Its been a while since I played a regular game of Malifaux, and finally last night I was able to get in 2 games. Im still working out the kinks of the Archanists, but they had a good showing last night. Lets dive right in.
Game 1 Marcus vs Hoffman (Aka The Hoff)
My List: Marcus, Jackalope, Shikome, Sabertooth Cerberus, Razor Spine Rattler, 2 Hoar Cats
His List: The Hoff, Guardian, Watcher, Hunter, Peacekeeper, Ryle
My Missions: Reconnoiter(Basically Board Quarters) with Sabotage and Kill Protege
His Missions: Destroy the Evidence with Break Through and Stake a Claim
I was very nervous about the Match up. One of Hoff's best abilities is getting his army armored up and having an unkillable ball rolling through your army. I know Marcus' crew can do decent damage but I was worried about being able to damage his guys with their high armor, plus Marcus' crews generally have poor survivability.
Turn 1: I made his Peacekeeper (My Protege Target) my Shikome's Prey. I started trying to save certain activations for later in the turn so that I could go for a long strike on some of his more forward constructs. My Hoar Cats ran off on their own flank alone to cover one of the evidence markers. My plan to out activate him ended up working and His Peacekeeper was moved up to the front of his lines. I charged in with My Rattler and cheated in a Crow on my attack in order to poison it. My 2nd attack did decent damage but triggered the rattlers ability to retreat. Marcus followed it up with a charge of his own and did really solid damage, dropping the Peacekeeper to 2 wounds remaining with Poison 2. I was quite pleased with myself, so I used Marus' last action to back out of melee with the big beast.
Turn 2: This is where things got Wonky for me. I started with the Shikome and had her spend her whole turn re-preying onto Ryle. I figured with the peacekeeper all but dead it was a good move. John went with the Guardian and had it cast Protect on the peacekeeper, meaning any wounds the PK would take the Guardian could take for it. I was worried now since the Poison wouldn't be killing off the giant machine as I had hoped. I sent in the Jackalope right into base with the peacekeeper and smacked it for a few damage, which John shunted to the Guardian. The PK went next, waxed my little Rabbit and lumbered over to my Cerberus, he then slapped the poor Cat down to half life, knocking off his extra Heads. My Rattler went next and Charged the Hoff. I Poisoned him and since the Guardian had stalwart up I did a little damage to them both. The Rattler once again got his lighting trigger on his 2nd attack and ran away. Ryle took offense to his brother being bit by a huge snake and put a pounding into my Rattler with his gun. Marcus went next and finally put enough of a strike into the PK that John felt it would be best to just let it fall. Hoffman took a heal flip and healed 3.
Turn 3: This turn is a little fuzzy, I remember what happened but the Order is all messed up. So this may not make a ton of sense. My Rattler ran in again and damaged The Hoff a bit, but I couldn't run away from the fight after wards. Ryle went and killed off my snake. He tried to shoot my Cerberus, but I prevented the hit with high cheats. The Hoff went and told Ryle to activate again. Ryle did and dropped my Cerberus to 1 wound. I tried to run the Cerberus away from everything but It ended too close to the Watcher who used a focus Range attack to kill it. My Shikome ran into Ryle and gave him a beating, she then gave Marcus Hunting Partner and he charged into Ryle and Finished him off. Marcus then Ran back towards the Evidence marker in my deployment Zone. The Guardian made a heal flip and got a red joker healin 7 wounds. I was less than pleased. The Hoff also healed and got another 3 wounds back. The Hunter ran towards my deployment zone and dragged Hoffman with him. Engaging Marcus.
Turn 4: John won Init and started with the Hoff. He stole the Ambush ability from his hunter, grabed one of its AP to become Fast and started smacking Marcus. It was rough, I had no idea Hoff was so good in Melee. I burned 3 stones to stay alive, but Marcus was left with 2 wounds. I activated Marcus immediately and Put The Hoff down. I breathed a sigh of relief having killed off John's master. The Guardian went and traded blows with my Shikome, she managed to Poison him. John's Watcher flew up and got in place to take the Objective marker in my deployment zone, and one of my Hoarcats moved in and sabotaged the building I needed for my Scheme. At this point I was up 4-0 in points. He was contesting 2 of the 3 board Quarters I had models in, but I had completed both my Schemes.
Turn 5: I won Init this turn and it was a pretty good thing I did. Marcus was in rough Shape and Hunters get + atk and dmg flips against models who haven't activated. Marcus Beasted up and went to town on the Hunter. John went next with the Guardian and did some more hits to teh Shikome dropping her to 2-3 wounds. The Shikome swung back and using Maul, I was able to get some good damage flips and drop the Guardian to 1 wound w/ poison. The Watcher flew into my deployment zone and grabbed his last point. At the end of turn 5 I was controlling 2 board quarters. The watcher was him a serious favor though as it was holding both his schemes and had gotten him 2 vps. At the end of 5 it was 6-6.
Turn 6: A very short turn, Marcus charged into the Watcher and slapped it around. His last model, the Guardian Died immediately from Poison and the game was over. 8-2 victory for Marcus.
Im getting Better with Marcus as I play him more. Im still not good enough to compete with the Top Players with their top Crews. John was playing Hoffman for the 2nd time, had he been playing his ressers or archanists I think the game would have got much differently. I am pleased with the Beasts though, Im not sure how much I like the Hoar Cats, they can be very good, and most time people ignore them so they can go grab objectives. Im just not sure they are worth the points I spend on them.
MVP: Easy Choice the Big Man himself Marcus! He killed Hoffman, the Watcher, The Peacekeeper, Ryle, and the Hunter... HOLY CRAP!!!
(Pic totally shanghaied from Wrabbit37 aka Mike, who actually painted most of my Marcus crew)
Alrighty Game 2.
This one will have less of a report and more of a summary. Im pretty sure there will be a full report of it later on
Wrabbit37's Blog Raspy with 7 Stones, Spirit of Power, Von Schill 2 Silent Ones and 2 Ice Gamin
Hamelin with 4 Stones, Obenient Wretch, 4 Rats, 3 Stolen, Nix, and 1 Rat Catcher
I unfortunetly got the Mission, kill Hamelin dead. He got Plant the Evidence. I knew from the get go this would be an uphill battle. Basically I put his army through an enourmous ass whupping, killing off about a dozen Rats, 4-6 Stolen, 2 Rat Catchers, Nix, and Hamelin. He Killed off 1 Silent One, I killed one of my gamin, and he obeyed Von Schill to kill off the other Silent One. Despite the serious beating my army gave his I was unable to get to Hamelin for a permanent Kill. I lost the game 8-2 (Should have been 8-4, but I misplaced Von Schill on turn 6 and he blocked my Gamin from getting to the point I had chosen for Sabotage.) It was a good game. But a frustrating Mission. Even with the Loss Raspy was a death machine and did most of the Killing on her own.
