A blue moon sees Malifaux action

There was a blue moon last night and it can only be fate that I had the even rarer offer of a Malifaux game. Malifaux does not seem to have caught on in my gaming circles. It’s a game with a lot of character but it does not seem to be able to stand toe to toe with the big hitters like Warmahordes and 40K.
Anyway, I took the chance to put out Jakob against Lilith at 40SS. The Lillith crew looked a bit thin but she was stacked with upgrades. Teddy and Baby Kade were also going to be troublesome. We fumbled around a bit with setup but eventually ended up with The Reckoning for strategy and both chose Assassination and Cursed Object for Schemes.

Note the rather nice Guildball pitch!

We set up facing off across the board with most of the dangerous models centre and my left. The first turn was spent closing but Mr Graves did take a bit of a hit from Liliths’s Cherub that pushed him back and slowed my advance down.

The Hungering Darkness looked dangerous in his central position and I had Jakob and a Beckoner in good positions for control. Unfortunately Lilith’s crew were also in a good place and my opponent took a risk using an ability to make HG activate last then pulling it into attack range. Teddy and Kade synergied very well to take HD down (but only just!) and this was a bad start for me, but very well played.

Malifaux being no Warmahordes meant I was not out the game yet. I turned my attention to getting Brilliance on the Neverborn models and using the Illuminated to put some hurt on. I was able take out Teddy in this way, but for future reference we left Brillance on him for more than one turn which was incorrect. There were a couple of bizarre incidents with Jokers that threw the game in different directions, most notably when Jakob shot Lilith and pulled a Red Joker on the damage flip to take her down. This put me right back in contention.

By this stage it was getting late and the game needed to wrap up. Careless record keeping meant we lost track of casaulties and it was hard to work out who had won the Reckoning although we were tied on Assassinate. I suspect Lilith was slightly ahead but it was only a casual game so not of great importance.
I have to say I really enjoyed this game. There were some great combos from Lilith’s crew and although I missed some of mine they were there had I been better prepared. It was a close game with some comedy moments and good models, fluff and scenery. Poor old Malifaux, it’s a damn fine game that deserves more attention. If only there was the time.

Malifaux – Jakob vs. Seamus – The rematch!

A very good game of Malifaux this evening. I went for Prisoner (Seamus) and Framed for Murder (Depleted) as my schemes. The strategy was Turf War so my game plan was simple : rush the middle of the table, get the Depleted killed and try and tie up Seamus with my big guys.
The game started off fine, if a little cagey. I walked everyone toward the centre and watched as Seamus snuck down a flank. My opponent starting dropping markers and a look down the board’s diagonal suggested he was playing Line in the Sand. After a couple of turns Huggy was battling with a Flesh Construct and this, I feel, was the pivotal point of the game. I made two key errors here : Firstly I forget Huggy’s upgrade which would have given him an extra attack ; secondly I allowed my hand to empty which gave the Flesh Construct Reactivation. The Fleshy dude duly pummelled Huggy and this put Jakob in trouble. The one saving grace was that Seamus made his move toward the centre and I was able to use a Beckoner to drag him into Mr Grave’s charge range.
When turn 5 came around Jakob and Mr Graves took Seamus prisoner, the Flesh Construct had murdered the Depleted and I had totted up a few VPs in the Turf War. Although Jakob’s crew was severely beaten I thought my 6VPs might be enough to put me in with a chance. As it turned out Seamus bagged 6 as well : A draw!
I enjoyed the game although the few weeks since my last were enough for me to forget most of the rules! A big thanks to Kev for his patience guiding me through (again! ) and providing the rather nice scenery .

Beckoner and two Depleted sorted

Over the last few days I’ve finished up the Beckoner and the first Depleted. I also managed to paint a second Depleted. This model is actually a nice sculpt although the tentacles are a bit crazy. It took no time at all which is great news.
Next up is Mr Tannen and a second Beckoner. That will leave a final Illuminated and Depleted model to finish but I think I may leave those for another day as I will have a 50 soul stones crew done.

Jacob, Beckoner and Depleted

Jacob is pretty much done in this shot. I went for a purple smoke effect with his skeleton butler. The cards were a bit of a challenge and in the end I used a very fine pen to mark them rather than a brush.
The Beckoner is a lovely sculpt – one of the best in this crew I feel. She didn’t take long and is nearly done in the shot below.
The Depleted is a fine attempt at sculpting a broken old woman. I like the concept but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Nonetheless I think it is the pick of the three Depleted sculpts so will make it into the crew. She still has a fair amount of work to be done but is getting there.
The crew is taking shape now and I’m pretty happy with the result. The plastic sculpts are interesting to paint. The quality is variable on each model and between models but overall I think it’s very respectable.

Jacob vs. Zoraida : Turf War

2nd game of Malifaux 2.0 this evening. 35 Soulstones and this time I cut Mr Tannen and an Illuminated in favour of Mr Graves and some upgrades for Jacob. Across the table Zoraida, a trio of Silurids, a Voodoo Doll and a gribbly beastie the name of which I can’t quite put my finger on at the moment. The Strategy was Turf War and I went for the aggressive and straight forward Schemes of Assassination and Protege Killer.
With this in mind turn 1 I decided to walk all my models into the middle of the board and attempt to hold the objective. Zoraida hit back with a nasty control spell which saw Huggy and Mr Graves merrily pounding away at one of my Depleted. I will have to remember to spread models out of melee range when facing Zoraida next time!

Turn 2 opened with a rather neat trick of Mr Graves. He pushed Huggy forward and followed up to pummel Zoraida’s Voodoo Doll. Huggy was then in a great position to charge Zoraida which he did, but fluffed his attack. One of the Silurids got a charge on Jacob and put a few points on him, and there were a few other minor skirmishes but nothing major.

