FearLord Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 My Crew: Mei Feng -Emberling Kang Rail Worker Rail Worker Rail Worker Ten Thunders Brother Ten Thunders Brother Cache: 5ss Strategy: Shared Treasure Hunt Schemes: Infiltrate Malifaux (Announced) Holdout (Announced) My opponent’s crew: Nicodem Mortimer Hanged Hanged Kill Joy Cache: 4ss Strategy: Shared Treasure Hunt Schemes: Assassinate: Mei Feng (Announced) Bodyguard: Nicodem (Announced) Notes: My first game with Ten Thunders – so fresh from the delivery box that I hadn’t even had time to build them (with the exception of the Ten Thunders Brothers which I’d bought and built separately a couple of weeks ago! I asked my opponent if he minded if I proxy them with the cards, and he had no problems with that. I’d ordered the Rail Crew box, the Thunder box, some Archers and Yamaziko, and the Thunder box still hadn’t arrived, so my master choice was pretty much set as Mei Feng. I decided to keep things simple and just used her whole box together with 2 Ten Thunders Brothers to make it up to 35ss. It wasn’t exactly optimised, but it would at least give me the chance to try out some of the different models in her crew. This left me with a melee orientated crew with quite a few activations so I was reasonably satisfied it would do okay in a shared treasure hunt… My opponent had taken an interesting crew, full of models I had never played against. There were lots of expensive models in his list, and I wasn’t sure it looked the most effective, but I haven’t played against Nicodem before, so I’m hardly an expert on the best way to use him… For schemes, I went with Infiltrate Malifaux, one of the new Ten Thunders faction schemes – this must be announced and would score me points for having 2 or more dual faction minions in play at the end of the game – as my whole crew was dual faction (8 models), this seemed like a pretty good bet! My other scheme was Holdout, as I intended to get to the treasure as quick as possible and get back and defend my deployment zone. My opponent didn’t really know too much of what to expect from Mei Feng, so opted for Bodyguard on Nicodem and Assassinate on Mei (to try and get her out of the game). Deployment (all directions from my point of view) We flipped standard deployment. The whole of Nicodem’s crew (save Killjoy) deployed over to the right of the board behind a low wall. There was a large wood in front of them to block line of sight from most of my crew, but not much between them to the left of this wood and getting to the central ruins where the Treasure Counter sat. With more models, I spread my crew across my deployment zone a little, hoping to use some to draw him away from the centre, while some went straight to the treasure. I deployed a Ten Thunders Brother on the left of my crew, just off to the left of the central treasure marker, a Rail Worker next to him, then Kang with the Emberling behind him and base to base. To their right, I deployed Mei Feng and the remaining Rail Workers flanking the second Ten Thunders Brother. These 4 were all behind a low wall. They would have to advance carefully, as there was a large patch of rough terrain in front of Mei that didn’t leave a huge gap between it and the large wood on the right. Turn 1 I was pleased when my opponent won the initiative, as it would compound his problem with lack of activations. He started with Mortimer, who walked diagonally towards the centre of the board, and the treasure. He used ‘Zombie Companion’ on the closest Hanged and then cast ‘Exhume’ in an effort to dig up a corpse counter for his master. He managed to cast the spell, but didn’t have a crow in hand to cheat, so couldn’t find a body… The Hanged drifted past him, into the wood and activated ‘Smell Fear’ on the off chance that something got close to him. I started with the Emberling who used ‘Link’ on Kang and used ‘Magical Extension’ to cast Mei’s ‘Seismic Punch’ spell, generating a pulse that would push models 3” out of it. It caught all my models on the left (The Brother, the Rail Worker, Kang and Mei Feng), but they all resisted. I let Kang fail, and he was pushed 3” directly towards the centre – none of the others would really have benefited from the push, so I left them where they were. The totem finished his activation by walking after Kang, ending base to base with him again. The second Hanged floated after the first, and also activated ‘Smell Fear’. My Rail Worker on the left walked towards the central ruins, ending up off to the left of the treasure. Nicodem walked forward twice, hopping the wall as he went. He used his ‘Casting Expert’ to cast ‘The Fog’ and also used his ‘Bolster Undead’ ability to help defend his crew. I wasn’t too worried this turn however, as I had little in the way of ranged attacks and in any event, several people in my crew could see through obscuring auras thanks to ‘Shapes in the Steam’… Kang walked up towards the treasure, dragging the Emberling with him. The Ten Thunders Brother on the left followed him. Mei Feng also walked that way, moving to the left of the difficult terrain in front of her. The remaining 2 Rail Workers and Ten Thunder Brother on the right all ran behind the right hand wood. Turn 2 I won the initiative this turn and again started by announcing a large companion chain with the Emberling, Kang, the left hand Rail Worker and Ten Thunders Brother and Mei Feng. The Emberling went first and walked forwards twice towards the Hanged and cast ‘Vent Steam’ to cover my models near