ToMB2 - Back...alley

It's been far too long, but I finally got some inspiration to finish what I started.

 Since I last wrote I have been to a few events with ressers and basically got a bit sick of them. There is nothing wrong with them, not at all, but the basic problem was that I didn't have the options I'd like to play with. Since then I have been to a bunch of events with Gremlins and really enjoyed trying out new things. The last event, however, saw me throw in the gauntlet as "guild". For those who don't know my "guild" crews are Lucius and McMorning with what they can take out of faction. I had masses of fun with this and, to my amazement, came third overall. This meant not only do I come home with some keen for McMorning but also with some shiny new Iron Zombies, who are possibly some of my favourite models in the range. All of this was enough to force me to get my paintbrush out and paint something fabulous. Below you can see the results.

So what now? Well I have missed my target by god knows how long and I don't even know how long is left for the next one. I think I am going to need to back out. It's not so much not hitting the deadline, but that I want to be able to do what I feel like. It's a shame, as I like this sort of thing, but what's the point of a hobby if you're not enjoying it?

That all being said, at this precise moment in time I am enjoying it. Next up I have a few options. For the same reasons I have given above I don't want to commit to anything specifically, but options include:

Nicodem
Mortimer
Vulture
3* Punk Zombies
The Iron Zombies
2*Performers

So in short: I may or may not do some hobby which may be for my Ressers.

It makes me laugh that this used to be daily. I am not sure I'll do another one. I guess being employed takes a lot of time. Go figure. For those that have kept up with it thanks for reading, hopefully I'll see you across the gaming table soon.

ToMB2 - Better Late than Never

Somehow, after having painted 3/4 models for this month in one week I managed to actually fail to meet my target for this month. Partly this was because the second nurse didn't really have much chance of making it into a Seamus crew, partly because I went on holiday. Enough of excuses though, I have finally got round to finish this questionable medical practitioner.

the offending nurse

So what am I going to do next? Well the plan was always to carry on painting the rest of the crew box. That is McMorning, Sebastian and the Chihuahua. The thing is, despite having lots of fun converting the doctor and being very grateful to Maria for providing the metal replacement to the BO plagues pooch after I stuff the plastic one in Seamus' bag, I didn't have a lot of love for anything other than the hatter.

This months pledge

So have I been converted? I am not entirely sure. One of the things I found about Seamus' as I have him now is that I am really happy with the list... which somehow is a bad thing. I really like making lists, discovering new synergies and concocting maniacal plans. I kind of feel stuck in a rut. Branching off into another master could be a way to fix that. One thing I definitely want to do is get Molly, but until she reveals herself I am wondering if McMorning could provide some release.

What I plan to paint this month

The thing is, though, I have not had any inspiration at all to make lists with him. Currently the plan is to use 2 Nurses, 2 performers, 2 flesh constructs, chihuahua, canine remains and sebastian. I honestly have no idea what I would even consider taking instead. Perhaps part of the problem is that I really only want to work in plastics, made even more important by the name tags that I have been putting on models bases. The other problem is that the Gremlins are calling to me again and I have been having lots of fun playing with them instead. It is possible, however, that once I put some paint to him I will feel compelled to put him on the table. We'll see.

On a positive note, however, I am going to Kings of North this weekend and I am planning to put ToMB2 to the field, if only for one of the days, so I am hoping that gives me more enthusiasm. I am sure I will let you know how that goes shortly.

Until then.

ToMB2 - Learning from Lemonentry

What did I learn from my Lemonentry? I think the main things were being aware of what I can do more and deeper thinking about model selection. Really, when I say, ‘being aware of what I can do’ it’s more ‘being aware of what Seamus can do’. Sometimes I can get a little wrapped in hitting things with my Chihuahua bag and not think about backhanding people or other stuff. Backhand is fantastic for getting Seamus out of trouble, which I suppose people who take the reputation upgrade are a little more familiar with, but when Seamus needs to be elsewhere for any reason it’s pretty essential. It’s also picking Seamus’ targets more carefully. I got it wrong in my last game where the scheme marker is placed when Seamus hits stuff (in contact with him and not the enemy) so not only did I not get the scheme marker where I wanted, but I set Seamus up to die. I think Seamus is best of killing little things. Sometimes, when teaming up with the copycat, he can take big models down, but ultimately he is a murderer who prays on the weak and vulnerable.

What feedback do I have on model selection? What about everyone else in the crew? Well there are some models that are not going to shift. Sybelle and the belles continue to be a favourite of mine.

I must say I am very happy with how Brunhilde the flesh construct performed. Although it died a lot it turned out to be crucial to a number of plans. It works with the rest of the crew by reactivating when the opponent has no cards but providing the punch that the crew can sometimes lack.

The canine remains didn't really achieve much in the game. Admittedly it was largely there for a swift scheme runner and was almost always hunted down by something large and gruesome; to name it Alyce one game, Huggy the next and finally the Dawn Serpent. I don't think that's what's putting me off it though, I think it doesn't really have any synergy with the crew. For an extra stone I could take a belle who with Sybelle have lots of speed. I am not going to take 3 belles, but I just think it may not be the best choice.

