Somer Teeth Jones vs Tara 30 ss

[cengler]

I had my third actual game of Malifaux 2E tonight. I love the theme and aesthetic of these gremlins of mine but I’m still struggling to figure them out. What I really need to do, quite honestly, is read through all of their abilities thoroughly and come up with some synergistic crews for the different strategies. So far, my crews have been put together with relatively little thought and have fallen quickly to well-designed crews. Tonight I got in a 30 SS game at Black Knight Games in Hamilton against a really challenging Tara crew with Reconnoiter as the strategy.

Somer Teeth Jones -- 5 Pool

+Family Tree [2]

+Quality Mash Liquor [2]

• Skeeter [2]
  
• Bayou Gremlin [3]
  
• Bayou Gremlin [3]
  
• Bayou Gremlin [3]
  
• Lenny [9]
  
• Slop Hauler [5]
  

I took Vendetta on Lenny against my opponent’s Nothing Beast and Protect Territory (both hidden). My thought going in was to use Somer to make more Bayou Gremlins with Family Tree and run them up the sides of the board into all four quadrants dropping scheme counters along the way. I’d leave a few back to cloud around Lenny and hopefully stay alive with the help of the Slop Hauler.

Tara -- 7 Pool

+Knowledge of Eternity [2]

• Karina [5]
  
• The Nothing Beast [10]
  
• Void Wretch [4]
  
• Void Wretch [4]
  

He definitely had more upgrades but I don’t remember what they were so the above list is incomplete.

The Game

My initial setup was something like this:

I was able to make a Gremlin on turn 1 with Somer and gave them each a healing flip with the good ol’ moonshine. I would have liked to make more than 1 but I had no high masks in hand and didn’t want to spend two SS on the first turn. I used Lenny’s Toss action to fling the Slop Hauler into another quadrant and he then dropped a scheme marker and scampered back. I buzzed the Skeeter forward and hid behind a building hoping to pop out and use Somer’s Quit Screwin’ ‘Round action to deny some triggers.

What I Learned

Incorporeal is very hard to deal with and Lenny is in big trouble when he has to be in Willpower duels. Between giving his Nothing Beast fast and Incorporeal, my opponent easily buried Lenny and had all my nearby Gremlins in his 3” melee range along these lines:

By the end of turn 2 the only figures I had left were a single Gremlin with two wounds, Somer, Lenny, and the Skeeter. At that point I just conceded as my opponent had three quadrants secured and I had no clue how to deal with Lenny getting buried.

Against this crew, I think I really needed to take two Skeeters. It felt like the triggers were what was doing me in the most so being able to deny them would have been huge.

Re-posted with permission from engler.ca

Any pointers would be much appreciated. I love my little blighters but their low WP keeps getting me in trouble.

[cengler]

I had my third actual game of Malifaux 2E tonight. I love the theme and aesthetic of these gremlins of mine but I’m still struggling to figure them out. What I really need to do, quite honestly, is read through all of their abilities thoroughly and come up with some synergistic crews for the different strategies. So far, my crews have been put together with relatively little thought and have fallen quickly to well-designed crews. Tonight I got in a 30 SS game at Black Knight Games in Hamilton against a really challenging Tara crew with Reconnoiter as the strategy.

Somer Teeth Jones -- 5 Pool

+Family Tree [2]

+Quality Mash Liquor [2]

• Skeeter [2]
  
• Bayou Gremlin [3]
  
• Bayou Gremlin [3]
  
• Bayou Gremlin [3]
  
• Lenny [9]
  
• Slop Hauler [5]
  

I took Vendetta on Lenny against my opponent’s Nothing Beast and Protect Territory (both hidden). My thought going in was to use Somer to make more Bayou Gremlins with Family Tree and run them up the sides of the board into all four quadrants dropping scheme counters along the way. I’d leave a few back to cloud around Lenny and hopefully stay alive with the help of the Slop Hauler.

Tara -- 7 Pool

+Knowledge of Eternity [2]

• Karina [5]
  
• The Nothing Beast [10]
  
• Void Wretch [4]
  
• Void Wretch [4]
  

He definitely had more upgrades but I don’t remember what they were so the above list is incomplete.

The Game

My initial setup was something like this:

I was able to make a Gremlin on turn 1 with Somer and gave them each a healing flip with the good ol’ moonshine. I would have liked to make more than 1 but I had no high masks in hand and didn’t want to spend two SS on the first turn. I used Lenny’s Toss action to fling the Slop Hauler into another quadrant and he then dropped a scheme marker and scampered back. I buzzed the Skeeter forward and hid behind a building hoping to pop out and use Somer’s Quit Screwin’ ‘Round action to deny some triggers.

What I Learned

Incorporeal is very hard to deal with and Lenny is in big trouble when he has to be in Willpower duels. Between giving his Nothing Beast fast and Incorporeal, my opponent easily buried Lenny and had all my nearby Gremlins in his 3” melee range along these lines:

By the end of turn 2 the only figures I had left were a single Gremlin with two wounds, Somer, Lenny, and the Skeeter. At that point I just conceded as my opponent had three quadrants secured and I had no clue how to deal with Lenny getting buried.

