Anniversary Bash - an Escalation Tournament

[Sholto]

Anniversary Bash at Worlds At War

To celebrate the first year of Malifaux events at the Worlds At War store in Livingston, Dave Kerr-Smith arranged the Anniversary Bash, a 3 game 30/35/40 ss event with Fixed Faction and Shared Strategies. It was only his seventh tournament this year!!!

We had ten players on the day with two Guild, three Arcanists, three Neverborn and two Outcasts. No Ressers at all, but we did have Som’er!

(this tournament was in October, so this is all from memory and some photos. Not as much detail as usual, in other words)

Game 1

30ss Shared Treasure Hunt

For this first game I was drawn against Joe Taylor, who had a very unusual Marcus crew (inasmuch as any Marcus crew is unusual in these parts!):

· Marcus (8ss cache)

· Jackalope

· Kaeris

· Shikome

· 3 Night Terrors

I was also playing Arcanists, so for this game I chose Colette:

· Colette (4ss cache)

· Coryphee

· Coryphee

· Cassandra

· Performer & Mannequin

There was a rules twist whereby the Treasure Marker could not be picked up on Turn 1. I decided to be bold with Colette’s crew, fling them forward in force, camp on the Treasure Marker and try and make off with it on Turn 2.

Joe took Power Ritual and Bodyguard. I flipped for my Schemes and got Eye for an Eye and Bodyguard.

I had the Coryphee form Voltron/ become the Duet and raced them up into base contact with the Treasure Marker. Cassandra joined them as did a Mannequin who was Linked to the Duet. I was a bit concerned about the knot of Night Terrors coming across from the right flank, but reckoned they were more likely to be on Power Ritual duty the whole game. True to expectations they stayed away and let the rest of Marcus’ crew handle the Treasure Marker.

On Turn 2 the Shikome, who had chosen the Duet as its Prey, swooped in and picked up the Treasure. Kaeris moved forward and started burning things up, putting some serious wounds on the Duet. At the end of Turn 2 I had the Treasure Marker, with the Duet, Cassandra and a Performer all gathered around it in the centre of the table, with the Shikome dead but with Marcus very close.

The Duet was holding the goodies, but Marcus could not charge it, so he charged Colette instead and then killed the Duet I don’t like losing my lovely Duet – it makes Colette sad and she gets all pouty with me. In reply I managed to cast Seduction on Marcus, putting him at a double negative flip on Resist Duels. That, combined with repeated Magician’s Duels, killed off Marcus. Colette had made a Dove every Turn, and now Kaeris had two of them in her face, blocking her shooting and Magician’s Duelling her as well.

As the game wrapped up I fell back, towards the knot of Night Terrors, who were racing across my deployment zone, aiming to complete Power Ritual.

Colette brought Cassandra over and Cassy Breathed Fire on them, killing two of them. In the last Turn I won Initiative, but decided to let the third Night Terror live and let it complete Power Ritual, since by not killing it I got 2VP for Eye for an Eye (Joe already had 1VP for completing three corners of Power Ritual, so getting the fourth only netted him +1VP overall).

In the end I got 4VP for the Strategy and 4VP for my Schemes. Joe got 1VP for his Schemes.

Result: Win for Colette

In this game I made the mistake of exposing the Duet without placing a Dove near it, and that helped get it killed. However, I also had terrible hands and poor luck flipping on Defence, which meant it was taking solid damage from Kaeris. Joe also played Kaeris very well, and really got a lot from her abilities. Still, getting Seduction off on Marcus was a nice result, and he never looked like surviving the resulting deluge of magic which he was on a double neg flip to resist the whole Turn. I had no idea what to expect from Marcus, never having played against him before, and he is very fast, versatile and a solid beatstick in melee if he gets an extra tome on Wild Heart.

A great opening game and Joe was a terrific opponent.

