Resolutions Revisited

With the year coming to an end I had 4 resolutions that I made for myself at the start of the year. Lets take a look

#1 Don't buy Minis for a game I do not already own
I failed this one thanks to the Cool Mini or Not kickstarter for Relic Knights. I'm ok with it, its was totally awesome.

#2 Dont buy any out of faction malifaux crews.
Im gonna take this one. I did not "buy" any out of faction crews. I did recieve one, but it cost me $0

#3 Read more
This was going very smoothly for about 3 months when I read like a dozen books. But since then I haven't read much of anything. Still its more then I read the past year.

#4 Get into Grad School
I actually assessed this decision over the past year and decided against it. So its a failure, but Im not upset by this.

So I went 2-2. I'll count that as a decent year.

I think I hate Wyrd

Strong statement sure, but I can back it up. Take a journey with me.

Wyrd is a very transparent company. It’s a nice chance of pace from Games Workshop who would prefer no one know anything about their products until a month after they release then to know something a day early. Wyrd is willing to talk to us, admit to mistakes, and clear up why things happen the way they do. That right there is a check in positives for Wyrd.

BUT one of the reasons Wyrd needs to be so transparent is that they are far too ambitious for their own good. Wyrd wants everything to rock all the time. And then when they get a new idea their like the 16 year old Cheerleader who just learned her best friend a whore. They have to tell EVERYONE! Maybe it’s not a great move to go around and tell everyone that Becky slept with half the basketball team. Maybe there will be consequences to this action. But screw that lets tell everyone that conservatively 75% of book 4 will be available at Gen Con... Whoops. Turns out Becky is pissed. (I'll stop crossing metaphor and reality now)

So Wyrd shows up to Gen Con, not with a BANG and all the impressive new plastics that they promised us. But instead with a couple choice picked box sets. BUT FEAR NOT CON GOER! We will have your Rail Crew in by Saturday! They told me this, to my face. Saturday come back and all with be right with the Wyrd world. Saturday came, and did I get a shiny new busty Asian dragon lady leaping off a bunch of broken rubble? Nope, I got a free shipping coupon. Gen Con = HUGE let down.

Now there are those in my group who said Wyrd's only fault was promising the Sun, Moon, Stars, Cupcakes, and big chested loose moral lasses to all, and only showing up with Cupcakes. I mean who doesn't like cupcakes. Why can't you be satisfied with your god damn cupcakes! It’s not a bad point. I can tell you why I wasn't satisfied. The Cupcake or in this case Rail Golem, was great. I was very happy to assemble the Rail Golem in my hotel room. But what I really wanted when I went to Gen Con was my Big Chested loose moral Lass. (The metaphors apparently won't be stopping) I mean how much better would that cupcake have been had I been able to smear the delicious frosting on the... never mind. I hope you get my point, let’s move on.

Ok so we are mad about Gen Con. But in the end it’s a forgivable offense. They botched a release, that’s ok they are a fairly new company. But there is something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while. And two things they've done in the past 2 weeks have really shoved it right in my face. Wyrd doesn't give a shit about Local Game Stores. They say they do, but actions speak far louder than words.

#1 Kick Starter. This began in the summer with Evil Baby orphanage which I had forgotten about until pretty much now. A chance for the people to back a successful company's chance to take a risk. This was odd to me but back then I was willing to lick up anything Wyrd shat out, so I dropped some cash on it and moved on. Now they are running the RPG kick starter. Which again I backed because I’m retarded.

I don't really care that Wyrd wants to use Kickstarter to crowd source money instead of risking their own capital. Good for them that they found investors. And it’s not like we aren't getting anything out of it. But again this is money that’s being taken away from my LGS and given straight to Wyrd. Am I to blame for this? Hell Yeah, but I’m a gamer and that makes me weak willed and flighty.

#2 is the Wyrd birthday sale. Again No chance for retailers to get in on this. If you want to Play Yan Lo (which I do really freakin badly) before god damn February, you need to buy him straight from us. Suck it LGS’ we say we love you, but don't give a crap about.

I’m running out of steam and awesome metaphors, better wrap this up.

So am I a hypocrite? Yes. Did I buy Yan Lo direct from Wyrd? Absolutely, I’m not waiting until god damn February. Am I still angry with them? Maybe, this rant has helped. I think at the end of the day, I don't hate Wyrd. I hate that I love Wyrd.