I really enjoy using Bete Noir and in some situations I think she is going to be very effective, I am little concerned I am getting a little dependent on her and when I fight against mass constructs or spirits (who aren't undead) it could cause issues. I think for the moment though she is far too usefull to ditch.

 Finally we hit the nurse. I am not entirely sure what to think about the nurse. She is frustratingly slow and has limited range. Without Seamus reputation she doesn't really have much synergy with the crew other than the flesh construct (paralyse to eat) but to get that off you really need your opponent to be in the right place at the right time and you to have the right cards. I think she is situationally evil and has lots of potential, but even when she works it jars with me. Turning enemy models off for a turn is basically harsh and the reason why I didn't want to play Pandora anymore. I think the nurse was a big reason why I didn't want to play with Zoraida to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I think they are very effective, I am just not sure it's the game I want to play.

 So based on this, what's next? Well I already have some punk zombies to paint up so they might add some punch to the crew (plus I had lots of fun making them so they are being painted) and I have the rest of the McMorning and Nicodem boxes to paint, but I don't really have an idea of what I want to have to expand the crew. I know I want dead doxies, but I am going to wait for the plastics which are not out for the next few months. There are many things that work well Seamus with the evil reputation, hanged are an obvious example, but seeing as that is not how I want to play him that doesn't help. Here are my thoughts so far:

 Canine Remains: I know above I said they don't synergise, but I mainly just want them so I can say I am running the 'bitches and hos' crew
Flesh Construct: I am really happy how the first has worked out, so a second will both be lots of fun to make and work well with the crew?
Molly box: I love Molly, I think she's a really fun character and she works really well with all the stuff I have already. I think she is one box that is definitely on my list.

I'd love to hear what you think. Post a comment or drop me a message in the various social networking sites I am on. Until next time.

ToMB2 - Lemonentry

Last week was pretty full on as I attempted to get all of my ToMB2 (Tale of Malifaux Bloggers 2) toys ready for a tournament running this Sunday. I basically had to get almost all of my pledge for this month painted by Sunday, all bar one nurse. Thankfully, almost at the last minute finishing Sunday, I managed to get them done and could rock up to the tournament with a fully painted crew. Of course, this meant I only used the same list every game, but to be honest I didn’t feel that handicapped by that. Rather than put all the pictures of my painted toys here I am going to use it up to break up the text, hope you don’t mind. So what happened in my games?

 Well round 1 I was matched up against Brookes. A sguig I have faced a few times in Sheffield, it turns out each time I have played him I have played a different faction! First time we fought I was thoroughly smashed, second time it swung the other way, so what would happen in the third. Well all my initial plans were put to waste when he declared Leviticus as his master. With not much chance of scoring for assassinate (and never 3 points) and absolutely none for spring the trap, which is what I wanted to use, I declared entourage on Seamus and protect territory. Brookes had announced entourage on Seamus and had hidden assassinate. Leviticus vs Seamus is an interesting game. On the one hand Seamus is one of the best masters to go hunting waifs that there is, demonstrated that in turn 2 I had eternally buried Leviticus. Abominations, however, are my crews bane. The highlight for me was when I realised I could comply Leviticus with Sybelle and make him take 2 wounds when he performs and action… even walking! However Brookes had taken a crew of very hefty beaters. Rusty Alice, Hannah and Johan all rocked minimum damage 3 and took more killing than I could dish out. Though I was losing on Turf war because of this, as long as Seamus stayed alive in his deployment zone and held onto my protect territory I’d still come out on top. This is where abominations came in. With Rusy Alice respawning them when they die, they prevented Seamus using his zero and disappearing out of harms way. Hannah also stopped Seamus being lured because of her anti-suit aura. In the end it all came down to the final flip, a TN 10 defence duel on Seamus which if he passed then I won. He failed and the one card in hand was not enough to keep him alive. Curses. Still, when the scores came out it was a 5 all draw. Killing Seamus hadn’t lost me protect territory because I still had a belle on the markers and he didn’t have more than me. Small mercies.

Thinking back on it now there were plenty of things I should have done. I could have used Seamus’ backhand to push away from the abomination so that I could 0 again. I should have gone defensive with Seamus in the last turn rather than pointlessly hitting Alice. I don’t feel too bad about this though. The game was fantastic, a nail biter through out. Brookes, as ever, was a gentleman and a great fun opponent.

 Second game I was drawn again Mike Taylor, fielding his beautifully painted Lynch crew. I was fairly confident in this game, I must admit. I have played using Lynch a fair amount so I was confident I knew the strengths and weaknesses of his crew. The game started out rather ominously as I black jokered a back alley with Seamus, preventing me from starting to unleash pain until a turn too late. This meant that Mike had scored breakthrough and there was very little I could do about it, however I still needed to cull some of Mike’s numbers otherwise it would make recon really difficult. This was another great game, more nip and tuck and models jumping around all over the place. In the end of the day, however, Seamus’ ability to hop into almost any quarter he wanted meant I could keep control of quarters. Final score 10-7 to me.

