35ss Scrap - Viks vs Zoraida

[Sholto]

I picked up a pair of painted Viks off Ebay, realising that I had enough Outcasts already to have an instant new Crew. I put this lot together for my first game with them:

Outcasts:

Gun Vik

Sword Vik (+0)

Student of Conflict (the very bookish Governor's Proxy is, err, proxying here) (3)

Misaki (7)

Taelor (8)

Convict Gunslinger (Miss Demeanor) (5)

Ronin (5)

That gave me a starting SS Cache of 7.

Robert played a Zoraida crew.

Neverborn:

Zoraida (+5)

3 Silurid (15)

Papa Loco (7)

Bad Juju (10)

Stitched Together (5)

Something went wrong with the SS cost of this list, which is 2 over 35ss, but we didn't notice at the time. Zoraida had a starting SS Cache of 5.

Terrain

We played on Robert's own amazingly-engineered wooden wild-west town. It is all constructed of greyboard or balsa, and is held together with magnets or custom sockets. Take a look at the pics below - all that terrain folds flat into a small plastic box

We flipped and got Badlands, with a Soulstone Vein in the middle of the table. The Soulstone Vein is the bit of terrain with the green oval round it below.

Strategies

I flipped Destroy the Evidence and Robert flipped Deliver a Message.

Schemes

With near max SS Cache and a Soulstone Vein on the table within easy reach I decided to take both Schemes available rather than take the +2ss on offer, and chose Breakthrough and Grudge. Breakthrough, since I would be heading to Robert's Deployment Zone as part of my Strategy and Grudge because Viks are good at killing things! I announced them both.

Robert chose Bodyguard on Zoraida and Hold Out to counter my Breakthrough.

Deployment

Deployment zones were 12" square table corners.

I won the flip for Deployment and choose the table corner nearest the Soulstone Vein.

Pic below - the Viks and their Totem as near to the Soulstone Vein as I could get them. I placed the Ht 1 Totem behind both Viks to keep it out of LOS of the Voodoo Doll.

The other four members of the Crew deployed on the other side of the building, with the Ronin being the one I exposed to the Voodoo Doll. I decided to leave her in view to avoid forcing Zoraida to move to get LOS for Conduit, since she might end up having LOS to all my models rather than one I picked.

A shot looking down Main Street, where Zoraida and her Neverborn lurked in the swamp near the Church:

That let Robert deploy in the swamp opposite. I placed my Evidence markers (the treasure chests in the first photo above, with the red circles).

Turn 1

The Viks moved up and, with Fast from the Student of Conflict, Sword Vik gathered 3 Soulstones from the Vein. Oh, yes!

Papa Loco drew dangerously close.

The Voodoo Doll Conduited the Ronin, and Zoraida Obeyed her to shoot Misaki for 2 Wds.

Then Bad Juju turned up, right in front of the Ronin, Misaki, Taelor and the Gunslinger. The Ronin hit Juju in passing for 2 Wds, but it was the Gunslinger who shone, Rapid Firing and getting her Trigger Happy trigger twice! She did 10 Wds to Juju in four shots, killing him. Grudge achieved for +2VP to me.

A Silurid Leaped out of the Swamp and Charged Gun Vik for 2 Wds. The Stitched walked forward.

Bad Juju came and went so fast I didn't catch a photo of him, but he was in the big empty space on the left of this next pic!

The other two Silurid failed their Leap, and so just advanced instead, as did Misaki and Taelor.

Turn 2

I won Initiative (after some Soulstoning and reflipping). Gun Vik disengaged from the Silurid that charged her and Destroyed one Evidence Counter. Sword Vik moved in between Papa Loco and that Silurid and laid into them both with her swords. She got Whirlwind three times Two hits killed the Silurid and two other hits killed Papa Loco, who promptly exploded, killing another Silurid and Wounding Sword Vik. A lucky Damage Reduction flip meant she only lost 2 Wds, however. With her final AP she brought her sister over to join her.

One of the Silurids Charged Sword Vik, and I flipped a Black Joker on defence! Robert then threw down a Red Joker on the Damage flip, getting a total of 8. Sword Vik only had 5 wounds left, and promptly died

The Stitched was Obeyed to Charge Gun Vik, but failed to do any damage. It then activated and Delivered The Message for +4VP to Robert.

The Ronin, Misaki and Taelor all piled in. The Ronin and Misaki hit one of the Silurids, but failed to kill it, and it retreated towards the Swamp. The Student of Conflict moved up to within 3" of Gun Vik.

Turn 3

Bad Juju came back, and this time he kept to the Swamp, and out of range of the Convict Gunslinger!

Zoraida summoned a new Voodoo Doll, conduited onto Misaki this time. She tried to hit Gun Vik, but failed.

I then activated Misaki, cast Thunder and Charged Misaki over to the last remaining Silurid. I got a hit and placed a blast on the Voodoo Doll, killing both models.

The Stitched used Gamble Your Life on Gun Vik, failed and killed itself! We weren't sure of the rules here, but there didn't seem to be any reason why it would lose its remaining AP, so it died, did Gamble Your Life again, and failed again. Zoraida Obeyed it to do Gamble Your Life again, again failing, and then it reactivated and did it twice more, failing twice! Robert's cards were atrocious, and I was flipping like a champ, although I did burn a SS at one point.

The Ronin used Melee Expert to hit the Stitched and get some movement off her Trigger, and then walked over and Destroyed the second Evidence Marker.

Bad Juju walked up to Misaki, attacked and failed to do anything. Taelor then charged and killed Bad Juju (again) in a single hit.

That left Zoraida with nothing left on the table.

We called the game at that point. A 3Wd Bad Juju returning at the end of Turn 4 was unlikely to stop me achieving my Strategy and my remaining Scheme in that Turn - I still had five models alive and well and close to the final Evidence Marker/ enemy Deployment Zone. I could even summon another Ronin, as I had the SS left to do it. Zoraida would have to put herself in harm's way to block me, and all that would have meant was that she would have probably lost her Bodyguard Scheme.

Result: Win for the Viks.

Comments: I think the Viks are well-suited to my playstyle. This is the first time I have tried them, and while I was spoiled for SS by the Soulstone Vein, I liked their direct nature and their speed. Simple and effective, but with some fun tricks. I haven't even tried their spells yet.

Robert said that he thought Bad Juju would have held up my four Minions more effectively, but in hindsight he agreed that he might have been better held back behind the Silurids to counter-charge and deny me Objectives. The next time we play, he is going to bring two Stitched instead

If Robert had won Initiative on Turn 2 Papa Loco would have done a serious number on my Masters, so I got lucky there. In general the cards were good to me the whole game (with the Black Joker exception), so all my models got their moments to shine, leaving me well pleased with this lot

Edited January 4, 2012 by Sholto

[Twisted Metal]

Great write up. Also it looks like the student of conflict put on a little weight durring his "training".

[gonzo917]

Sounds like you had a great game. Hopefully your friend Robert can put up a How to for that terrain. It looks amazing. I'm a fellow Viks player, and they have a straight forward playstyle, with a few tricks with the right minions.