Rasputina vs Von Schill - 50 SS

[MunkyMuddFace]

50 Soul Stone game - Rasputina vs Von Schill

Strategy - Reconnoiter

Schemes: A Line in the Sand, Bodyguard, Deliver Message, Entourage, Protect Territory

Deployment: Close

Raspy crew:

Rasputina - Child of December, Shattered Heart

Snowstorm - Frensied Storm, Subzero

Ice Golem - Armor of December

Wendigo

Silent One

Ice Gamin x 2

6 stone cache

Friekorps crew:

Von Schill - The Shirt Comes Off

Taelor - Scramble, Oathkeeper

Strongarm Suit - Oathkeeper

Friekorps Librarian - Oathkeeper

Friekorpsmann x 2

Desperate Mercenary

Steam Trunk

Cache 1

The following is a fluffy batrep from the POV of Rasputina (I was playing as Von Schill, this was written by my opponent, Philosfr).

Rasputina and Snowstorm made their way through the murky light of the swamp. Rumors of strange magic originating from near here had convinced her she needed to scout the place out (Reconnoiter strategy). The pair of ice gaimen were on point, so it was something of a shock when out of the mists came Von Schill and his friekorps, both groups nearly on top of each other (red joker deployment)

Shock was apparent on both sides, but this was definitely the area. Von Schill must be after the same thing. Rasputina figured she’d better give him the warning to steer clear (Deliver a Message). She looked over at her ice golem, willing him to hold the left flank. She would need it later for the ritual (bodyguard ice golem, so she had it thicken the ice rime on it for protection (+4 total armor round one)

What Rasputina had not seen was Taelor and her blasted hammer. From across the field, Taelor charged, laying in with a massive smash. The armor did not even slow as it smashed through the thick coating around the golem, badly damaging it. Realizing she had nearly lost before the fight had even begun, Rasputina directed Snowstorm, an ice gaimen and her silent one over to engage Taelor, who got some assistance from the librarian and a desperate mercenary. The strong arm seemed content to sit back and shoot ineffectively at the gaimen, staying out of danger (bodyguard Strong Arm)

Meanwhile, the old stone platform on the right had a lone gaimen facing off against two friekorp troopers. The seemed determine to hold their ground (hold the line). Rasputina hung back, knowing she was better at range. Seeing an opportunity, her wendigo moved towards the center and she unleashed a barrage of col at the librarian.

It struck her then that she had some bad odds. The thick cloth in the friekorps armor made them immune to the icey winds and shrapnel from her own spells as well as the explosive death of her minions. Taelor was making short work of the only ice golem she had, the one she needed. And then here comes Von Schill, powering his way through the swamp to deliver a decisive death blow to the wendigo.

The left flank desperately tried to take out Taelor and defend the golem, but now Rasputina was occupied herself. Seeing a rapidly approaching Von Schill with nothing more on that flank, Rasputina unloaded her power into him. She put everything into it, burning out several soul stones in the process. He needed to die. Armor or not, he could not take the amount of punishment she channeled into him. He staggered and went down under the onslaught. So much for warning him (failed deliver a message).

Her attention diverted, she nearly missed Taelor smash the ice golem, finishing it off. It was her last act as the silent one got immediate revenge, but it was too late (failed bodyguard). The desperate merc was soon to follow. The gaimen on the right managed to hold off both friekorp, but Rasputina saw no way to aid him due to the enemies armor.

With the left flank secure, the ice gaimen and snowstorm pushed ahead, threatening the strong arm and librarian. The exchange of blows was brutal for Snowstorm, but the strong arm was taking similar punishment. The gaimen on the right hung on for just a little bit longer in a heroic bit of defense, his life extended by Rasputina’s paralyzing cold. It was not enough though and the friekorp successfully finished him off. It had done it’s job though, buying Rasputina enough time to prepare another vicious onslaught. They had not established defensive positions on the platform, so now Rasputina unloaded her magic again, the full force of it scouring both of them, armor or no.

The friekorp were in disarray. The strong arm could not get free, and only the steam trunk remained for support. Realizing Rasputina already held the field, the strong arm surrendered.

Final score, 4-0, though the game was really much closer than it seems from the score. The inability to score from schemes meant I needed to control the field decisively. Just one bad card would have been enough to cause it to crumble, but I didn’t get that card.

---------- Post added at 12:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:30 AM ----------

And now some thoughts from the Von Schill player (me!), in no particular order:

My thought process for crew creation was based on the Strategy that was flipped, and knowing what my opponent owned for models. During faction declaration, I chose Outcast and he chose Arcanist. Having all the M2E book one Outcast crews, and seeing that the Strategy was Reconnoiter, I decided to go with the Friekorps crew since they are very survivable. I chose to include Taelor because I knew I would face either Rasputina or Mei Feng, both of which tend to bring constructs.