 So one win and a draw still me still in the race for a podium place, albeit it at the back of the pack. I even had a fair chance of not being matched up against the top players. Or you might have thought that… I actually got matched against another sguig, third place at the GT and masters qualifier Blutac Bursnell. Sigh. Don’t get me wrong though, blutac is a lovely guy but I had a feeling which way this was going to go. Announcing 10T McCabe in Headhunter I already knew it was going to be tough. The ability to push all of his models meant that he can get them out of combat ready to pick up head markers. Things got a lot more difficult when he killed Seamus first activation of turn 2! The reactivating Dawn Serpent, rather than running off to drop a scheme marker for plant explosives like I thought it would, dived on Seamus and in 4 attacks took him down to his hard to kill with millions of poison. Losing the initiative in turn 2 meant the mad hatter was no more. Although on the back foot from then on, I don’t think I did too badly. An unfortunate black joker to lure a model saw me unable to remove the last card from blutacs had and get reactivate on my flesh construct which is what I needed to score for headhunter turn 2. When the smoke cleared at the end of the game all, I had very few models left but managed to hold out for a 9-8 loss. Another fantastic close game and loads of fun.

 So counting it all up at the end of the day 1-1-1 of win, loss and draw puts me smack bang in the centre of the pack. Not to go home empty handed, however, I was voted best painted crew and got myself a shiny trophy. Awesome stuff! Thanks to everyone who voted for me! I must say there was some fantastic crews on display, special mention going out to Cy and his creepy shadows on the bases of his Neverborn and Mike’s beautifully smooth Lynch crew I mentioned before.

 Overall a fantastic day with really fun games. What more could you want?

It’s also given me plenty of food for thought with Seamus. I’ll probably put up another ramble tomorrow to discuss it. I’ve said it before, but I think tournaments really do give you the best chance to improve your game and reflect on what you have done. Maybe next time I can turn that draw into a win? I suppose it depends on how long I can resist the lure of the green menace I suppose…

ToMB2 - Deadline, I am in you!

So in my last update I said I had failed.

It turns out I lied.

The deadline for month one was, in fact, the 9th March. So, as you might have guessed from the title, this had given me enough time to successfully complete all of my pledged models this month. I even have some pictures as proof:

I have to admit it was tight, but there all done now...

Except that was only month 1!

So what's next?

Well for subsequent months we get £15 to expand our crews, so what am I going to pick?

Well, I have already mentioned I have been using nurses, so they are definitely in. In addition to this I am going to include a canine remains and a flesh construct. This is about half of the McMourning box (I have not included McMourning, Chihuahua and Sebastian) which is about £30 so that is basically £15 right?

I have no idea when the next deadline is though... stay tuned!

In other news, I also plan to take these freshly painted lovelies out to play in Lemonentry, a 50ss tournament at the North West Gaming Centre ran by Aidan 'Britney' Kirk. In a mad moment, I have also decided I am going to use all painted models (it's not a requirement of the event) which means I am going to be playing basically the same list every game. How can this possibly go wrong...

Wish me luck! Expect to hear me reporting defeat soon.

Tale of Malifaux Bloggers 2 - Failure

We are 3 days away from the final deadline for this month and some of you may be thinking, 'No, you can still do it!' but I am going to have to disagree. I am away this weekend for a friends birthday so I am not going to get a chance to paint anything.

I have fallen at the first hurdle. I missed this months challenge.

What did I actually achieve though?

Well I did manage to finally decide how to base my Resserectionists and made and painted almost all the bases for my current models:

I also managed to complete all of the minions from the box:

But of the 7 models I needed to complete, I managed 5:

So what happens now?

Well apparently there is some kind of forfeit, so I guess I am going to have to submit to that. It's not going to stop me trying to keep up with #ToMB2!

On another note, how have the games gone?

Well unfortunately there has been a little hiatus on the Malifaux campaign that was being run. The club wasn't open for one week and in the second there wasn't enough people to get some games in so we played some board games instead.

I have had one game that I haven't reported on since then, however. What have I learnt from this?

Sybelle is amazing! Using her upgrade 'bleeder lash' I charged into an illuminated, managed to cause 6 wounds after armour to it (mod damage twice) AND made it punch an illuminated it was standing next to for another 6 wounds! I am really starting to enjoy obey (I have been messing around with Zoraida in other games to) and it may have cost me a stone, but putting 2 illuminated in a position to die was well worth it!
 The ability call Belle is still the reason I take her though, but having tools at your disposal is very useful.

Nurses are brutal. Being able to guarantee, if you have a decent card in hand, that your opponents most powerful models can do nothing to you is savage. They do spend the beginning of the game dithering a fair amount, but once someone gets into their 8" range they can but savage. They are interesting models to play with, however, because they simply don't do damage. They are extremely good value, however.

I haven't had the ability to play with Seamus in the campaign yet though because I haven't bought a bounty. Soon my precious, soon.