the treasure. Kang walked towards the right, behind the Emberling’s steam and cast ‘Rousing Speech’ to protect my models from moral duels. The Ten Thunders Brother moved to join him, both of them lurking in counter strike range for next turn. He also cast ‘Marshal Artistry’ choosing ‘Snake Style’ to improve his Wp resistance. The Rail Worker near Mei walked towards the treasure, getting close to the marker. Mei used ‘Casting Expert’ to cast ‘Rail Walker’, to place base to base with the Rail Worker and the Treasure marker, and used a (2) interact action to pick it up. She finished by casting ‘Vent Steam’ which meant she could immediately cast ‘Super Heat’ thanks to her ‘Roaring Boiler’ rule, but there were no enemy models in the Steam who could be effected, so I didn’t bother. Kang and the Emberling weren’t strictly needed for this little combo, but they were in the way of the Rail Worker (whose path through the ruins would have been blocked) and hopefully the Steam cover and the immunity to Moral duels would stand me in good stead for later in the turn. Mortimer activated next, walked forwards again and cast ‘Exhume’, this time turning up a corpse counter in front of him. He then used ‘Zombie Companion’ on the closest Hanged who activated ‘Smell Fear’, floated closer to the action and tried to cast ‘Whisper from Beyond’ on the Emberling, but failed. The right hand Rail Worker walked twice, making his way around the right hand edge of the woods. Seeing that I was sending minions around the wood to flank him, the second Hanged changed direction and floated to the right hand side of the wood to protect Nicodem and shot the approaching Rail Worker. I managed to get the tome to trigger ‘Metal on metal’ for ‘Armor 2’ vs. the attack, and so only took a single wound. The right hand Ten Thunders Brother moved up along side the Rail Worker and cast ‘Martial Artistry’, choosing ‘Snake Style’ as well. Nicodem walked forwards towards the woods, used ‘Arise’ to make the Corpse counter into a mindless zombie and then cast a ‘Decay’ at the right hand Ten Thunders Brother who managed to resist it. Undeterred, he used ‘Casting Expert’ to attack again, this time managing to hit for moderate damage, taking the Brother down to half wounds and splashing 2 wounds onto the Rail Worker with the blast. My final activation of the turn was to move the last Rail Worker up into the wood, prepared to threaten either side. At the end of the turn, the Mindless Zombie activated with 1 AP due to having been summoned this turn. My opponent was under the impression that it could use ‘Blood Sacrifice’ to bring Kill Joy in, but a quick check of its card revealed that it still didn’t count as being in Nicodem’s crew, so we realised that this was impossible. Instead, it walked back around the wood to get closer to Nicodem so he could use it to summon from next turn. Turn 3 My opponent won the initiative, which pretty much put pay to any chance of a clean getaway. Mortimer walked towards the centre again, used ‘Zombie Companion’ to activate the Hanged once more and then managed to ‘Exhume’ another corpse counter, which he placed back towards Nicodem. The Hanged walked into melee with Mei, floating through some of the solid ruin walls to reach her. It used ‘Smell Fear’ and attacked her once, but missed due to her high defence score. With his models on the left having activated, I decided to get the first strike on the right, activating the Rail Worker and the Ten Thunders Brother via ‘Companion’. The Rail Worker declared a charge on the right hand Hanged, passing his ‘Terror’ test and opting to use ‘Paired’ with his ‘Replacement Limb’ attack. He managed a moderate hit which was reduced to 2 wounds by ‘Spirit’, but also managed to trigger ‘Pin’ which would stop it going anywhere, which was good as I was attacking from outside it’s melee range. He tried to give it a burning token as well by casting ‘Shovel Faster’ but failed. The Ten Thunders Brother attempted to cast ‘Martial Artistry’ but failed and then also charged at the hanged. He also passed his ‘Terror’ test and managed to flip the Red Joker for damage, bringing the creature down to its last 2 wounds. I attacked again with ‘Melee expert’, but missed. The Hanged activated its ‘Smell Fear’ ability and then used its ‘Last Words’ pulse twice, catching both of my models engaging it and Nicodem both times, but all 3 passed the required Moral duels, much to my opponent’s annoyance. I chose to activate the Emberling, Kang and the other Ten Thunders Brother via ‘Companion’. The Emberling cast ‘Vent Steam’ again, walked towards Mortimer and used ‘Magical Extension’ to cast ‘Scalding Breath’ at Mortimer, but he resisted it... Kang tried to cast ‘Rousing Speech’ again (so Mei wouldn’t need to take a terrifying test when she activated next to the Hanged), but failed. He was close enough to attack the Hanged himself (he passed his own terrifying from it) and used melee expert and both his general AP to melee strike it, hitting it twice for a total of 4 wounds. The left hand Ten Thunders Brother also failed to cast ‘Martial Artistry’ and charged into the Hanged battling Mei and Kang (I had some excellent luck with terror tests this turn, it must be said!). He missed his charge attack, but was able to inflict a wound on the spirit with his melee expert attack. Nicodem activated and started by using ‘Casting Expert’ to attempt to summon a Punk Zombie with ‘Reanimator’, but failed the casting flip. He used his first general AP (and a