Iron Kingdoms RPG

So last friday night I ran a 1 shot IK campaign for my RPG group. The main goal was to make sure we all had some type of grasp on the rules. The main plot centered around a Crime Lord who had escaped from Jail. Lael placed a large bounty on his head and the players went off to find where he was.

I pregenerated the Character so we could focus on playing. I'll dive into creation for a bit.

I am tempted to say this game has one of the easiest character creation processes I've seen in a role playing game. The Sheets can look a little daunting, but I think its actually a bit misleading. You start by picking a race. The Races are all pre-stated out so you just copy in the stats. Then you get 3 points with which to raise those stats. Then you pick 2 Careers. (The rulebook says pick your archtype first, but certain careers require archtypes so I would choose them first) The 2 careers come with preset Skills and Abilities, no math, just writing. From there you guy some gear and have to make a couple decisions. Its a very easy process, but ends up with a very detailed character. I like it a lot.

So the Party I put together looked like this.

A Skilled Human Pirate/Theif - This character was a bit roguey. Being our first game we missed several of her damage and attack bonus' but she still kicked a lot of butt.

An Intellectual Human Stormblade/Knight - He was a super tank, put out amazing damage, and got a lot of attacks. Likely the strongest PC in the party.

A Gifted Human Arcane Mechanic/Field Mechanic - He ran the steamjack and was able to dish out a few spells here and there. The Jack is actually pretty strong in this game, even the cheapo labor jacks.

A Gifted Human Duelist/Warcaster - The Duelist side didn't really come through for this character. But the Warcaster was pretty cool she could buff the entire party's armor and made them VERY tough.

Again, the main point of the game was to learn the rules. So the character got into some fights and used their skills here and there to track down the bad guy. IK calls to use Mini's and Tape Measurers for Combat. I'll be honest Im not a fan of the Tape Measurer idea. So we pulled out a D&D grid which has 1x1 squares all over it. So instead of inches we measured in squares. I like to think it worked well, but we are going to try the real deal next time with the Tapes.

The fighting went smoothly, but I have one problem with it and since I ran 1 game I am clearly an expert on the subject. Balance is a bit of a razors edge. In the 2nd Fight I nearly killed the Stormblade in the first round of Combat. I was shocked since he hadn't really been damaged to that point. But quickly the players took over and carried the fight with no problem. The game is BRUTAL, like L5R brutal in combat. There are more ways to mitigate damage in IK, but its still a very deadly system. I think its going to be tough for GM's to figure out how to balance fights properly in the system.

Blood Bowl and Skylanders.

So recently I've been playing Blood Bowl more then any other game. This has caused me to focus my hobby attention on actually getting a team painted for the first time.

Behold the Awesome Glory that is my Norse Team.

Meet The Drunken Reds, my norse team. This picture contains all 15 possible members of the team. Im hoping to get a game or 2 in with them this week to celebrate their newly paintedness.

So the other big time sinc for my of late has been Skylanders Giants. I bought the first Skylanders about a year ago and since then its been a frenzy of awesome buying and spending a bunch of Money. The sequel brings about the Giants. A new brand of Skylander that is bigger, slower, and has more HPs. They can also do Giantey things. Like move Islands, topple towers, and punch down walls. To this point I am enjoying the heck out of Skylanders Giants.

My favorite character is Popfizz. He is a regular Skylander not a giant. His abilities revolve around a series of potions. He has a basic one that just does a lot of damage. A second one that pops out little bottles with legs that walk around and shoot things, and Finally an acidey one that leaves a puddle on the ground that causes additional damage to enemies. He also has an ability to drink a potion that turns him into a Mr. Hyde version of himself. Much tougher and completely melee oriented, but that potion is on a Timer and will wear off after a while.

And Finally go see Wreck it Ralph. Awesome movie with great video game references and what not. The story is pretty fantastic

Blood Bowl and a bit of game withdrawl

Im a big fan of Blood Bowl, have been since I first tried it a few years back. The problem I always run into is that its tough to keep a league afloat. But last week I got a buddy of mine to try and drum up some interest in his area, I did the same for the Huzzah guys and it seems like we have about 8-10 people ready to play. So lets hope this one lasts. I've made 2 teams, a Norse Team which is my standard guys. I find them a lot of fun. They can dish out an awesome beating and pretty much any team that faces them will get some points since they are all low armor. My other team is a Human team which I have never played before, but Im excited for.