Anyway, that's February's failure out of the way. Roll on March's failure! Catch you soon.

Tale of Malifaux Bloggers: Getting Mad for the Hatter

So far, I haven't done much painting. OK, I have actually done no painting, but I did get some way onto making bases. Look, shiny:

I actually have a fair bit to do on them still... and paint them. Progress is progress though, right?

Anyway, the real reason I am posting is because I have played my first game in the campaign tonight. I used:

Sybelle + her upgrades
2* Belle
Bete Noir
Nurse

with a full cache this comes to 35 stones, which is utterly rediculous because I have an obscene number of stones rapped up in Sybelle for no good reason. Oh well. Anyway, to make things worse we played the new strategy inteference and the weekly thing was a traveller, who sat in the middle of the no go zone dishing out (mostly) benefits to whoever decided to interact with him. The weekly other thing was getting scheme markers in every corner, which Vince's arcanist crew had no issue doing.  I think there were over 20 markers on the board at the end of the game. Somehow, in all the rediculous madness, 2 models were killed but flipped an ace or a 2 so they didn't have any effects. Bete 'died' twice but came back. The game was a draw. I had earned 13 scrip from the game (one of my belles spent the first two turns propositioning him, he paid out 6 scrip) but was only actually able to take 8 home with us from the game, so made the traveller pretty much redundant. It's hard to express how silly that game was. It wasn't helped by the fact that I had decided Bete had an intro, which was just me saying her name in a high pitched voice. Vince tried to get me to say it as many times as possible. The skills and upgrades are just a little bit mental. Cassy is now wp6 and immune to slow and paralysed and Sybelle walk 6.

So what do I think of the campaign so far? Well it seems to introduce chaos into the game for basically no purpose. If anyone had actually understood the rules in our game, the traveller would have just been a section of impassable terrain, and barely used as that. The skills seem a little extreme, but our actual examples of them aren't really. We are having lots of fun though and it's pushing us outside of our comfort zone, which is pretty cool. Good for the grey matter. Still needs more gaming to work it out. It feels like it expects you to play more than one game a week, though, which I am not sure is reasonable. Maybe we could slow down the weeks, make it a month or two weeks or something, so you get to understand what's going on a bit more. We'll stick to the basic rules for the moment though.

Anyway, that's all from me for now. I'll get back in touch if I do more hobby.

Tale of Malifaux Bloggers. From Big Hat to Haberdasher

 It has been some time since I posted on here. This has partly been due to a lack of keen and partly due to real life, starting a new job. I am hoping this new project will get me in to posting again.

So what is this new project. Well that filthy southner' Ben Sime has decided he'd like a whole bunch of Malifaux players to take part in recording painting and purchases in the game. It's structured in the same way as the old White Dwarf articles called 'Tale of 4 gamers' where you'd have a budget each month of what you can buy. In the first month you get £40 to start your crew and then each month after that is £15. I'll be honest, I got alot of what I wanted for Christmas so I am largely just going to be shoe-horning my models into these categories. The important thing, however, is that you need to paint all of the models each month. I have until the 9th of March to get my first months purchases completed so wish me luck.

 So what have I gone for? Well, in reflection on a previous blog post, I decided to start Seamus some time ago. To specify, for the first month I have chosen:

Shadows of Redchapel - £27:99
Bete Noir - £6:50

I am assuming I can save some of my coinage from month to month, hence I haven't tried to scrape for the pennies.

I don't think I have to justify why, if one wants to start using Seamus, one buys the Shaddows of Redchapel box set, but it might be good to go over what's in it.

Seamus - What a loveable dapper chap! What I like about Seamus is that I feel I still have lots of options for what he can do. His gun does desperately want to perforate folk, but without the ability to fire it more than once I don't see him as a mass damage master. I tend to run him with the bag of tools because I find the play style much more entertaining. I'd probably say sinister reputation is better, but I have always felt a bit naked without the tools. I think I have also found that because the tools aren't used as much it catches people a little off guard.

Copycat killer - Possibly the best thing in the box, in my opinion. In my brief history of putting this irritating gnome to the field he has killed masses of stuff, including Ramos. Again, his gun is pretty crazy but his insta-kill on his shears catches many people out.

Sybelle - Ah, sweet Sybelle. The thing I like the most about this 'lovely' lady is the 'call belle' tactical action. Anytime any ability uses the term 'place' you know you are on to a winner. Most of my games, therefore, she has acted as a taxi service for my belles. I always buy her personal upgrades, however, because in the right situation that insta-kill or pseudo-obey can really turn the game.

Belle- The ability to teleport through Sybelle, give out slow, ca8 lure with a trigger to remove cards. I'd say more, but I think the internet is angry enough.