Against this crew, I think I really needed to take two Skeeters. It felt like the triggers were what was doing me in the most so being able to deny them would have been huge.

Re-posted with permission from engler.ca

Any pointers would be much appreciated. I love my little blighters but their low WP keeps getting me in trouble.

[rgarbonzo]

Without knowing that your opponent will attack Wp it's really rough going into these matchups. That said the Slop Hauler could have dropped the NB defense to four allowing the BG's to try and knock it out and maybe get Lenny back. The other thing is that you could have discarded a mask with Somer's (0) action and gave him the needed suit to make more than one Bayou Gremlin. Also don't discount Skeeters, their ability to hand out suits, deny triggers, and gas up the area make them really good in small games. Remember Can O Beans upgrade gives the Pull My Finger action which is a Ca action that will do full damage to incorporeal models, it also gives a way around the defense of the Wretches and the Nothing Beast. Keep in mind that using a Hauler to hit a Wretch or the NB early in the turn sets their defense to 4 ignoring all bonuses to defense. Since this sets the Df at 4 in the early turn, if the Tara player has 4 or more cards in hand then the effective Df will be set at 1. Also I wouldn't have taken a Hauler and Mash Liqour, drop Liquor for Can O Bean's it will get you farther.

Edited January 18, 2014 by rgarbonzo

[rgarbonzo]

Without knowing that your opponent will attack Wp it's really rough going into these matchups. That said the Slop Hauler could have dropped the NB defense to four allowing the BG's to try and knock it out and maybe get Lenny back. The other thing is that you could have discarded a mask with Somer's (0) action and gave him the needed suit to make more than one Bayou Gremlin. Also don't discount Skeeters, their ability to hand out suits, deny triggers, and gas up the area make them really good in small games. Remember Can O Beans upgrade gives the Pull My Finger action which is a Ca action that will do full damage to incorporeal models, it also gives a way around the defense of the Wretches and the Nothing Beast. Keep in mind that using a Hauler to hit a Wretch or the NB early in the turn sets their defense to 4 ignoring all bonuses to defense. Since this sets the Df at 4 in the early turn, if the Tara player has 4 or more cards in hand then the effective Df will be set at 1. Also I wouldn't have taken a Hauler and Mash Liqour, drop Liquor for Can O Bean's it will get you farther.

Edited January 18, 2014 by rgarbonzo

[Justin]

Liquid Bravery can do you some good.

[Justin]

Liquid Bravery can do you some good.

[rgarbonzo]

True but it wouldn't have helped Lenny and by just declaring factions it's really tough to know when to bring the upgrade with the crew.

[rgarbonzo]

True but it wouldn't have helped Lenny and by just declaring factions it's really tough to know when to bring the upgrade with the crew.

[Math Mathonwy]

True but it wouldn't have helped Lenny and by just declaring factions it's really tough to know when to bring the upgrade with the crew.

I kinda bring it automatically unless against Guild or Arcanists and even then I highly consider it.

[Ausplosions]

If Lenny was buried by the Nothing Beast, he is unburied the next time a model is killed.

[Darguth]

The other thing is that you could have discarded a mask with Somer's (0) action and gave him the needed suit to make more than one Bayou Gremlin.

This! It's very easy to summon 2-3 Bayou Gremlins per turn with Somer so long as you have a :masks of any value in your hand. Then use the Slop Hauler to top them off. (Granted in a lower-point game with only 1 Slop Hauler available the max you can heal is 4, so you might limit your summoning to 2x a turn and use the other AP to walk, drop schemes, or shoot da Boomer.)

Something like this:

- Somer activates and ditches a :masks of any value to Do It Like This!, giving himself the :masks he needs for Get Your Bro.

- Somer summons targeting Gremlin A to create Gremlin X.

- Somer summons targeting Gremlin B to create Gremlin Y.

- Slop Hauler activates and heals Gremlins A, B, X, and Y.

- You now have 6ss more models than your opponent and he'll have had to activate half his crew before you start moving your expendable models in response.

Also, although Somer *is* a fantastic summoner don't be afraid to put him in the thick of it if the rest of your crew can't do the heavy lifting. He's Wp 6 and has Bayou Two Card, Loudest Squeel!, and Quit Screwin' Around. Fire off his Boomer near Lenny too and you'll put out some pretty gross damage.

[Wence]

As Darguth mentioned, Somer's Do It Like Dis (sp) makes him very powerful allowing both Git Yer Bro (sp) summoning and Loudest Squeal escapes to go off (only Pandora is generally more frustrating to try and lock down) by providing the suit requirement.  Once you get to larger sized crews and have multiple Slop Haulers, don't be afraid to have them use Reckless and heal themselves or each other too.  

 

Try using the Skeeters to fly up the board and lock things up early.  With their high DF and positives to disengaging strikes, you can really slow down things trying to engage your Bayou Gremlins, and probably get your opponent to burn a card or two dealing with the pests, not to mention the Pull My Finger damage if you have the proper upgrade added.