We’ve already had one guest battle report this week from Phiasco, but now here’s a second one, featuring a new
contributor to the blog! But first, some quick mini-musings.
Mini-Musings
-Act IV of the Through the Breach worldwide event, A Stitch
in Time, launched on the 17th. Will the Fated make it back to the
present? And how much damage have they done during their trip to the past?
-Game Designer Lindsey is leaving Wyrd. That sucks, as she
is lovely, brilliant, and nice. Go say goodbye to her, dang it!
-There was a small mix-up with the render for alternate Titania
available from Wyrd’s Easter Sale. Turns out it has legs. Don’t worry, the one
you ordered is this render, not the other one. And if you wanted the other one,
they’ll give you a refund. Also, you’re weird.
-In case you missed it last week, I wrote the tactics
article in this month’s Wyrd Chronicles. It was really cool to write for the
company I’ve been supporting as a fan for the last several years, and hopefully
I’ll get the opportunity to do so again in the future.
April Tournament at Gaming
Underground
By John Fox
So this
past weekend I loaded up my models and drove an hour to Gaming Underground in
Highpoint, NC. I have been experimenting with Hamelin and Leviticus lately and
so my Arcanist enthusiasm was down quite a bit and I was heading into things
feeling pretty undecided all the way up until the start of the first round.
Never the less, all of my Arcanists are painted and I haven’t slogged through
the 16 models I need to have a fully painted Hamelin crew. Also, I’ve set
myself on a personal achievement of a tournament win with every Arcanist master
this year and as I’ve only gotten a win in with Marcus so far, I had a lot of
work to do.
Round 1:
Standard Deployment
Guard the Stash
Claim Jump, Accusation, Leave Your Mark, Mark for Death, and
Set Up
My opponent was Andrew McGrady from Bristol, TN. He called
Arcanists and I knew it was going to be an interesting match. My list was:
Colette (Nothing Up My Sleeve, Arcane Reservoir)
Carlos Vasquez (Practiced Production, Stunt Double)
Joss (Warding Runes)
3 Oxfordian Mages with all the trimmings
Performer
Malifaux Raptor
My opponent ran:
Ramos (Arcane Reservoir, Field Generator)
Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech, Powered by Flame)
Brass Arachnid
Electric Creation
Howard (Imbued Energies)
Highlights from the game: We both
took Leave Your Mark and Accuse. I knew I couldn’t beat Ramos in Guard or
Accusation! with so many activations so I focused on Leave Your Mark. On turn
2, I paralyzed the soul stone miner. On turn 3 I seduced the marker with my
Performer. Carlos Vasquez managed to take a full turn of Howard and survive,
this was a theme that continued into game three. My opponent managed to blow up
Carlos, denying my 3rd Leave Your Mark. I managed a mage turn that knocked enemy Joss
back to the edge of the board, effectively removing him from the game. On the
last turn I didn’t have my Accusation! and my opponent had 2 spiders left with
1 AP each. Both spiders were engaged with Joss who was at 2 Wounds and had
already gone. When he attacked my Joss my opponent was surprised when I cheated
down so that his spider hit Joss. Joss got reactivate and regened 1 wound thanks
to the nearby mage. I Accused his last remaining spider, who only had 1 AP and
couldn’t kill joss thanks to the regen and hard to wound. Final score was Colette 8- Ramos 6. It was a
very fun game and it’s always great to play someone new. The game really made
me feel much stronger about Colette in GG17 after her Prompt cuddle.
Round 2:
Standard Deployment
Extraction
Claim Jump, Frame For Murder, Hunting Party, Eliminate the
Leader, Recover Evidence.
My opponent in this round was my
good friend Ray Flynn who I drove down to the tournament with. We’d played together enough that we knew what
was coming.
I ran:
Rasputina (Shattered Heart, Cold Nights)
Wendigo
Snow storm
Arcane Emissary (Elemental Conflux)
December Acolyte
Silent One
Gamin
Arcane Effigy
He ran:
Kirai (Unforgiven, Absorb Spirit, Spirit Beacon)
Archie (Doc Found a Squid Today, Hulking Leap)
Datsue Bae (Spirit Whispers, Wronged Spirits)
Phillip and the Nanny (Haunting Cries)
Necropunk
Flesh Construct
Night Terror
I took Frame on the Acolyte and
Hunting Party. I deployed to take advantage of a tree near the extraction zone
to block LOS to Kirai. My goal this game was to use terrain and ice pillars to
keep him off the extraction point. It didn’t go so well.
Game Highlights: I walled off his
forces and got into position, making him have to come around the terrain to get
to me. He moved Archie up and between Snow Storm and the Arcane Emissary. I
killed him, scoring my opponent all his Frame Points. Archie killed my Acolyte
as well, scoring my Frame. I got the first turn of extraction and a single
Hunting Party. However, I placed Raspy very badly and when Ikirio came out she
had Raspy pinned against a rock. Game went from being close to going downhill
after that. Kirai 10- Rasputina 5.
Round 3
Corner Deployment
Headhunter
Claim Jump, Frame For Murder, Leave Your Mark, Search the
Ruins, Last Stand
I was playing another good friend,
Jim Oritz and as I wasn’t going to place with a loss I decided it was time to
try for a Kaeris win and see what she can do with the GG17 scheme pools. I
brought:
Kaeris (Grab and Drop, Arcane Reservoir, and Seize the Day)
Carlos Vasquez (Stunt Double, Practiced Production)
Mech Rider
Arcane Effigy
2 Performers
Firestarter (Imbued Energies)
My opponent took:
Colette (Cabaret Choreography, Nothing up my Sleeve)
Cassandra (Practiced Production)
Joss
Silent One
Performer
Howard (Imbued Energies)
Malifaux Raptor
Our board was a crazy mix of severe
water terrain and buildings on raised walkways providing a lot of cover and
hard to get through terrain. This game was a bit of fun for me as I have played
Jim a lot and I knew he had Leave Your Mark and Frame on Howard. I took Search
the Ruins to bluff frame and Leave Your Mark. Highlights of the game: Carlos
tanked another Howard turn and didn’t die until turn 3 with a combined effort
of Cassandra and Howard. Howard died to burning, denying Jim 3 points for
Frame. Mech Rider scored 3 points pretty much by himself for Search the Ruins.
I left a performer in the back that denied a few leave your mark points. Final
score Kaeris 8- Colette 4.
I ended up coming in 6th
place and got a foil Kaeris card (the best looking card) as a prize. I got 2
masters closer to my achievement for the year and got a recharge on how I feel
about the Arcanist faction as a whole in GG2017. As always it was an excellent
tournament put on by one of our fantastic NC Henches.
***
Lastly, don’t
forget that my tournament, NRVFaux, is this weekend. I’ve posted the scenarios
for each of the three rounds here. Watch out for Round 3, it’s kind of a bitch.
I hope I’ll see some of you there. And, when you’re registering for the event
(registration starts at 9AM), say “Malifaux Musings” to me to get an extra
raffle ticket for a drawing for fabulous prize(s) at the end.