Bete Noir - My only purchase this month that isn't in the box. Why do I like this little lady? Well firstly, she's got girl parts (I think) so I think it's a nice themed addition to Seamus lovely ladies. I know the copy cat killer isn't a girl, but I am pretty sure Seamus hates him being around anyway... I certainly treat him like an agile corpse marker at times. Secondly, I love Bete's burying mechanic. Combining Seamus and his teleporting murder with Bete means I can have a significant model with 2ap anywhere where your model used to be. The only thing I have to remember is that it only works if said target would drop a corpse marker (or is sacrificed, but anyway) so it is more effective against some crews than other. Also, it also causes the world of headaches for people sometimes. I particularly like it when they have to kill my model in order to interact... but then Bete would turn up anyway! She has already gained a bad reputation at the club. But why wouldn't Seamus want a girl with a bad reputation in his crew?

My chosen Bete' sculpt. Big thanks to Cathy Winton for getting me the name plate from the plastic sprue and Mike Marshall for parting with this beauty 

So thems my choices. As you can see, however, I have already cheated a little bit. My Sybelle and Copy Cat killer are already painted. I haven't started the other models, however, and I do intend to rebase these ones so maybe you can let me off? I thought not, but the punishment is to watch me be flogged by Sybelle and I am pretty sure you don't want that either.

 So there we have it, my first entry. Hopefully at the end of the month I will have produced some painted dead things and reported on some battles to. One of my local clubs is starting the beta campaign and I have thrown my hat in as Ressers' so this sort of progresssion painting will work well with that. I just hope I find time to whip out my paintbrush... phnar.

Until next time, which hopefully won't be too long!

Malifaux Campaign: Week 2

 This week in the Malifaux Campaign we started to see some additional rules of the campaign take effect. Players with the least number of territories (and then lowest experience) pick missions either first or second. Paj decided on last because it recquired less thinking which meant that I picked the first mission once again. You can see the options below:

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Week 2 Strats and Schemes

Game 1:
Attacker:Sabotage

The attacker secretly notes down a piece of terrain on the defender's half of the table. While in base contact, attacking models may take a 2 interact action to place a 30mm 'Sabotage Marker' within terrain (whether it is the noted one or not). While in base contact with a 'Sabotage Marker' the defender may take a 2 interact action to discard it.
 At the end of the game, the attacker earns 3 vp if she has a sabotage marker in the noted terrain piece. If the attacker has a sabtoage marker in at least one other terrain peice, she earns 1 vp.

Defender: Hideout

At the start of the game, place a 30mm hideout marker in the centre of the table. At the end of each turn after the first, if the defender has more non-peon models within 6" of the marker than the attacker, the defender earns 1 vp.

Schemes:
Line in the Sand
Deliver a Message
Plant Explosives
Breakthrough
Assassinate

Corner Deployment

Reward: Prepared Field. Any model that charges your master in the next game takes damage as if moving through hazardous terrain

Game 2:

Attacker: Supply Wagon
At the start of the game place a 50mm Wagon marker in the centre of the table. This marker is Ht3, Impassable, Blocking.
 At the end of each turn, the crew with the most models within 3" of the wagon may move it 5" ignoring severe terrain.
 At the end of the game, the attacker earns 1 Vp is she has the most models within 3" of the wagon. If the Wagon is completely in the attackers half of the table, the attacker earns 2vp. If the wagon is in the attackers deployment zone, the attacker earns 1 vp.

Defender: Capture the Wagon!
At the end of each turn after the first, before moving the wagon, if the defender has at least 2 non-peon models in base contact with the wagon, score 1 vp.

Schemes:
Line in the Sand
Protect Territory
Bodyguard
Spring the trap
murder protege

Standard deployment

Reward: Hatred. Pick one model in the enemies crew before deployment (after selecting crews). Your master receives positive flips against that model for the duration of the game.

Game 3:

Attacker: Search

Before Deploying crews, the attacker places two 30mm markers anywhere in the defender's half of the table. The defender then places two more markers anywhere on the table. Each search marker must represent one of the four suits. The defender secretly flips a card and notes down it's suit (reflip jokers).
 Any model may take a 1 interact action while in base contact with a search marker to place the marker on the models stat card. If the model leaves play, place the marker in base contact first. At the end of the game, if the search marker with the noted suit is on an attacking models stat card or in the attacker's deployment zone, the attacker scores 4 vp.

 Defender: We need them all!
At the end of the game, the defender scores 1 vp for each search marker not carried by an attacking model.

Schemes:
Distract
Protect territory
Assassinate
Frame for Murder
Line in the Sand

Standard deployment

Reward: Distracted. The enemy leader may not take interact actions whilst it has line of sight to your master in the next game. 

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I decided to go with game 1. I decided that scheme pool didn't have any particularly bad options and I was quick enough to drop bombs in enemy territory. 

Next to chose was Lucas, who decided that the wagon was the best option (he played search marker last time and didn't want to repeat!) So Ben chose the last free mission, I guess on the basis it was most likely to give him a free win! Next up was Vince, who decided he was going to play me no matter what! This finally gave Paj the option of the up-and-coming Lucas or playing his opponent from last week. Unsurprisingly he opted for the former. 

 This almost meant that we once again had one person not playing... until Graeme arrived. He didn't initially want to play a campaign game, but we managed to convince him otherwise. Basically, because losing would have no effect what so ever!

