Dark Breach Beatdown Report

 As promised, this entry will provide a quick review of the 'Dark Breach Beatdown' tournament games I played. There is so much information to go through it's hard to know what to pick, but someone asked me to go through the crew I used for the tournament, so that's what I will focus on.

Game 1

 Lynch: woke up with a hand, endless hunger, expert cheater
 Hungering Darkness (huggy): addict, aether connection (which I have just realized I couldn't have taken, but it wasn't actually used)
 3 Illuminated
 Mr Graves
 Mr Tannen: depression
 Full Cache

 The game was reckoning, close deployment. The schemes were: Assassinate, Breakthrough, cursed object, take prisoner. I took breakthrough (because putting 2 scheme markers within 6" of the other persons deployment simply meant their half of the board) and Assassinate (because I dislike the other schemes when reckoning is in play). My opponent was the mighty James Doxey, who I must say was an excellent opponent and very friendly. We had a really close game, I simply abandoned one flank (there was a huge building in the middle that blocked everything) so he claimed Breakthrough, but getting Mr. Tannen to give 'blocked: can't use soulstones' to Kaeris and then unleashing final debt from Lynch bagged Assassinate. Unfortunately I couldn't get my scheme markers down so I lost 7-6. It was a fantastic game.

Game 2

Lynch: woke up with a hand, endless hunger, expert cheater
Huggy
Mr Graves
Mr Tannen: Depression
2 terror tots
Doppleganger
Illuminated
Full Cache

The game was squatter's rights, corner deployment. The schemes were: distract, power ritual, plant explosives, outflank. Both me and my opponent took power ritual (because it becomes very easy in either corner deployments) and plant explosives (because it is important in tournaments to grab early points). I played against my local henchman, Nate Zettle, a really nice guy who gave me a really enjoyable game. The actual result was almost predetermined. I managed to scrape a win simply because he had forgotten the doppleganger can interact while engaged, so I bagged an early squatters rights point, but we were both so fast and with enough scheme shenanigans that our schemes both bagged 6 easy points. The final score was 8-7 to me.

Game 3

Lynch: woke up with a hand, endless hunger, expert cheater
Huggy
Mr Graves
Mr Tannen: Depression (your probably noticing a trend by now ;) )
2 depleted
2 gupps
Illuminated

The game was turf war on standard deployment. The schemes were: protect territory, deliver a message, vendetta and I can't remember. I took vendetta and deliver a message mainly because I was afraid of Lucius upgrade to steal scheme markers at the end of the game, which is foolish because I should have checked whether he had taken it! My opponent took a gun line and we played on a pretty open board. There was a centre corridor which contained only one skip and a couple of tank traps for cover (I know, not exactly Malifaux terrain). Unfortunately because my opponent kept both Lucius and Dashel in his deployment zone and because we only played 'til turn 3 I didn't grab any scheme points (next turn I would have claimed around 5 I think) but managed to stop my opponent getting any turf war points. Final score was 4-2 to my opponent.

So overall my games were all pretty close. My final differential was -2. I knew I would not place highly, but wasn't expecting second last! I guess there was only 11 players in the tournament so there wasn't many people who lost 2 games and some of those might have got the bye (sp?). All in all I am happy I had some good games.

For those who have never gone to any Malifaux tournaments I am just going to use this opportunity to soap box. Malifaux tournaments are great. You may have disliked the competitive nature of other wargaming events you have gone to, people seem more focused on winning than having fun. The Malifaux tournament scene is not like that. It's very friendly and out for a laugh. I can't recommend it highly enough. Big thanks to the Malifaux scene for inspiring me to give such high praise. Also thanks to John Wharton for organizing the 'Beatdown' event and Greg Piskosz for actually running it :p. 

 I hope this proved an interesting read and told you the information you wanted to hear, next time I want to discuss competitive gaming in general and banter. Until then.