Since Gen Con I haven't really been the same on mini games. Not blaming Gen Con or anything really, I think Im just in a down spot on malifaux and warmachine at the moment. But the past few weeks I've been out of commision on game nights. Im not really sure why it is, but I just feel a bit burned out. Its also why I haven't written anything up here in the last month. Board games still hold their fun, I just picked up Ascension and that game has been a blast. But Minis games aren't doing it so much lately.

On a completely different note RG3 continues to be a BEAST!!! he is fun as hell to watch and single handedly makes the Redskins entertaining.

Its Tuesday

I had no idea what to call this blog, its gonna cover a few things.



1st up is Im kind of on a Warmachine kick. Not sure how long it will last, but there is an event this weekend, its an achievment day I think is the best way to put it. And I'm going and bringing my Mercenaries. To that end I want to paint up the last few models of Shae's Crew and a couple for Drake McBain.

Paint List
2 Sea Dogs
2 Sea Dog Riflemen
Drake McBain
Rupert Carvolo
Rover Warjack
Nomad Warjack
Sylyis (I dont even own this guy yet)

The Sea Dogs are top priority.



Next up I got Mei Feng in the mail finally. She, Kang, and the Emberling are assembled. The Rail workers are still on the sprue. Im tempted to melt them down into a litte clumps and fling them at Wyrd employess at Gen Con next year. Just so we are clear I believe that their table effectiveness is not reduces by being left on the sprue or melted down.
*Note* The Hat that Kang is wearing was taken from a Rail worker

Fantasy Football week 1 went well for me. I won my game and posted top score. Lets hope my team can avoid the injury bug that has plagued me the last few seasons.



Finally RG3 IS A GOD DAMN BEAST!!!! I have him on my fantasy team and lets face it at this point he's locked in as my season long starter. Peyton Manning can ride the pine!

I will try to remember to post up after the Even Saturday to get some thoughts out on how Im liking MKII which I haven't really played and to see how Im feeling about WM on the whole.

Smash Up the Awesome Review

Smash up is an awesome game, it says so on the box. It plays very easily and fairly quickly. There are 8 factions in the box, you take two of them, shuffle them together and that forms your deck. Next you place bases in the center of the table. These are the spots that you are trying to destroy. Then you take turns playing 1 minion and action each turn. Once a base gets to a certain level its destroyed and players earn points based on how much strength their force had at its destruction.


This is a Base card. The top left number is the required strength to destory it. The large numbers in the middle are the points its worth once destroyed. 5 to the winner, 3 to second place, and 2 to third. Each base also has a special ability written at the bottom of it.

Next up the Factions

Aliens
A very "Mars Attacks" feel to their art work. The Aliens are average in their minion strength, don't have a lot of kill actions, but do have the ability to send a lot of minions back to their owners hand. They can choose their own minions or their Enemies.

Wizards
The Wizards have some of the lower strenghts in the game. But they make up for this by allowing their side to play multiple actions a turn and draw a lot of cards. While they won't likely do the heaviest lifting on your side they will support your other faction quite a bit.

Ninjas
The Ninjas are masters of trickery and Death. They come with the most kill actions of any faction. And they have some neat tricks that allow them to swap their minions in play with ones from their hands, or even add new ones as a base is being destroyed to claim more Victory Points.

Dinosaurs
The Dinosaurs have the least amount of trickery, but back that up with the most power. King Rex here is the strongest minion in the game. Im not sure what else to say... they have lasers too.

Pirates
Right behind the Ninjas in kill power are the Pirates. The Pirates have some ways to move minions around to different bases, both theirs and their enemies. They also have ways to keep their minions in play after a base is destroyed.

Robots
Every faction has 10 minions and 10 actions, except the Robots, they have 18 minions and 2 actions. In place of the other actions they get Micro-Bots, 1 strength minions who have bonus effects on them. Robots have a lot of ways to play muliple minions a turn, and their 2 actions let you draw more cards for each minion on a base. The Micro bots all tend to have stacking powers as well.

Tricksters
These guys I had the most trouble understanding. What they do is play Action cards that remain in play on each of the bases. These things offer either a bonus to the Trickster or a penalty to their foes. They also have ways to make people discard cards from their hand while they draw cards. They are a very Control/lock-down based faction.

