Greetings all. This is Jon. Adam asked me to report my exploits and shenanigans. So instead of sending him bits and pieces I figured I would give this blogging thing a whirl. Writing is not something I do often so if I am somewhat vague feel free to ask questions or leave constructive criticism. Also my phone takes crappy pictures. I am very aware of this. I will upgrade in the near future. With the disclaimers out of the way on to the tournament!
Game one:
Normally I would name opponents but I misplaced a sheet so I'm doing that round by memory and there may be some content that can be construed as a negative play experience. While it is relatively easy to extrapolate who I am talking about, I will leave all names out as I feel its a polite thing I can do. I'm not angry. There are several things I did wrong to lose that game and it was a hard lesson in tournament scheme selection.
Round one:
Strat: Guard the stash. Schemes: Convict Labor, Set up, Undercover Entourage, Leave your mark, Exhaust their forces. Deploy: Corner
Going into this one I was going to use Brewmaster because his defensive trigger is debilitating in corner deployment. But my opponent told me he was relatively new to the game (less then 10 games played if memory serves. So I figured a more straight forward master like Lynch would A. play faster on my side and B. not be so confusing and be a NPE for a newer player by making his models do nothing all game.
So the lists: 10 Thunders Vs Arcanists
Lynch, Woke Up With a Hand, Rising Sun, Recalled Training
Hungering Darkness, Recalled Training
Yin, Smoke Grenades
Chiaki
Illuminated x 2
10 Thunder Brothers x 2
Rasputina, Child of December, Decembers Pawn, Shattered Heart
Wendigo
Ice Golem, Armor of December
Hoarcat Pride
Ice Gamin x 3
Sabretooth Cerebus
I don't remember who won flip or who deployed first. There was no from the shadows I started by the building with the grey roof, and my opponent in the opposite corner. I sent a brother down each flank to complete convict labor and then to peel off for leave your mark, an illuminated toward each stash marker (hugging cover), Huggy to support one and Yin the other. Lynch set up behind a fence where he could not be seen between both strat groups. He came up kinda in a cloud formation and I'm not really certain if there was a plan other then to try to win combat and sweep past me. This was probably one of his first games since Huggy's incorporeal was frustrating him. So much so he used smash when Huggy was on one wound top of turn two (probably unaware he was only buried). Removing Huggy left a lane for my illuminated to skirt past the golem and charge Raspy. He tried to harass one of my thunder brothers with the hoarcat. Lynch deleted the cerebus releasing huggy who charged the hoarcat and deleted it so my markers on that flank would count. With Raspy effectively neutralized (don't remember if I killed the golem somewhere in there) he decided to call it. We both failed the strat turn 3 so I got that game 9-1. I don't particularly enjoy beating brand new players this bad. I only hope he sticks with the game and gives it a chance.
Game two:
This table was interesting. The stairs up to the platforms didn't seem set up in any logical way and I knew I was taking 3 models that don't care. This guy was running Outcasts but also said he was relatively new. So we agreed everything was climbable. Since he showed up with a box that didn't look like it could hold the rat engine and if it did all my stuff can act independent and it was standard deploy sooo...
Round two:
Strat: Turf War. Schemes: Convict Labor, A Quick Murder, Public Demonstration, Show of Force, Exhaust their forces. Deploy: Standard
The lists: 10 Thunders Vs Outcasts
Lynch, Woke Up With a Hand, Rising Sun, Recalled Training
Hungering Darkness, Recalled Training
Yin, Smoke Grenades
Chiaki
Illuminated x 2
10 Thunder Brothers x 2
Von Schill
Hannah
Lazarus
Strongarm Suit
Librarian
Hans
I don't remember his upgrades as I didn't write them down but every model had an upgrade. With Turf War and Show of Force having obvious synergy I didn't expect I could compete in Show with just Yin. As an aside with his crews only threat to my scheme runners being Hans I knew I had 3 points locked up for convict labor (or he would have to potentially lose a stat point and a scheme point to contest my markers). Public Demonstration while this being the easiest set up I will ever get the list is not built to do it and it relies too heavily not picking off an Illuminated before I spring it. In hindsight a quick murder on the Strongarm was probably the way I should have gone but somewhere in the back of my mind what if he plays cagey with an obvious melee model and stands back shooting people? So I settled on Exhaust. The Brothers didn't have to guard markers anyway as he was obviously all in on a rush to the middle.