Game 2

35ss Shared Deliver A Message

My opponent for this one was Mook, who was playing:

· Lilith

· Puking Snake

· 7 Terror Tots

· Mature Nephilim

I took (see if you can spot the unforced error!):

· Ramos

o Avatar Ramos

· Mobile Toolkit

· Joss

· 3 Large Steampunk Arachnids

I had no idea how I wanted to achieve the Strategy in this game, and (if I’m being honest) I didn’t give it much thought. I just wanted to Manifest Ramatar and kick some bottom. I had some vague idea of using his mobility to get the job done, or using a Reactivating Joss to the same end.

For Schemes I flipped Kill Protégé (Mature Nephilim) and Steal Relic. Mook had Holdout and Grudge (one of the LSA).

As in Game 1 there was a slight rules twist – the message could not be delivered on Turn 1. Take that, Collodi!

The table had lots of intact buildings around the edges, a gallows on my left flank and the middle was mostly open, with some rough ground and low cover.

The army of Terror Tots exploded out across the table, with an early Illusory Forest sitting between my crew and Mook’s. The Mature Nephilim lined up a Diving Charge on a rooftop for Turn 2. I knew Joss was going to get it, so I gave him Armour 3 and put him in Defensive Stance. The Mature charged anyway and also used Melee Expert, but only doing two wounds to him in total – that Joss can take a hit.

At the beginning of Turn 2, we realised my epic fail. I had taken three Large Steampunk Arachnids when they are Rare 2 I asked Mook to pick one and I removed that one from play, and ever the gentleman Mook did not even mention a forfeit on my part (which I should have offered, but it didn’t occur to me until later). The LSA in question had not actually done anything in the game so far, so its presence on the table had not (I think) been adverse in the game so far. Removing it did leave me 5ss down, however.

Joss Flurried and killed off the Mature Nephilim, while my other two LSAs moved out to engage the Terror Tots, taking wounds but staying alive and killing off the Tots one by one. The Electrical Creation and summoned Steampunk Arachnid did some damage and got themselves killed mid-table, and Ramos Manifested on Turn 2. I wanted to Summon something on Turn 3 but annoyingly the only models I had with me were Large Steampunk Arachnids, and I couldn’t have any more of those. I wanted to Summon a Warden, but I didn’t have the models with me.

Mook moved a Tot up and Lilith promptly transpositioned it, and the new one Delivered The Message! Drat!

From there, my Spiders and Joss started moving past mid-table, pressing Lilith back into her own deployment zone.

Here is a photo of me, throwing illegal models onto the table faster than the eye can see

Ramatar used his Mass Obey spell, and got an additional charge out of each model in my crew. I did not realise he got to charge as well, but pretty much everything except one Tot, the totem and Lilith was dead at this point. She fell back, and ran inside an intact building (we had several Terraclips buildings around the table). Well, Mook called it running inside, I called it hiding ;-) The last Terror Tot stood in the doorway and the Puking Snake put up an Illusory Forest. There was an amusing moment when Mook realised there was also a doorway on my side of the building, that he had failed to notice!

However, all my LSAs and Ramatar were on 50mm bases so they could not get inside the building. The only model that could do it was Joss. Joss ran in and Reactivated. And I forgot to Deliver The Message and Flurried instead...

He missed with all his attacks. The game went to Turn 4 which was the last, and luckily Joss got initiative and Delivered The Message finally. Lilith then killed Joss. Ramatar peeked through the doorway and tried to kill off Lilith with his ranged spell, but failed. The game ended.

Mook had 4VP from the Strategy and none from his Schemes (the LSA was still alive and was in his Deployment Zone to boot). I had 1 VP from the Strategy and 2VP from my Schemes (I had failed to even try and Steal the Relic with Joss).

Result: Win to Lilith

After my clod-headed mistake in taking an illegal crew I was lucky to actually finish the game, and this was very fun. Mook played very tactically, spreading his Terror Tots out to ensure there was nowhere Ramatar could hide and then delivering the message as quickly as he could. He then got Lilith out of harm’s way, and would have won by even more if I hadn’t been able to find a doorway he had missed! I don’t think if I had taken a legal 5ss model at the beginning the result would have been any different, to be honest. Well played, and a great opponent.