Soulstone) to attempt it again, this time managing to succeed and a Punk Zombie was summoned into the left hand side of the wood. Nicodem used ‘Bolster Undead’ and finished his activation by firing off‘Decay’ into the melee between the Hanged, the Rail Worker and the Ten Thunders Brother. Although he targeted the Brother, the spell actually ended up striking the Hanged for moderate damage, which healed it and the blast took both of my models down to 1 wound! Ouch! My central Rail Worker walked out of the woods and attempted a ‘Shovel Faster’ on Mortimer, but failed. The Punk Zombie activated and used ‘Blood Sacrifice’ to place Killjoy in front of him, just outside of the wood. Mei Feng was forced to use a Soul stone to stop herself failing her ‘terror’ test, did a (1) interact to hand the treasure off to the Rail Worker who was base to base with her still and then made a melee attack against the Hanged. I forgot her claws were ‘paired’ so ended up missing him. She then used her ‘casting expert’ to cast a ‘Scalding Breath’ at it, but also missed. This triggered ‘Vent Steam’ which I cast successfully and that auto triggered ‘Super Heat’ thanks to her ‘Roaring Boiler’ rule, but I failed the cast as it needs an extra tomes card. Killjoy was in melee range of the Left hand Ten Thunders Brother and the central Rail Worker. He used ‘melee expert’ to attack the brother, but missed and allowed me to trigger ‘Bend as the Willow’ to go into ‘Defensive Stance’. Killjoy turned his other two attacks onto the Rail worker, missing with the first, but hitting for a whopping 5 wounds with the next, leaving him on a single wound… The Rail Worker with the treasure double walked back towards my deployment zone – in my haste, I forgot to even attempt a ‘Shovel Faster’ on the Hanged in front of him. At the end of the turn, the Mindless Zombie shambled next to the wounded Rail Worker in the centre, and managed to kill him! Turn 4 With Killjoy’s sudden appearance in my lines, I was in potential trouble, so when I lost the initiative flip; I wasted no time discarding a soulstone for a reflip. Sadly, this still ended in failure… My opponent tried to maximise this timing advantage, leading with Mortimer, who used ‘Zombie Companion’ on Killjoy, before taking a couple of swings with his shovel at the Emberling in front of him. The first attack missed harmlessly, and the second only score a single wound on the burning spirit. Killjoy went next, and showed the grave digger how to do it, using melee expert to inflict 3 wounds on the Ten Thunders Brother. I triggered ‘Bend as the Willow’ again, but he triggered ‘Onslaught’ and even flipping 3 cards for defence, I was unable to save the Brother, who was cut down by the monster’s dirty cleaver… Not finished, Killjoy charged at Kang, smashing him for 5 wounds… Ouch! I used ‘Companion’ to activate both the Emberling, and his mistress. The totem used its ‘Magical Extension’ to cast ‘Scalding Breath’ at Mortimer, hitting him for 2 wounds and giving him ‘Easy to Wound 1’ for the next attack against him. It then cast ‘Vent Steam’ and walked closer to the Grave digger. Mei started by using her ‘casting expert’ to cast ‘Scalding Breath’ at the Hanged she was fighting, killing it and inflicting 2 wounds on Killjoy from the blast. She triggered ‘Condensation’ to cast ‘Vent Steam’ and then used ‘Roaring Boiler’ to try and cast ‘Super Heat’, but failed to draw the required tome… She then charged at Killjoy, flipping the Red joker for damage and inflicting a massive 8 wounds with her Tiger Claws, giving Killjoy a burning token and splashing Mei and Kang with ‘Black Blood’. It also triggered ‘Condensation’ for another cast of ‘Vent Steam’ and another failed cast of ‘Super heat’. She finished up by casting ‘Iron Skin’ on herself for ‘Armor 2’. Nicodem went next and realising that Killjoy was taking some serious damage, walked twice to the left hand side of the wood, so he could draw line of sight to the melee, using his ‘casting expert’ to cast ‘Decay’ at Killjoy. Kang became the target and was hit for moderate damage, leaving him alive on a single wound thanks to ‘Hard to Kill’, inflicting 2 wounds on Mei and healing 2 wounds on Killjoy with the blast. He ended his activation by using ‘Arise’ to turn the corpses of the Rail Worker and the Ten Thunders Brother into Mindless Zombies. I shifted the action to the right, hoping to take out the Hanged before it could activate. The Ten Thunder Brother ‘Companioned’ with the Rail Worker and tried to use ‘Martial Artistry’, but failed to cast. He then attacked the Hanged with 3 melee attacks, taking it down on the last one. The Rail Worker walked twice after Nicodem and tried to use ‘Shovel Faster’ on him, but it was resisted. With all of his non-mindless zombies dead or activated, I was free to move on to Kang, who used his ‘melee expert’ AP to kill Killjoy – I should have moved away first however, as Kang also died to the ‘Black Blood’… The Rail Worker with the Treasure walked back into my deployment zone, now some distance from any surviving Resser models… We were running out of time half way through this turn, and my opponent didn’t bother to resolve the Mindless zombies at this point, as it was clear they would not be able to change the outcome of the game, so we totalled up victory points as they stood. Final Score: Me: 1VP - At least 2 Dual faction models in play 1VP - More minions still in play 2VP – No enemy models in deployment zone 4VP – Treasure carried by one of my models in deployment zone 