Something that didn't happen is I didn't stop to think what he probably took for the second scheme. I can rule out Public Demonstration seeing as how he had 0 demonstrators, not enough models to attempt Convict, and Exhaust is difficult if you are being out activated (but not to be ruled out) so it was almost certainly a Quick Murder (which my list inadvertently thwarts with attacking Yin at a double negative outside of 6"). But had I did this step I would have deployed Yin in cover for an extra negative. Even though it turns out Hans doesn't have a built in positive like the other snipers these are the kinds of mistakes I'm going to need to eliminate from my game.
Turn 1. I deploy on the closer side in the picture. Brother on each flank and everything else aiming to support the fight for the middle. He takes a pot shot with Hans (set up on the walkway behind the building for cover) at Yin which misses (still not triggering my spidey senses). I advance everything into cover except the Brothers. I send Chiaki to support the thunder brother on my left flank so I can get the markers down quick to maybe get him into the scum turn 3 for Exhaust. He brought the Strongarm and Librarian down my right flank but angling for the center. I think he got Hannah and Schill up to or on the walkway towards the center. I still don't know what the plan for Lazarus was but he was back by Hans on the ground. Score 0-0
Turn 2. He advances Strongarm and Hannah up to score. I charge Huggy in to melee range of both putting some damage on Hannah so the Librarian would have to think about randomizing. I advance an Illuminated to score. Between Hans and Schill they kill that Illuminated. So I advance the other one and Yin in for scoring. I start running the left flank bro toward the center and advance the other to cover to maybe make a run at Hans. Score 2-2 (Convict for me, Show for him).
Turn 3. This where my opponent says 'That's where it all went horribly wrong really'. I win imitative pop Recalled Training stone for the envelop trigger. I hit the Strongarm for a straight damage flip and top deck the red joker for 11 damage. Then I stone for envelop and hit Hannah for 7. And suddenly there were 2 less models. (turns out he forgot a legend to live up to which is basically hard to kill. The math as I see it is I would have killed both of those models with Lynch next activation if he skipped the librarian to get rid of Huggy and in the end of that turn he might have scored 2 less) He jumps Schill into Huggy burying him. The Librarian moves up to score. Still no clue what Lazarus is doing. I move Yin and the Illuminated up on the walk to go after Hans next turn. Chiaki and the thunder bro came up to score the strat. I score exhaust somewhere in there I think it was Yin on Lazarus. Score 5-4
Turn 4 .Pick off the Librarian, exhaust Lazarus, and engage Hans. Turn flew by pretty quick. Score 8-4. Called the game here 10-4 me.
With a +14 differential and at most 5 undefeateds barring ties (which there is very likely at least a few) means I'm probably playing for first place next game. There were no table numbers and match ups just picked a table, set up, and go. So outside of the final standings there is no way for me to tell at this point if I'm playing for 1st or the second place table (where 1st is possible if the the first place table ties and being in 5th at this point being highly unlikely but mathematically possible).
Game three:
This was the table my opponent suggested. When you see his list it will be obvious why but someone beat us to it. This is Shenlong, Hans, and two snipers all day. I will gladly trade my 6 shot to his 3. But instead of dwelling on what almost was a completely different game...
This table seemed relatively balanced. More outcasts and 'kinda new player'. I'm going to hedge against ratjoy and bring Aionus. Somewhere in the chaos I put an element in my list for Reconnoiter and not Reckoning.
Round three:
Strat: Reckoning. Schemes: Convict Labor, Take Prisoner, Detonate the Charges, Covert Breakthrough, Hunting Party. Deploy: Standard
The lists: 10 Thunders Vs Outcasts
Lynch, Woke Up With a Hand, Rising Sun
Hungering Darkness, Recalled Training
Aionus, Recalled Training
Chiaki
Illuminated x 2
Torshiro, Command the Graves
Leveticus
2x Waif
Rusty Alyce
Hans
2x Trapper
2x Convict Gunslingers
I lost the deployment flip. This wasn't as debilitating as it could have been considering he had 2 models with from the shadows I failed to account for in my set up. I chose the corner with the small square building. He deployed both Trappers together one one the ground behind the rectangle building on my side and one up on the roof in the corner as close to the corner of the board as you can get* (I'll touch back on this as I got cheated). Hans was up on the building in the middle of the other side.