In my game against Vince he had (secretly) selected Plant explosives and deliver a message. He chose for me to play Line in the Sand and Breakthrough. Due to my success in the last week I selected Perdita to be on negative flips against Seamus... but it never actually came up in game. vince got himself an extra stone in the cache due to our difference in territories (useful guild sponsorship, eh?). It was a really good game. Bette once again proved her great worth, appearing and placing markers where she felt like. The odd lure here and there along with an incredible bloody game meant that Vince could never quite get the model count in the middle on me so couldn't score for the centre or catch Seamus. One serious error in activation order near the end of the game made the score not match how close the game was. Final score 10-2 and Seamus has mines ready for next game. 

In Ben's game against Graeme it was largely just throwing models at each other to see what they did. Lilith was canny enough to make sure she held onto the markers though whilst Pandora was distracted torturing terror tots so the final score was 3-1 to Ben. 

In Paj's game against Lucas, Paj once again had a sulk with his cards that he wasn't flipping what he needed to all the time, but apparently it was pretty close, Lucas only winning by one point. Also, despite 2 Ronin and Schill on the table, it took some Ancient Words (use your words librarian!) to take down Izamu. 

With Graeme added to the map and people's conquests it's starting to look pretty crowded in the bottom half!

  

I am glad that we are now likely to have 6 players down and no-one misses out. I hope people have fun with it next week. I have already flipped the strats and schemes and let people begin decision making. Let me tell you it's looking likely to be a blood bath next week! Expect more updates soon.

Malifaux Campaign. Week 1

Sorry for anyone who enjoys reading my tournament reports. My last few events haven't had reports because after one I was helping a mate move house and had no internet and with the second I was feeling pretty ill. Suffice to say they were loads of fun and I thoroughly recommend the Stirling venue to anyone who can brave the darkness of Scotland.

 Anyway, that's not what I am here to talk about today. Today I am planning to write a brief report with how things are going with the local 'Faux campaign I am running.

 So week 1 saw the following scenarios flipped

 Theft- Loot the Hideout
 Squatter's Rights - Our Land
 Escourt- Kill the Escourt

 Lucas had been playing for the least amount of time so made the decision to pick last or first. He chose last, which meant I picked first seeing as I had the most experience. I chose to kill the Escourt, figuring that's what Seamus would do! Next up, Vince chose to Loot the hideout. Paj chose Squatter's rights, Ben chose to face him. Finally Lucas chose to face Vince. This meant I was left with a default win and gained 'Infiltration' (I guess from the resseructed Escourt) which meant I picked one model in the enemy crew to be on negative flips against Seamus for the next game only.

 Paj vs Ben turned into a landslide, mainly because Paj gave up once he failed to kill teddy in a single charge with Schill. Teddy flurried Von Schill twice in several turns and killed him... which meant Ben couldn't score for spring the trap. Final score 7-0 to Ben and he claims 'From the Shaddows' on Lilith for the next round.

 Vince vs Lucas was a really close game, by all accounts with some quite spectacular moments. Yan Lo lightening dances Nino to put him into base contact with Yin... only to take loads of damage when he is forced to jump off the ledge! Abuella absolutely ruins a Ashigaru with her sawn off. The pistelero couple become the star of the show... not really for much reason other than we gave them names and Vince kept putting 'El Major' on them. At the end Lucas' Kaimanu is fanned into safety clutching some jewls in his jaw, meaning Lucas won by a single point! He claims Companion on Yan Lo.

You can see below the updated map with our associated territory acquisitions.

I, using Seamus and represented in green, stick with the theme and claim a brothel.
Ben, fielding purple Lilith, claims tobacco? Whatever, I assume it's because it's close to Paj's (Yellow, Schill) Territory
Yan Lo, clearly found of his new (if now somewhat covered in lion slobber) gems, claims a mine.
Vince (Red, Perdita) clearly had an issue convincing her posse to leave the opium den...

We also, of course, wrote our fixed lists, which I will now post below. These will not change until we capture our first monopolly (i.e. I need two more brothels to have the most of the 5 on the map)

Vince's Campaign List

Perdita

+Trick shooting

Fracisco

+Wade in

Santaigo

+Tormento de Plomo

Nino

+Hair trigger

Abuella

Miguelle the Pistelero

Jose the Pistolero

Enslaved Nephilim

Paj's Fixed List

Von Schill

+Shirt comes off

Trapper

Librarian

Specialist

2*Ronin

2*Freikorpsman

Trunk 

Lucas' Campaign List

Yan Lo

+Reliquary

Izamu

Toshiro

+Command the Graves

Yin the Pangalangalanglangalangalan

Chiaki

+pull of the grave

Soul Porter

Ahigaru

Komainu

Ben's Campaign List

Lilith

Obsidian Talons (he originally put it on a young nephilim, which can't take upgrades)

Barbaros

Nephilim gladiator

Teddy

Young Nephilim*2

Cherub

Terror Tot*3

Connor's Campaign List

Seamus

+Red Chapel Killer

+Bag of Tools

+Decaying Aura

Copycat Killer

Sybelle

+Bleeder Lash

+Not too banged up

2*Belle

Nurse

Punk Zombie

Bette Noir

That's it from this week. Hopefully soon we'll have another campaign entry from Colin who's lovely wife has just had a baby so *apparently* that's more important than Malifaux. He'll come crawling back soon anyway. Expect another report next week regardless.