Game 3

40ss Shared Turf War

My opponent for the last game was Dave Hamilton, who was playing Lady J:

· Lady J (8ss cache)

· The Judge

· Sammael

· 2 Guild Guard

· 3 Death Marshalls

He may have also taken the Avatar, although he did not Manifest so it did not really feature in the game.

With a massive 40ss to spend, there was only one Master who would have no problem spending them (and more):

· Colette

· 2 Coryphee

· Lazarus

· Mechanical Dove

· 2 Performer & Mannequin pairs

Yes, Lazarus. You’ll see

I had been keen to try this crew out for a while, and it is not often you get to play at 40ss. I flipped for Schemes and got Grudge (I picked Sammael as he was deadly at range, so taking Grudge might keep him away from my fragile Showgirls, but he is also easy to kill in melee) and Sabotage. Dave H took Breakthrough and did not declare his other Scheme.

I was on the same table as I had been for Game 2, and on the same side as well.

The Guild deployed first, right across their deployment zone. I deployed in a group on my left. For the Lazarus trick to work I had to make sure certain models were in base contact or in range of other models.

The Guild came surging forward while I built my Pain Train. Lazarus Assimilated Link from a Mannequin and Linked to a Duet. This Link remained in force for the remainder of the game. I killed one Dove (with Magician’s Duel, netting me a SS), made another Dove for a SS and killed it, too (getting that SS back!). The Doves left scrap counters which Lazarus picked up, as he was in base contact with them. With two scrap counters, on the next Turn whatever Lazarus Assimilated would be gained permanently

Everything moved up my left flank, with the Coryphee forming the Duet (the Link transfers to the Duet) and Lazarus and the Duet plus Mannequin forming the vanguard of the Showgirl sortie.

On Turn 2 I sent a Performer off to mid-table to tempt the Guild into going after her, but I misjudged the Judge’s Charge range and he took her down to 2Wds. Colette did a ‘Mannequin Dance’ and got her out of trouble. I tried to turn the Judge into a Mannequin while I was at it, but didn’t get the Tomes and could only Bury him.

Sammael headed behind the buildings on my right, staying well away from the Showgirls. Everything else advanced down the middle apart from the two Guild Guard, who set up a 12” Cordon on the edge of their deployment zone.

The Duet activated and ran forward and round the Cordon, killing one Guild Guard as it passed and ending in Melee with the other. A Death Marshall, who had to turn round and go back to get in range, took a shot at Lazarus, and then Lazarus activated and Assimilated Fast permanently He had up to four melee strikes on the hapless Guild Guard, and killed him in two. He fired at the Death Marshall with his remaining general AP. At the end of the Turn I unburied The Judge inside an intact building in my deployment zone. He would play no further part in the game.

On Turn 3 I got initiative. Lazarus assimilated Armour 3 from the Mannequin linked to the Duet (there is a thread on the forums that confirms Lazarus can assimilate Armour, although it operates as normal Armour and not his special un-ignorable Armour) and fired three times, killing off the Death Marshall. He took some return fire (but with Armour 4 and being in cover he could have taken a lot more) and then the Duet activated and whisked the trio out of Line of Sight behind my Sabotage target, and then Sabotaged it.

The rest of my crew were moving up on the left flank, fairly unmolested, as the Guild advanced. It was looking pretty good at this point. The Duet had the mobility to get Lazarus into melee with Sammael on the next Turn (27” of movement plus up to three 4” extra moves from hitting the Mannequin or Lazarus if I needed them) and there was no way Sammael would survive that – did I mention Lazarus gets plus flips against Guild models? I might even be able to take out the Death Marshall with him and still get back into the Guild deployment zone by the end of the game. I would get full VP for both Schemes and one or two for the Strategy.

So, I went a bit mad. It happens.

At the end of Turn 3 Lady J headed right for Colette. For some reason I decided that I ought to try and kill Lady J, as she was exposed, so my plan went out the window and I sent Colette and the Duet for Lady J.

