So I thought I would start my return to the blogging world with a bit of a sheepish apology. As it does, life got in the way and once its teeth were sunk in it didn't let go. I ended up with a new job, new house, new town. That's how the world goes, though, and the good news is I've played a LOT of Malifaux to make up for my lack of Blogging. Since last year I have switched over to running mainly Arcanists and I thought I'd start off with a bit of a Tourney Report from the Mid Winter Ball Tourney last month at Atomic Empire in Durham, NC.
I went in pretty excited. It was my second tourney with my new faction and I felt like I was in good shape. I've managed to go 1-2 every tournament beforehand so I was determined to increase my ratio this time around. My son packed up his dirty gremlin cheaters and I brought my Arcanists.
Round 1 or Joss makes Bacon
vs Jeff Barnes
Strat: Turf War
Schemes: Convict Labor, Show of Force, Leave Your Mark, Frame For Murder, and Honestly Can't Remember but Wasn't Important Anyway Scheme
I took
Spider vonSpider Guy (Ramos) Arcing Screen, Draw More Cards and Heal All Spiders Upgrades
Mad Ax (Joss) Healing Spiders and Shock the Monkey Upgrades
Howard Shwarzaspider Imbued Energies (Duh)
Shooty McSlowguy (Acolyte)
Freddie Mercury (Performer)
Reactivate Spider who is too large for his base
My opponent brought:
Ulix with dirty gremlin upgrades
Old Major With more dirty gremlin upgrades
Lenny with still more upgrades
Gracie with the cheater saddle
Merris Kaboom LaCroix
Cheatiest Model in the Game (slop hauler)
I gotta say this was a very fun game. Jeff had only just started playing recently and I had helped coach him just a week before on his Ulix crew, so I was very impressed when he played a super solid game. (wasn't thanks to me really, he got some great advice from our resident Gremlin Guru Alex)
My plan: So I was a bit of a dummy. I really thought Gracie would come over and splatter Howard all over the field, so I put Frame For Murder on him. Yeah.....Howard lived. I had tons of upgrades so I took Show of Force. I figured Joss could kill Gracie and Lenny to weed out his upgrades. Plus, the Acolyte and Performer could pull them out of the middle to deny points. This...actually worked.
What neither of us took into account was that the middle of the board was crowded with terrain. Too crowded for big 50mm and 40mm bases. There were so many models it was like Walmart after church on a Sunday. Jeff summoned a warpig, and I killed it. He summoned lots of piglets, I killed them. Luckily for me, Gracie and Ole Major got stuck behind his own wall of pigs, unluckily for me Howard and the Axeman spent most of their time killing piglets instead of the good models.
My acolyte pulled Merris forward and killed her, denying him Show of Force (I guessed right that he had chosen this one) then pulled Lenny forward before dying to burning.
Performer basically screwed around with the slop hauler for most of the game, accomplishing...really nothing honestly.
I was scratching my head as to my opponent's last scheme until a piglet got free and dropped a scheme marker in the last turn for Leave Your Mark.
Result 6-6 Tie.
It was a knock down drag out in which many piglets and many spiders died, but not much else. Jeff and I joked and cut up the whole game, which makes Malifaux so much more fun. In reality, I should have gone for Convict or LEave your mark with a spider instead of trying to get Howard killed, but lets be honest how often is it that Howard doesn't die?
Round 2 or Perdita is my Nemesis
Vs Patrick Healy
Strategy: Head hunter
Schemes: convict labor, show of force, mark for death, and 2 others I can't remember
I took:
Magic Man (Mr Cooper) with All the Monkeys!, Draw Even More Cards, and Shell Game upgrades
Creepy Clown (Lola) with All Teh Markers upgrade
Miss Howard with Imbued Energies (I mean did you expect anything else??)
Sad Kitty (Cerberus) with....you guessed it! Imbued Energies
Bearded Lady (thin Lizzy)
Shooty McSlowguy again
He took:
Perdita with all her kill you now upgrades
Francisco
Papa Kaboom
2 Latigo de something or others
2 Cheaty Birdguy (Austringer)
My plan: So Patrick is a fantastic player and has beaten me in two tournaments in a row. Also Perdita is basically my worst nightmare, especially since the middle of the board was WIDE OPEN. Yes that's WIDE OPEN. There were 2 hidey spots and a tree. My goal was to try and kill her as fast as possible. It didn't work. This game started with me losing Miss Step on the top of turn 2 and everyone else shortly after. Cooper hung around just because he can vanish to a marker with ease. I picked up 3 headhunter points and that was it. Really not much to write up about it except that I HATE Perdita. I lost 8-3.
My thoughts on this match, I should have brought Ramos and just stuffed spiders down his throat while I scored points. Forcing Perdita to choose between ignoring cover or armor is probably the smartest move. Patrick was a great sport and even put up with me whining.
Enough crying, on to round 3.
Round 3 or Gremlins again this time with Less Bacon
Vs Brad... (First time player, and I sadly don't remember his name but he's an awesome guy)
Strategy: Squatter's Rights.
Schemes: convict labor, search ruins, Occupy Territory, and once again its been too long to remember
I took:
Magic Man again with pretty much same set up
Sad Clown and all the productions that had been practiced
Myranda otherwise known as kitty delivery system
2 Shooty McSlowguys (sensing a theme)
Freddie Mercury and Thin Lizzy made a reappearance
Scheme Tosser Bot (Mannequin)
and a lone monkey
He took
Perdita Jr
Green Frank
the Other Papa Loco
Drunken Nino
Rapheal
and a few young lacroix
My plan: Drop Shooty on a marker with From the Shadows, get Myranda to the other extreme side of the board. it was corner deploy so there was a very long center line. I took search ruins and occupy. The board was full of severe terrain so I figured I had plenty of time. Ophelia blew an acolyte out of the water turn 1, Rami killed Mercury turn 1 as well. I may have panicked a bit.
So I just claimed a few markers, used the remaining acolyte to get Pere and Francois stuck in severe terrain, dropped markers and on the last turn, used Disappearing act to get Thin Lizzy and the remaining acolyte vaulted into Occupy range.
My opponent was pretty new to the game and, knowing I wasn't going to go home with the cup, I spent the better part of the game coaching him when he needed help and offering pointers on how to play Ophelia. My son plays her all the time, so I know how to receive a butt kicking from the Kin. It was a good game and Brad was a great sport. I brought home a 9-6 victory and beat my old 1-2 standing with a 1-1-1.
The tourney was a lot of fun, we had 19 people and everyone had a blast. Our local Gremlin Guru, Alex Schmidt came in first place but the Greensboro team won the Store Trophy. Coming up next week is our first anniversary tournament and I've added a few models to my arsenal and a new master. I'll give you a hint: It's Marcus.
Until next time, and it will be a regular blog again, Keep Cheating Fate!
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