Bale of Hay: Looking Backwards... then Forwards

If you came here wanting to read a blog post by Connor then you will be disappointed as I’m afraid it is another blog post from me this time.

So with the end of the year fast approaching I think most people have a little reflection on the year gone and look forward to next year. So here is mine.

I am very happy with the year just gone having only started playing Malifaux in March 14 and attending my first tournament in May 14. So I have been playing only been playing properly for about 7 months which means I am a baby in reality in the big scheme of things!

I have attended 7 tournaments of varying sizes this year and although not done amazingly well I have not disgraced myself. I think the main thing for me is to learn what everyone else’s crews do to limit the inevitable surprises that lose me VP. But this only comes with experience. For example there are still a lot of masters I have never faced such as Lynch, Colette, Zoraida to name but a few. The one thing I have found now though is that I have started to get a bit jaded playing tournaments with a limited master pool. Competitively I play Neverborn and have pretty much only used Lilith (with a splash of Dreamer) in all the tournaments. She is a versatile master compared to some but still feels a bit samey now and has started to impact on my enjoyment a little.

So with that in mind going into 2015 I am sticking Neverborn in the main but broadening my horizons to explore new masters. The problem I have at the moment is that Lilith has seen the majority of table time so I always tend to favour her in any strat / scheme pool that comes up. I want to get away from this so I have wider options going forward. So early 2015 I want to learn to play Pandora and Collodi. I have recently acquired both of these crews and have a large Neverborn selection to choose from so good to go. There are also other Neverborn models that I now have that have never touched the table such as Lelu and Lilitu so keen to try them out as well.

As well as mixing it up tactically and rules wise it is also going to challenge me on the painting table as I am a bit of a lazy painter so hoping to push on with that too and improve my painting / hobby skills.

I am also excited about playing some doubles if possible and going to team up with a local Elementals mate Pete Rees which should be all sorts of fun! This brings me onto my next aim for 2015 which is to get the Elementals more involved in the malifaux scene. Who I hear you shout!? Exactly my point. We are a small gaming group who play out of the NWGC in Stockport, UK which is the home ofwww.elementgames.co.uk, hence the name. Our local henchmen is the mighty Aidan Kirk and members include Pete Rees, Richard Humphries and Matt Elliott. Some of which are not that keen on competitive play but I hope can get along to some story encounter and doubles events to start spreading the Elementals love. Aidan also hopes to host 2 Malifaux tournaments next year at the NWGC so that should be good. Finally we have signed up to Mike Marshalls UK “team” league which should mean more games and more fun times in 2015. I really hope this becomes a thing as I love the idea of clubs facing off against each other for bragging rights and a league table thing.

That is all for me for today. Thanks for reading.

Chris H (@cdhay on twitter)

Malifaux Campaign - Mark 2

Months ago I briefed some rules for a Malifaux campaign. I figured with Sunderland games club having a regular group of faux gamers it would be great to have a campaign. I have rehashed the rules so that it fits better with the local scene. With any luck it will help keep players of all interest levels interested. Let me know what you think:

Malifaux Campaign

Forces

 In this campaign each crew will be operating its own crime syndicate, from humble beginnings to Mafia overlord. Each player will submit a fixed 50ss list to be used from the start of the campaign. As the campaign progresses, your pool of models will increase alongside your territory. This will be explained further below.

Sponsorship

This section of Malifaux is beyond Guild control, they simply do not have the forces to intervene. It has been deemed more efficient to ‘sponsor’ various ‘pillars of the community’ to act on their behalf.  This often comes in the form of sponsoring hits on gang leaders to prevent one party establishing enough power to create a worry. As such, when players are selecting their forces, the player with the least number of territories adds the difference to their cache (this may take the cache above 7, but no more cache may be bought if this happens). These Soulstones may not be spent on additional models and are just to be used in game.

Map

The map is made up of sections. Each of these sections will be either neutral, or be influenced by one of the players. The more sections you have influence over, the more power your crew will have. Each player will have a base of operations, this may not be contested (see below) by opposing players. When you expand and seize new tiles they need to be connected to your base. To be connected there needs to be an unbroken chain of influenced sections between your base of operations and the section. Expansion will be explained further down.

Some map sections will also have a business. This can be anything from mining to whoring. When you have the majority of each kind of business on the map you are said to have ‘monopoly’ of that business. For each monopoly selected you increase the models available to your crew:

Number of monopolies	Total SS of pool
0 monopolies	50
1 monopolies	75
2 monopolies	100
3 monopolies	Victory

What it means by ‘pool’ is that when you may select your crew at the beginning of each game selected only from the models in your pool to the value of 50ss. Summoned models don’t need to be included but upgrades do.