Instead of doing a play by play or turn by turn I'll just run the highlights. Not taking any bros cut Convict out of contention. So I went with Breakthrough and Detonate because Chiaki could probably score me 2 on that. I tie up Hans with Huggy turn 2 after killing a Gunslinger to get him back. I tied up Levi with Torshiro for a couple turns. He scored the strat turn 2 and had I ran my Illuminated down the right flank and pretend it was dropping convict markers I could have stopped him from scoring 3 (for the game) on hunting party.
Where this game went sideways for me is when I tried to shoot the Trapper on the roof (who had move up turn one cause it was out of range or something but it was still more than 2 inches from the edge of the building facing my deployment zone) He was running the other Trapper to do break through but he hadn't dropped any markers yet. So he told me I'm pretty sure you can't shoot that guy because vantage point rules. I didn't bother to check the rules at this point because this guy was slow playing me weather he intended to or not. So I just changed target to the scheme runner and cheat to what would have been a tie unless he cheated the red joker and he cheated the joker. I had the red joker in hand and I tie/win the game had I played it there. I was saving it to one shot a buried Levi with Aionus.
So there is this last round call at 15 mins and we are seconds from the end of 4. score going into 5 is 4-6. And he calls the game with some lame excuse of I have to be ready to drive 3 hours after this. If that's the only way you can win buddy have at it. Top of 5 I have Lynch w/ 5 wds, huggy full and in charge range for Levi, unwounded Aionus, and Chiaki. Levi had one wound, 2 Waifs hiding in a puddle of piss and the Trapper on the roof who at this point had been cheating the entire game to shoot at me as it turns out that the vantage point rule runs both ways. Chiaki could still score me detonate for 2 or 3, Lynch could pick up a marker. And I would have scored strat for killing Levi twice that turn. I turned in the sheets with 12 minutes left and there is no way we would have not finished with 8 models on the table. But whatever.
So what did I learn from all that? Take models to do the schemes I chose, have a fall back model, and score a fast as possible. I don't mean for this to sound salty but I'm sure it does. I learned several things from all three games, generally had fun (I can't prove the last guy meant to cheat me but you can be for certain I have vantage point seared into my brain and that won't happen again). I need to slow down and focus at the selection step because this is not the first time I made this type of error.
And a week from this tournament is BKFuax (last weekend at the time of posting this). So more tournament reports to come.
Showing posts with label Field Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Field Report. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Friday, April 8, 2016
Adepticon Field Report
Editor's Note: Last weekend my friend Jon (you'll remember his name from numerous battle reports on the blog) went up to Chicago to test out his Ten Thunders might versus the wider Malifaux field. He lives in Atlanta, which is sort of the birthplace of Wyrd anyways, and he's played at Gencon basically every year since becoming a Malifaux player, but this was his first trip to Adepticon. He was texting me the results from his game, and I said "Hey, how would you feel about writing up a report on the con for Malifaux Musings? He said yes, and this was the result. I look forward to doing more of these in the future, as a bachelor man like Jon is much more free to travel and compete than I am. So, this will be our first field report from roving reporter, Jon. Hope you enjoy!
So then the Easter sale dropped. Now I have models to paint! And anyone who knows me knows this is kind of an Achilles’ heel of mine. So I spent almost all my free time the week before assembling and painting (skipping that x wing game I wanted to get in but it wouldn’t matter because I probably needed all day Friday to paint as well). I ordered bases and they came in Tuesday (I was lucky to keep refreshing the Easter sale every 10 min until it went live so my order was close to first in the queue.) My label generated Tuesday at 4, so I thought it would go out that day. Turns out Fail-Ex had different plans. Left Wyrd on Wednesday at 2 and I got it Thursday during work hours before I was set to hit the road. So thus began the comedy of set backs. First up I get a call at 2 (estimated time of departure) ‘I have a flat’… so this set us back an hour. Between rush hour and the rain we lost probably 2 hours in the commute. Got in at 2.30am. We didn’t reserve Thursday because when we made the plan he was gonna drive Friday morning, but this changed because of his crystal brush contest. So that hotel did not have a room for us. We went over to the convention center to see if registration might be open because the swag bag was suppose to be worth it. No such luck. So he made the suggestion we could just nap in the car which I can totally do. Turned out he cannot. So after an hour we went in search of a hotel room. We get that sorted and Friday was bearable. Got there about 11 after the swag was gone. Then we set up shop and paint. Usually I do ok on 6 hours sleep so I paint until 2 am. Then the fire alarm goes off at 4.30 am… When I wake up I’m so tired and kinda in a hurry I couldn’t figure out how the coffee dispensers work so I left the hotel without and it was snowing. How many signs of the apocalypse do I half to encounter just to play some Malifaux? So now that you have an understanding of where I started Saturday morning and that I don’t normally record games in any way to do battle reports, take this with a grain of salt. And I didn’t bother to take any pictures because my camera is blurry and I need a new phone.