By turn 3 attrition was kicking in. Zoraida’s Obey spell meant that Mr Graves and Huggy were hitting each other and gradually they were going down. However, a focused attack from Mr Graves, plus a jammy red joker on the damage flip saw him really put the pain on Zoraida. Meanwhile the Silurids were proving to be no match for Jacob’s crew and I was winning the minor skirmishes on the periphery. I was beginning to feel confident at this stage and was on top of the game if not the rules.

In the closing stages I thought I would be able to take Zoraida and hammer home a win. Unfortunately, despite cheating the initiative flip to get his retaliation in first, Huggy failed to kill Zoraida and that left Mr Graves vulnerable to more Obey shenanigans. The burly chap went down which was a sad moment. Nonetheless I killed a Silurid who was my Protege Killer objective and had been scoring on the Turf War objective. We called the game at this point and I was surprised but happy to find I had won convincingly. I think it was 5-2 on VPs.

I enjoyed the game and feel I have a reasonable grasp on Jacob and his crew. The upgrades I paid for didn’t affect the game much and I wonder if another model would have been a better investment. Anyway, lots to think about and good fun. More Malifaux soon, that’s one thing for sure 🙂

And more on Jacob and co.

I finished the second Illuminated this evening and Huggy is as good as he is going to get. I also made some good progress on Mr Graves. I’m loving this model more and more.

More Progress on Jabob’s crew

Another game of Malifaux lined up for the weekend so I’ve been chipping away at my Jacob crew. Huggy is proving to be a real problem. The sculpt is lacking in detail but at the same time is not flat. It truly is a bizarre model and a painters nightmare. I’ve tried all sorts to get him to look right and I’m still not 100% happy with the result. In the end I airbrushed him developing highlighted regions and then went back and added more contrast with a brush.
I’ve also made reasonable progress on a second illuminated and Mr Graves. Mr Graves is a fantastic model. The sculptor has really captured the gangster hard-man vibe. I ‘m looking forward to finishing him up.

Malifaux 2.0 – Jacob vs. Seamus

Had a first and much anticipated game of M2.0 this evening. It was a good game and has left me keen to play more.
The game was 35 Soul Stones and a standard encounter on my newly created Wild West board. We drew standard deployment and various schemes of which I chose Assassination. This was purely to keep my objective as simple as possible while I got my head around the Jacob crew. I also rejected any upgrades and went for Jacob + Huggy, 2 x Illuminiated, 2 x Depleted, 1 Beckoner and Mr Tanen. Across the board was Seamus with his crew of undead and the Copycat Killer.

Not really knowing what to expect I went for a symmetrical deployment. Jacob was placed near cover as I planned to use him defensively while Huggy was central and I planned to just run him straight into the action. Seamus set up in the middle and came forward very aggressively in turn 1 to occupy a central position. I moved all of my models forward but left Jacob behind his crates observing the action from a safe distance.

Looking at the board at the start of turn 2 I was surprised to note several options for getting stuck into Seamus. An Illuminated had a pop and then took heavy damage back but then it was Huggies go. Using Incorporeal he charged through the gallows and a couple of models to Seamus. A couple of jammy draws saw him trigger Envelope on Seamus and I thought this might be curtains. However Seamus just managed to hang in there. As the turn continued it became apparent that I should be activating Jacob and Mr Tanen early to get the most from the buffs and debuffs they offer. Must remember this in future! Turn 2 closed out with a dangerous looking mosh pit in the centre of the board.

Turn 3 was going to be the crunch. Jacob got the initiative flip and I had a dilemma : activate Jacob and/or Mr Tannen to get the buffs/debuffs off but risk Seamus escaping or taking down Huggy OR get Huggy’s retaliation in first and hope he could do it. I went for the latter and watched Huggy fluff his attacks and then go down to Seamus. This was not so good! At this point I was getting worried but Seamus only had a few wounds left. I decided to chip away at him with my remaining models. The Beckoner did a bit of damage and put Brilliance on Seamus. However, the killing blow came from an expected quarter. A Depleted was drawn to the Brilliance imparted on Seamus by the Beckoner. It crawled over the gallows, dropped down the other side and sacrificed itself. The resulting splurge of Brilliance was enough to take Seamus down.

At his point we called it a night and a 3 – 0 win to Jacob. The game was fun, had the right level of complexity and plenty of dark humour. Good stuff! The Jacob crew is fun. I like Huggy and although powerful he is clearly not invincible. The Brilliance mechanic is interesting and there are lots on interesting combos to explore between the models in the crew. Overall it’s a big thumbs up for M2.0 and Jacob from me.

Christmas goodies wave 1

Merry Christmas!

Plans for 2014….

The New Year is approaching fast and I’m wondering where to invest my gaming energies in 2014. I won’t be doing another 12 Labours but I will be reviewing how well that went before the year is out. If there is one thing the Labours have taught me that is I can’t plan more than a couple of months in advance without getting seriously distracted!

Bearing this in mind I’ve quite enjoyed getting onside with a club mate’s philosophy of sticking with a system for an extended period to get the most from it. I’m thinking 2-3 months seems optimum : enough time to thoroughly learn the rules, paint a force and try out a few variations.

One thing is for sure : Smogcon in Feb. The main focus here is Warmahordes of course, but Malifaux, DZC and Bushido may also be worthy distractions. And then there is the speed painting which really needs a bit of practice too – even if just for a laugh.

So, in conclusion, Jan and Feb will see me keeping Warmahordes firmly in mind. However, I would like to go to Smogcon in a good position to play one of the other systems to a respectable standard too.