If a player has three monopolies, then they have won the campaign.

Victory:

 As previously stated, as soon as one player manages to claim 3 monopolies, they have won. However, the campaign will only go on for 3 months. If no one has achieved victory at the end of 3 months, the player with the most territory sections wins.

Turns:

 Each turn in Malifaux will result in a number of missions being generated. This number of missions is equal to the number of players divided by two, rounding up. E.g. if there were 4 people playing there would be 2 missions generated (4/2=2) but if there was 5 there would be 3 (5/2=2.5 round to 3). Each of these missions will be generated by flipping a card and comparing it to the relevant scenario in the chart provided in the story section of the Malifaux rulebook and flipping two cards for schemes just like in a normal game of Malifaux. Once all missions have been revealed, the player with the least territories may choose whether they want to select their battleground first or last. The other players will then select in ascending or descending order depending on what the other player selected.

Conquest

 Once players have taken part in the various scenarios, the winner may select a map section to claim. They will also gain loot, further explained below.

Contesting:

When you select a section for your crew to gain influence over you may select sections already controlled by another crew only if it was the result of winning a game over that player. That way players have a chance to defend their territories or avoid risking conflict and not chose the same battlefields as the invader!

Loot:

Winning battles will also provide loot to the victor’s leader. The type of loot won in the mission is determined at the same time as the mission, so people know what they are fighting over. To generate simply flip a card and compare it to the table below. These only effect your leader and last for one game:

Number	Loot
Black Joker	None
1	Cursed: This model may choose to reduce the damage by a friendly model within 6” by 1 and take 1 wound which may not be reduced or prevented in anyway.
2	From the Shaddows: This model may deploy anywhere on the table that is not within 6” of the opponents deployment zone. This model may not take interact actions on the first turn.
3	Armour +1: Reduce damage suffered by this model by 1, to a minimum of 1.
4	Prepared field: Any model which charges this model must take damage as if entering hazardous terrain.
5	Once per game, this model may gain the fast condition at the start of its activation
6	Select one piece of terrain on the battlefield in your next encounter, after determining deployment zones and who is in which zone, this terrain counts as hazardous for the rest of the game.
7	Hatred: Select one model in the enemies’ crew. Against this model you get positive attack flips.
8	Fated: This model prevents one additional damage when using stones to damage prevent.
9	Distracted: Whilst the enemy leader is within line of sight of this model, the enemy leader may not take interact actions
10	Companion: This model may activate as a chain activation if another friendly model finishes its activation within 6” of this model.
11	Accomplice: Another friendly model may activate as a chain activation if this model finishes its activation within 6” of it.
12	Infiltration: Pick one model in the enemies’ crew, this model has negative attack flips against this model for the duration of the encounter.
13	Empowered: At the beginning of this models activation it may add one to any of its stats. This bonus lasts until its next activation
Red Joker	Player may pick any after the game

How to train a gaming community

I'm in a really positive predicament. There has been huge growth locally in the Malifaux scene and many new people are trying their hand at cheating fate. The 'problem' with this, if you were to call it a problem, is that we now have a big sliding scale of experience levels.

 Personally I started basically when M2E came out. Since my first major tournament in February, Vappnatak, I have been to 16 events this year. 16! Because of this I have gained loads of experience and become, not to blow my own horn, pretty competent at the game. Donkeys years ago I wrote how I didn't want to play new players with 'kid gloves' on for a variety of reasons. Basically because:

• It's insulting to the player themselves
• They'll learn more

 The problem with this, however, is that if you regularly play against them and basically, as it's commonly known, noob stomp, it can become increasingly 'unfun' for the opponent. For me any game is not enjoyable if you do not have any sort of chance and thus I never want my opponent to feel like that. 

 So what can I do to fix this situation? Well one of the obvious solutions for me is to get the newer players to face each other. I'm always kicking about for rules queries but it means that people will have much closer, harder fought and thus more enjoyable games. It's why the Swiss system is so good in tournaments.

 I'm afraid to say this, however, but we don't have enough people so that you can play at the same experience level every time. It also limits, thinking selfishly, my own opponent pool. Even among the players who are not new, there is a variety of experience. For example, Vince, and I hope he doesn't mind saying this, is one of the more experienced local gamers. He started a couple of months after me, couldn't say when, but has played enough so that he knows the rules pretty well. However, I am not sure he has ever beaten me and if so it's rarely. In the same token, however, I don't think he loses to any of the newer players. 

 Another possible solution is to play with crews that I have very little experience in. This way the knowledge I have gained will be limited, to some extent, and still provide myself and my opponent a challenging experience. Obviously, however, there are only so many crews one can take and only so many I can afford so I can't do this all the time. Starting anew with Seamus is great, but I imagine it's just a matter of time until I work out how he ticks and at that point we are back where we started. 

 To be honest I'm at a little of a loss. I love that we have such a rich community and I want to keep it that way and make sure everyone has fun. I don't know if there is anything else I can do to make sure this happens. I'd love some advice from people.

I hope to hear from you about it soon.