8VP Total My opponent: 0VP – Mei Feng still alive 2VP – Nicodem still alive 0VP – No model carrying treasure 0VP – Treasure not in deployment zone 2VP Total Victory for Mei Feng! An interesting first outing for Mei and the Ten Thunders. She feels like she has a lot of potential, but was limited in exactly what she could achieve by cards and lack of bunched enemies – still she was able to use lots of her abilities to pick up the treasure reasonably quickly, kill a Hanged and inflict lots of damage on Killjoy… Kang was a bit of bruiser, dishing out lots of damage and taking a beating from Nicodem and Killjoy and staying on his feat until the bitter end. The Rail Workers were interesting if unspectacular – the Ten Thunders Brothers were good for their cost, having melee expert, decent Df and the ability to ‘companion’ with any of my models was hard not to love… The Emberling was great for his cost, having some really great utility thanks to Mei’s range of (1) spells – his weak melee ability is deceptive since he can use her ‘Scalding Breath’ spell instead and he’s great for protecting models with steam cover and granting a speed boost to friends with Seismic Punch… My opponent’s list was deeply flawed in my opinion, with too few models overall, and his using ‘Zombie Companion’ every turn, even where there was little to no benefit, didn’t help with his lack of activations… He had made a mistake regarding Mindless Zombies bringing in Killjoy, which hurt his plans a bit (and he had no ‘cheap’ model in the list that he could afford to sacrifice for Killjoy, so had to make one…) All that said, my crew was hardly optimal, and I got extremely lucky to not fail a single terror test in this game, especially as many of these needed an 8+… Although the score makes the game seem a little one sided, if we’d had enough time to play out the game, I think it might have been a bit closer – with the initiative and a good hand, Nicodem could have seriously changed the board next turn, as there were corpses (and mindless zombies) a plenty, and both the Rail Worker and the Ten Thunders Brother had only a single wound remaining. With a bit of luck he could have killed them both and started raising multiple punk zombies (or perhaps stronger minions?). I’m not sure his collection was robust enough to bring in models that were fast enough to threaten my domination of the treasure marker, but he could have easily threatened to achieve his Assassinate scheme or prevent either of mine to bring it back to a draw… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausplosions Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Mindless Zombies controlled by Nicodem are considered friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokaji Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 The book says they're uncontrolled, which means they aren't part of the crew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrouchingMoose Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Mindless zombies are friendly when: A) he's avatar nicodem and they are within 10 inches of him or They are within 10 inches of him and while they are activating outside of either of those 2 situations, then they are neutral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausplosions Posted October 6, 2012 Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 So in the phase where nico activates them, they can bring in Killjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearLord Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Hmmm perhaps we got the wrong then - I was under the impression that they still didn't become part of his crew (because of the neutral rule) and only models that were part of Killjoy's crew gain the Blood Sacrifice action... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadeton Posted October 6, 2012 Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Yeah, it doesn't matter whether they're Friendly or not. Killjoy's Blood Sacrifice states that "models in its Crew receive (1) Sacrificed", and the Zombies' Neutral states "This model does not belong to a Crew." That seems about as clear-cut as you can get. Interesting battle report! When you listed your opponent's crew, I immediately expected a victory for Mei Feng - that crew is just awful, especially for a Treasure Hunt. It was interesting to see the limitations of Mei in play - on paper, she can take an unprecedented number of actions through extensive trigger chains, but in a real game that's pretty unlikely to ever come up. Good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearLord Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Yeah, I really didn't think his crew was the best way to go at all, but like I said, I'm hardly a Nicodem expert, so I thought he might have some kind of plan with it - I think it was just too many expensive models and no proper delivery system for Killjoy (like a Necro Punk)... Mei's potential is great, but a lot of it is suit dependent which means you either have to get lucky, use control cards or soul stones if you want to get lots of actions out of her... I've played her twice now (second report hopefully following sometime this weekend!) and neither time have I felt like I've used her full potential (and I've yet to actually succeed in casting 'Super Heat' despite many attempts!) I think next time I try her, I may keep her out of the action till a little later and try and hand sculpt to let me do exactly what I want when she does get stuck in a