I declare 10 thunders
Game 1: Lynch v Ramos Woke up upgrades for Ramos that probably did nothing
Rising sun
Expert Cheater
Huggy w addict and recall training Joss w Imbued
Kang w recall training Howard w imbued
Yu w wandering river style Johan
Depleted Brass arachnid
Watcher
2x austringer
Pictured: Not Jon. But definitely the image of him I'll be using in this article. |
***
So where to begin… for me this was more a spur of the moment type trip I was fully unprepared to take. I logged into the Adepticon site a couple weeks ago for giggles to see what in all was going on. The draw was they had an X wing worldwide event in 8 cities in 8 different countries and I was going to try to get a game in before I went. I have lots of ships but haven't played anyone, and I don’t want to be the guy that shows up to a tournament who has never played even. I would play X wing on Friday and Malifaux on Saturday and maybe the story encounter Sunday. So I found someone on facebook to split the expenses with me (who just so happens to be Wyrd's studio painter) and the plan was in motion.
So then the Easter sale dropped. Now I have models to paint! And anyone who knows me knows this is kind of an Achilles’ heel of mine. So I spent almost all my free time the week before assembling and painting (skipping that x wing game I wanted to get in but it wouldn’t matter because I probably needed all day Friday to paint as well). I ordered bases and they came in Tuesday (I was lucky to keep refreshing the Easter sale every 10 min until it went live so my order was close to first in the queue.) My label generated Tuesday at 4, so I thought it would go out that day. Turns out Fail-Ex had different plans. Left Wyrd on Wednesday at 2 and I got it Thursday during work hours before I was set to hit the road. So thus began the comedy of set backs. First up I get a call at 2 (estimated time of departure) ‘I have a flat’… so this set us back an hour. Between rush hour and the rain we lost probably 2 hours in the commute. Got in at 2.30am. We didn’t reserve Thursday because when we made the plan he was gonna drive Friday morning, but this changed because of his crystal brush contest. So that hotel did not have a room for us. We went over to the convention center to see if registration might be open because the swag bag was suppose to be worth it. No such luck. So he made the suggestion we could just nap in the car which I can totally do. Turned out he cannot. So after an hour we went in search of a hotel room. We get that sorted and Friday was bearable. Got there about 11 after the swag was gone. Then we set up shop and paint. Usually I do ok on 6 hours sleep so I paint until 2 am. Then the fire alarm goes off at 4.30 am… When I wake up I’m so tired and kinda in a hurry I couldn’t figure out how the coffee dispensers work so I left the hotel without and it was snowing. How many signs of the apocalypse do I half to encounter just to play some Malifaux? So now that you have an understanding of where I started Saturday morning and that I don’t normally record games in any way to do battle reports, take this with a grain of salt. And I didn’t bother to take any pictures because my camera is blurry and I need a new phone.
Editor's Note: I like to imagine it looked something this. |
I declare 10 thunders
Game 1: Lynch v Ramos Woke up
Low river monk mobile tool kit
2x 10 t brothers
I don’t know if anyone snapped any pictures of any of the tables but this one was a wrecked rail yard.
Stat and schemes: recon, convict labor, detonate the charges, exhaust forces, neutralize leader, take prisoner.
Deploy: Standard
I took convict labor and detonate. He took exhaust and take prisoner on Yu.
The game didn’t really go as expected. He used his beaters to guard Ramos behind cover and sent spiders to contest recon. Me not being awake at this point in the morning was too slow to counter this. And I should’ve taken Torshiro. And while I understand the function of depleted, getting them to work is another animal. I score one for strat and 3 for convict labor. Lose 9-4. I go grab a soda for some much needed caffeine.
Game 2: Lynch vs Ironsides
Woke up upgrades
Endless hunger
Huggy w RT captain w/ imbuded
Yin w/ smoke grenades envy with imbued
Pathfinder mouse
Low river monk Johan
2x illuminated 2x gunsmiths
2x 10 t brothers
This was table 18 with carnival terrain.
Strat and schemes: Extraction, convict labor, catch and release, hunting party, leave your mark, and search ruins.
