than keep their Master a pretty huge distance from Lucius / your deployment zone (24" from the deployment zone, 21" from Lucius if you've got the right cards...) - this is either a huge VP advantage or takes your opponent's master out of most of the game...

4) Lelu and Lilitu seem incredibly powerful for their points... you need to take both to really make the most out of them and that runs you 14 ss, but they're great models and also can take advantage of a huge number of specific Neverborn buffs (due to being Nightmares, woes and Nephilim)...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yeah, if you're going to sink the points into Lucius with Hoffman, take Ryle over a Peacekeeper.

EDIT: On second thought, Wardens!

Yeah, Wardens look like they'll be a great fit for both - the way I'd planned to play this game though, I think Ryle would have had the range to help me brick up and defend Hoffman, while Lucius got the real work done...

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