Four Player Mayhem!

[ThePandaDirector]

The Board: http://www.puppet-wars.com/maps.html?MN=Map-14&MP=Four-Players&MU=false&M=9,22,28,32,34,35,37,53,55,56,58,62,68,81&WB=25,42,45,48,65&SW=6,12,78,84

Note: For some reason - not actually sure why - we each fielded 9 puppets plus Master instead of the usual Shoebox game we usually have.

Lady Justice: http://www.puppet-wars.com/puppet.html?Mas=0&Sz=12&Toys=17,17,16,16,15,6,28,7,19

Seamus: http://www.puppet-wars.com/puppet.html?Mas=1&Sz=12&Toys=9,22,37,23,24,24,21,8,20

Marcus: http://www.puppet-wars.com/puppet.html?Mas=3&Sz=12&Toys=30,18,31,12,13,32,33,21,41

Viktoria: http://www.puppet-wars.com/puppet.html?Mas=4&Sz=12&Toys=26,36,35,35,11,38,34,34,14

Summary

The deployment went from Justice in the top left anti-clockwise to Viktoria in the top right. I was playing as Marcus

It went on for what seemed like a large number of turns, but overall went quickly. It had a slow start, which resulted in the board becoming packed with pretty much everything in play at once, and then suddenly in a few turns there was less than a dozen puppets left. One word - brutal.

Viktoria took an early lead, a Convict Gunslinger tore apart a brash Nino with Puppet Roulette, while the Hooded Rider got within range 2 of Marcus. Justice used an Executioner and Judge to defend herself from a sustained offensive (Gunslinger, Alyce, Ronin, Bad Juju)., while using the Mature Nephilim to lead an offensive against Seamus. Seamus proved rather poor, managing to halt Marcus' expansion (Rattler, Golem, Moleman) with Punk and Belle, but Sebastian didn't get a Decay Counter all game. In a wonderfully crippling blow, Mature Nephilim used Wing-fu to send Bette Noir, Sebastian and Belle smaking into impassable markers. He then moved onto the workbench Seamus had left in his effort to escape. Seamus' fate lay with Marcus however, his remaining workbench - first held by Chihuahua, then a reanimated Autopsy - was doomed however, surrounded by Golem, Teddy, Moleman and Rattler, and so Seamus and his largely intact army was wiped from the board.

While Justice had been engineering the fall of Seamus, Joss managed to kill the Hooded Rider who had been ripped earlier by the Guild Hound, who saved Marcus from death (good boy!). Free from the worst Viktoria had, he was free to take down Seamus. Viktoria however, put a lot of pressure on Justice and there was a lot backstabbing going on where it seemed like someone was leaving you alone, but only so someone else could take care of you instead =]

But Viktoria had spread her forces too soon and hadn't really supported them for fear of Teddy's Swallow Whole, Bette's Sense Stuffing, etc. But in a tidal wave of cards, she attached Hooded Rider's to join Ronin's along with her free actions making her a AC 6 Df 12 Cb 4 St 4 with two ranged attacks and powerful +1 doll of death! Executioner and Witchling Stalker were disintegrated, but her cards ran out just as she got to the wounded Justice. With her army dead and desperate for the activations, she was wounded and so Justice had the last blow. It was awesome!

And so there were two, on opposite sides of the board. Marcus, who initially looked like he was going to suffer a quick and brutal assassination, was largely unscathed from the conflicts of the other Masters. But Justice was no barby either...

And so the puppets took to their workbenches

Moleman attached Ronin's and Death Marshal's upgrades to make him - on IM - AC 4 DF 13 Cb 5 St3 with ranged 2 attack. Guild Austringer had taken the Executioner's Claw as had Justice, while Justcie gave the Powerful counter she received from tearing apart Viktoria to the now beastly Austringer. Early game Teddy attached Rotten Belle's upgrade to make him go from one stitch to four =]

Joss and Misaki - both wearing skirts - had previously paired to possibly take down Viktoria and so were up the right flank while Golem and Moleman were in the lower left. Moleman went in for the kill on the wounded Austringer, braving the open space, but even with an Impassable marker (and a 13m dodge) Austringer's powerful +2 was the end. Justice could no sooner enjoy the victory as feathers went flying and all that remained was Ice Golem. All that remained was Justice and Marcus still had most of his crew. And so after a valiant last stand, Joss managed to deal the killing blow and claim victory for the Beast Master!

Conclusion

Memorable moments - Puppets of the match

Definitely the Mature Nephilim's assault on Seamus' tightly packed crew and how it's actions left the fate of Seamus in the hands of a dead dog and smelly cowboy.

The first Executioner was ruthless in it's defence, and managed to bring the vast majority of Viktoria's army.

The Guild Austringer was pretty useless early game, because everything was still alive (no nifty upgrades), but when things got gritty he was the last bastion, a Ram with horns bared, and genuinely scared me as he held his defiant last stand against the odds. It's even cooler when you think about how he did all this while wielding the claw from the Executioner that caused Viktoria so much punishment.

Killing the Hooded Rider was a highlight for me as Marcus, especially when I think how he must have not registered the damage the plucky little Guild Hound had caused - only to later realise that the stuffed animal had set up his demise at the hands of Joss. Joss as well was on top form and after attaching Alyce's Torn Skirt he was only AC 4!

While I was more than happy to claim victory, with both Seamus' and Justice's demises technically down to me, I have to say the real winner was Justice. She set up the fall for Seamus, right under his nose while surrounded by his pawns, all the while suffering a relentless assault from Viktoria's forces. Even with two or three times as many puppets, I felt cautious about rushing in for the kill - that Austringer would have been unstoppable had it either "manifested" earlier or had Justice managed to cast ECT on it. So yes, spoils for the stuffed animals, but glory to the Rams =]

But as a final point I strongly recommend you all to try 3+/4+ player games

[Truthsayer]

Wow, excellent review of the craziness in Puppet Wars. This has convinced me to definetely go get this game. I've been sitting on the fence for a while, but I need this game now!

[Omenbringer]

You wont regret it. I would recommend (if the checkbook can handle it) also purchasing the Multiplayer booster and perhaps a Pawn Booster (so you will have more variety and be able to play up to a 3 player game). Youw ill need another pawn booster if you want to play 4 players.