Deploy: Standard
I took convict labor and search ruins. I think he had hunting party and I know he had ruins. This one was kinda meh. We traded pieces until I had yin, both brothers, the pathfinder and lynch and he had captain and mouse. And this is where I misread and thought center line is where the markers needed to be. So I won 7-4. I had a ton of unmolested AP to score 10 and this cost me at the end of the tournament.
Editor's Note: Jon's models when he told them where to put the scheme markers. |
Game 3: Lynch V Levi (Kyle from Schemes and Stones podcast)
Woke up iron
Endless hunger I think there were other upgrades
Huggy w RT 2x waif
Yin w/ smoke grenades Strongarm w/ oathkeeper
Pathfinder peace keeper w/ oathkeeper
2x illuminated taelor w/ oathkeeper
2x 10 t brothers necro punk
Table 13 was kinda like a valley with a few pockets of trees.
Strat and Schemes: collect the bounty, convict labor, quick murder, occupy turf, show force, leave mark.
Close deploy.
I took convict labor and mark. I think he had show and mark. He sent the strongarm and a waif up one flank, necro up the other and everything else up the center. I sent a bro up each side and sent yin and huggy to deal with the strongarm and the rest move up to deal with the host. Yin put the minus wp debuff on the strong arm and then locked down his walk/charge. Huggy came along and caressed him once to give brilliance and then the rest of the tentacles sodomized him for red joker 11 at the top of round 2. Managed to kill the PK relatively easy. The necro got 3 for mark. Levi shot one bro, buried, then reversed field and killed the other one. I scored bounty twice and got 3 from labor. I think this ended 5-7 or 8 bad guys (this ran up to the timer and I was still kinda in zombie mode). If taelor didn’t joker an Illuminated last turn I could’ve sprung her to tie this game but it was well played on his side. I should have ignored the necro and used the pathfinder on the main host. That might have made the difference in killing stuff to get me the win.
Game 4: Lynch V Ironsides (again ) (Tyler? from Malifaux's Most Wanted podcast I think (could be wrong))
Woke up
Endless hunger upgrades
Huggy w RT Johan
Yin w/ smoke grenades mouse
Kang w RT 2x gunsmith
2x illuminated 2x oxford mage
2x 10 t brothers firestarter
Table 13 was kinda like a valley with a few pockets of trees.
Strat and Schemes: reckoning, convict labor, exhaust, frame, public demo, show of force.
Corner deploy.
I took convict and exhaust. He took exhaust and ? (this game was before the dinner break so hunger and fatigue made this game a blur but I remember both of us were laughing most of the time and he had Kang down to 1 wound for the entire turn 3 and could not get the last wound to score reckoning. I may have cheated and red joker and told him got to work harder than that. I more or less rolled his forces as I advanced behind Yin with his double – to hit. I think I won 8-3
Game 5: Lynch V guild mcmourning
Woke up
Endless hunger upgrades
Huggy w RT frank
Yin w/ smoke grenades sebastain
swordsman w RT chihuahua
2x illuminated abuela
2x 10 t brothers nurse
Table 7 town square
Strat and Schemes: Guard stash, convict labor, hunting party, inspection, set up, take prisoner.
Standard deploy.
I took convict and Take Prisoner Frank, He took set up and ? (I honestly don’t know). This game started well enough. I move up using building for cover. He had abuela, nurse austringer and a watcher on 1 side, and the rest to the other side. Turn 2 he shoots at the approaching swordsman only to faceplam when he remember I had bulletproof 3. Huggy then told her to shoot the austringer and she said sure thing and smoked him. He manages to throw mcmourning in lynches face then huggy, yin, and illuminate counter charge and remove him. Then frank and Sebastian come up and try to avenge their master and this is where the game went sour. He had sebastain behind frank but I still had line of effect to sebastain (I will concede he was very close to being hidden but he was not) So I attacked sebastain and he didn’t hear me and assumed I was going after frank. When I get this sorted when he had frank on one wound, I had him move all those wound over to sebastain. Then I thought he was gonna flip the table on me. He was throwing his pieces and everything. At this point all I did was pass with all my models but only to take bare minimum to score 10. I won 10- not 10(I think 5). I think he was kinda ok after the game after I showed him I had take frank and that why I didn’t want the wounds on him. But that was a sour game. But I learned I need to be rested and pay more attention to what my opponent is doing. I should’ve caught that before it became an issue.
Editor's Note: Or, just follow this advice. |
But I am happy with my 10 (should have been 8th) place finish. I had fun for 4 ½ games. And I can’t wait for gen con and to go back next year.
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