bit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odin1981 Posted October 6, 2012 Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Mei Feng is a lifer so she doesn't take tests for terror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearLord Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Mei Feng is a lifer so she doesn't take tests for terror. A very good point, that I did forget during the game (and during the write up!) - Ah well, I had stones to spare, so no harm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Godlyness Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 beginning of turn 3 Killjoy gets free swings on things he is engaged with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausplosions Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 beginning of turn 3 Killjoy gets free swings on things he is engaged with. Wrong. Beginning turn 3 killjoy charges the nearest model if he is not engaged in melee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychocamel Posted October 10, 2012 Report Share Posted October 10, 2012 Wrong. Beginning turn 3 killjoy charges the nearest model if he is not engaged in melee. Not quite: Blood Price' If Killjoy does not have an enemy model in melee range, it will Strike the nearest model in melee range instead of Charging, or Charge the nearest model if there are none in its melee range. Either way he's getting free swings, it's just some of them might be directed at your own team >_> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausplosions Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 V2: Starting with the third turn, if this model does not have an enemy model in it's melee range it automatically charges the closest model. Nothing about strikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rathnard Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 Ian - Since V2, Killjoy was updated to what psychocamel quoted. So If in melee he strikes the nearest model, otherwise he charges the nearest model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausplosions Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 say wha!? Hmm missed that one. Is there a V3 card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted Metal Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 It was clarified in the model fixes page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearLord Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 Either way, it did not come up in this game (as Killjoy only activated twice, both times in melee range of an enemy models) and did not gain any 'free strikes'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRC Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 http://malifaux.com/Fixes.php" data-cite="\"http://malifaux.com/Fixes.php">NOTE: - 'Blood Price' If Killjoy does not have an enemy model in melee range, it will Strike the nearest model in melee range instead of Charging, or Charge the nearest model if there are none in its melee range. He doesn't strike enemies in melee range, only allies. 1. If enemy in melee range, do nothing. 2. If friendly in melee range, Strike it. 3. Else, charge nearest, friendly or enemy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mach_5 Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 It's a note, not an errata. The v2 text of the ability still applies, so killjoy will try to strike an enemy in range first, then the note applies if there's no enemy in melee he'll strike a friendly model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Godlyness Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 Either way, it did not come up in this game (as Killjoy only activated twice, both times in melee range of an enemy models) and did not gain any 'free strikes'... His free strike/charge happens before any model activates. So if he was engaged the previous turn then the next turn he would cleave something before any model activates. Then you flip for initiative and go about your merry way. So long story short it should have played a part but you guys forgot and it happens no biggie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRC Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 It's a note, not an errata. The v2 text of the ability still applies, so killjoy will try to strike an enemy in range first, then the note applies if there's no enemy in melee he'll strike a friendly model. Blood Price: Starting with the third turn' date= if this model is in play and does not have an enemy model in its melee range at the start of an Activation Phase, it immediately Charges the closes model If there's an enemy in melee range, Blood Price does nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearLord Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 His free strike/charge happens before any model activates. So if he was engaged the previous turn then the next turn he would cleave something before any model activates. Then you flip for initiative and go about your merry way. So long story short it should have played a part but you guys forgot and it happens no biggie. I'm very confused by what you're saying here - it only applies if he doesn't have an enemy model in his melee range - the only turn he started on the board, he did have an enemy model in his melee range (the Ten Thunders Brother he killed with his melee expert attack), so Blood Price doesn't work. There was no time in this game when Blood Price should have activated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.