This tends to happen with me and Malifaux. I get an idea in my head about how the game is going to go, and decide that the version of the game playing out in my head is predictable and therefore uninteresting (if only because it has already played out in my head, so seeing it happen on the table is like watching a repeat), and try something horribly risky and unnecessary. But fun

The other explanation is that I am stupid. Occam’s Razor suggests which of these may be the better explanation...

Suffice to say the melee with Lady J was brutal and unforgiving. Colette died at least once, possibly more, flinging soulstones away like confetti. Because she can do that. Lady J was damned hard to hurt with the Coryphee and with Lazarus, and her Riposte nearly killed off the Coryphee at one point. A Death Marshall fired into melee, hitting Colette and Lady J. The next Turn I was left with nothing but Magician’s Duel, and frankly I should have gone for that from the beginning. Colette and her Doves Duelled away, and Lady J was dead at the end of Turn 5, but it was a very close thing.

The rest of the Guild had moved into my Deployment zone, and it turned out that Dave’s undeclared Scheme was Stake a Claim, and it was on the very building I had unburied the Judge in on Turn 2! Lol

Lazarus ran and, with Fast, made it into the Guild deployment zone. The Duet had been held up by disengaging strikes from Lady J before she died (well, obviously before she died, not even Lady J can make disengaging strikes from beyond the grave), and could not make it all the way to the Guild deployment zone. One of the Performers had made it inside, but the other would not reach it even with a full activation. Time for some shenanigans! Colette killed the Performer who would not make it to the end zone. Her death gave the Duet Reactivate, and the Duet moved into the end zone and Danced Apart, becoming two Significant models. However, the Performer whom I thought had made it into the end zone was actually a fraction out

At the end of the game I got 3VP from the Strategy (2VP for having models in the enemy deployment zone and 1VP for having more models in the Guild table half than they had in mine). I got 2VP from Sabotage.

Dave H had 3VP from the Strategy (2VP for having models in the enemy deployment zone and 1VP for having more models in my deployment zone than I had in his), and 3 VP from his Schemes.

Result: Win for the Guild!

This was a great game, and Dave is a very good player who (it seems to me) always has a clear plan for victory in all the games we have had.

Would I take Lazarus again in this crew? Probably not. His ranged shooting is not great, and in melee Cassandra does everything Lazarus can and a bit more. She cannot Link to the Duet, so Lazarus will always have more AP than her and being able to drag around an Armour 4 melee beatstick that can hit 4 times, heal and get blasts off a trigger is pretty awesome, but Lazarus cannot use Magician’s Duel, nor can he debuff enemy models. On balance, I think Cassy is better for the crew. Yeah, I know – surprise!

Sending the Duet and Lazarus after Lady J was the big mistake. There is every chance Colette, her Mannequin and a Dove or two could have done the job on their own, and while the Duet can sort-of take on a melee Master, Lazarus really cannot.

Overall, I came in sixth place with one win and two losses. It was a great tournament, and I really liked playing at the higher SS levels. I think it is about time I started picking my Schemes again, though. And, writing these batreps a few weeks after the fact, I really want to play Colette again sometime soon Molly might have to wait.

Edited November 30, 2012 by Sholto

[Adran]

Cheers for the reports, its always good to read them. I feel your pain about writing them later, I'm trying to write up my Sun sea and soulstones and already can't remember half of it a few days later.

I know we've discussed the Lzarus link before and that this is from memory, but you can't get Lazarus to link on the first turn. Its good to see what the Lazarus Duet can do though. Glad to see that you feel that Cassandra is a better use of points.

[Sholto]

You're right, and oddly enough I was thinking about that this morning. Lazarus would have Linked on Turn 2, not Turn 1.

[bobzilla]

Seriously. If this is how 'bad' your memory gets after this time then mine is worse than I thought. I wrote mine a few days after the event and it has less detail that this!

A grudgingly good read though