At the beginning of Turn 5 I conceded since there was no way for me to win. Rasputina had racked up 3 points for the Strategy, and would gain a fourth since I had run out of models to contest. Both of his Schemes were dead (Bodyguard - Ice Golem, and Deliver Message) and both of mine were live (A Line in the Sand, Bodyguard - Strongarm Suit), but I could only realistically complete one or the other.

Going into the last turn, I had one Friekorpsmann still alive on the center line. Strongarm Suit was still alive and very healthy on the Center line as well, but was engaged with Snowstorm. At this point, I only had two scheme markers on the centerline. I would have needed the Friekkorpsmann drop a marker (not a problem), and the Strongarm Suit to move to escape engagement to drop a marker. The problem there is that the move and drop on the Strongarm is all of his actions; with the close deployment, he is still on the centerline, but needs to be 8" away from deployment... So I was stuck.

The Desperate Merc was a pointless addition to the lineup. In retrospect, I would have loved to have more stones in my cache, so I could build more Rams into Taelor's charge attacks on the Ice Golem during her first activation. The Desperate Merc is a model that I struggle with: I only have one, and I just don't know what to do with him...

[Mxbedlam]

Nice Batrep! Love the fluff included with the strategy. Keep them coming. Do you think that keeping the golem back so that Taelor hadn't got the jump on it, would have helped for the bodyguard scheme?

[MunkyMuddFace]

It is hard to say, but I would say no. With the close deployment and Taelor having the Scramble upgrade, she likely would have gotten to it quick. With her hammer, Bodyguard or not, she was going after that Ice Golem.

The Raspy player said his plan was to push the Ice Golem around with Armor of December to get it to Armor 4, then heal it with the Silent One. I just caught him off guard with a first turn charge, and burned a stone to ignore armor. Had I brought stone instead of the Desperate Merc, I probably would have killed it turn 1.

In the end, I think Ice Golem is not a great choice for Bodyguard - sure it has Armor 2, but it only has Df 2 and is so easy to hit. I also think that Bodyguard is not a great choice for the Close deployment in general, since the neutral field is so narrow.

[Manowar]

I agree with not running the Desperate Merc in this list. I'm betting the extra SS might have also saved Schill's behind. I always use the Survivalist upgrade on him as well. Hard to Kill always seems to kick in in most games I play with him.

[MunkyMuddFace]

Yes, the extra stones would have been useful - Von Schill only barely died. Had he survived, he would have charged Rasputina next activation. This was the first time I had seen M2E Rasputina in action, and the last time I faced her in 1.5 was when I started playing Malifaux about a year ago. I had forgotten what she is capable of when she focus fires... This lesson will not soon be forgotten.

[Mxbedlam]

Its like the first time you go up against Perdita, and you move up a Flesh Construct way up the board on the first turn, and she relocates and blows it to bits. Never happens again

[MasterDisaster]

Great Bat Rep! I almost always load out Von Schill the same. The Shirt Comes Off... (Why wouldn't you?!), Survivalist so he also gains Hard to Kill and those tasty healing flips and Spoils of War, if your strapped for cards/stones this one is a winner and for it's cost it's pretty awesome.

[LupusFerreus]

Loved the batrep. Do you think perhaps taking Imbued Protection would have made it a bit safer for the Golem?

[MunkyMuddFace]

Loved the batrep. Do you think perhaps taking Imbued Protection would have made it a bit safer for the Golem?

I was actually the Von Schill player, so it is hard to speak to what would have made a difference on the Raspy side of things. I don't play Arcanists (yet), so I am not very familiar with that faction's upgrades.

My opponent, Philosfr, has a talent for fluffy write ups, however, he usually just emails it to our small core of players. This was such a good one that I had to share, but didn't think to edit for clarity...

[Seb3110]

Very nice batrep indeed.

As some of the others allready have said, you allmost never go wrong with "the shirt comes off" and "Survivalist". Taelor was ofc. a good situational addition to the crew.

Personally i tend to run with a bit more "thematic" Freikorps crew, Usually containing something along the lines of:

Von Schill

Steam Trunk

Strongarm Suit

Librarian

Then i fill up with the rest, which differs a lot depending on the situation, allthough i have found my clear favorites by now:

Lazarus: With the steam trunk, Von Schill upgrade (the one with two 0 actions) and a Librarian, i have had him tank up a chick like Lilith for two whole rounds, before my opponent got tiered of it and switched target.

Trapper: Better than the freikorpsmann in allmost every aspect, unless you need melee front fighters.

Specialist: Allmost allways makes the crew...love this guy. And his ability to remove slow/paralyze is awesome!

Appart from that, on rare occations i use Convict Gunslinger for a bit more firepower or Bishop for some utility/ml dg

Just my two cents Hope its usefull.

Seb