Zombies
The Zombies discard pile may as well be their hand. They have an amazing ability to play minions and actions from there as though they were in their hand. And given the right circumstances can drop an entire zombie horde in one fell swoop.

So I have played 5 games now. And thus far I have not seen a single combonation that looks unbeatable. I did hear that the Robot/Wizard combo was a poor one, due to the Robots having very few actions and Wizards wanting more. But I would like to see it on the table again to be sure it wasn't just a bad draw. To this point this is easily my number 1 Gen Con purchase. Its fun, fast, and easy to learn. The Rulebook is rather hilarious, and does its best to make the rules as clean as possible. I would fully recommend this game. It only goes up to 4 players so if your group is far too big for that be warned now.

They gave these away at Gen Con

At Gencon I spoke with the AEG creative director and he told us that a new expansion was already in the works and would be released either at the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013. With 4 new factions: Ghosts, Steampunk, Russian Bear-Cavalry, and Plants(little shop of horrors) This expansion gives you the ability to play a 6 player game... Im not sure the game works well at that level though. But, I can tell you right now that I will be getting it as soon as humanly possible.

A Crap Load of Swag

So here are the pics of the things I picked up at Gen Con.




Some Privateer Pick ups

Storm of Shadows

A new round of Plastic Arkham Characters

Some new stuff for A Touch of Evil

New Infinity Models

evil baby orphanage, and the Dragon Age RPG

My new board games

The awesomeness that is my new Malifaux dudes

Gen Con 2012

Im back from Gen Con safe and poor. I have pics of all the games and stuff I picked up, but those are on my camera and that is not with me. So Gen Con: The Photos, will be a later post. Lets get started

Wednesday: 5am I got my car packed up with Ellen and Rockett and drove it over to Mike's place. By 6am we were on the road. 10+ hours later we rolled into Indiapolis. Wednesday was decent. We played a few board games, had a light dinner and called in an early night.

Thursday: 10am the doors to the Con Hall open and I literally ran to Wyrd. I was really disapointed to find out Mei Feng's box set would not be there until Saturday. But shrugged, grabbed the book, Rail Golem, Metal Gamin, and Willie. Then we proceeded to hit a bunch of nearby booths, like Battle Foam, Flying Frog, and then looked at PP but saw the line was likely around 498 hours long and stretched all the way to Ohio. We ran around picking things up, I spent nearly 50% of my weekend budget in like 2 hours Thursday. It started to Pour so we met up with my Brother and ordered Pizza. I got sick so, we went back to room and played Last Night on earth. I passed out early.



Friday: I awoke feeling 100% better. Apparently I moaned in pain in my sleep, must have been me fighing my stomach bug! We hit the con floor for a bit then went off to try the IKRPG. We got in early sat down at the table and our Demo was being run by, Doug Seacat. No joke, it was awesome. I played the Arcane Mechanic who had a trusty Steajack, since we were an odd number of people Mike took over running my Jack. Ellen was the Magic Investigator, kind of like a Harry Dresden almost. Laura was an Alchemist Thief, and Chris was a Big ass soldier Troll. We ran through the adventure and I think everyone one of us loved the system. My biggest gripe of the entire weekend is that they only had like 300 books, and those were gone in like an hour. I plan to buy it as soon as it releases. Later Mike got a Copy of Level 7 and I got Smaash up (Smash up deserves its own blog post). We then met up for our True Dungeon. I've done True Dungeon before. Its fun, but very over-priced. We ran through the dungeon and with the exception of an annoying girl who was with us for half the dungeon until her parents came and yelled at her for something which made her leave and the rest of us cheer, It was a blast. Just not a $38 blast. It was more like a $20 blast. I ran the druid and did way better then I thought with my Druid Spells, getting 7/8 leaves correct to cast my spells. After that it was Dinner and Level 7. That game is kind of freaky.



Saturday: We awoke really damn early to go to the "Hickman's Killer Breakfast" That was a waste of $10. Mike could not hear anything and left after like 40 mins, and the rest of us felt the jokes got old and the entire thing just kinda ran too long so we left too. At noon we went on an awesome Brewery Tour around Indy. We hit 4 breweries and got rather drunk. The bus dropped us back off around 4pm, and we hit the hall for before Dinner so Mike could get Mage Wars and I could get Mei Feng... Except Mei Feng never came. Wyrd pretty well F***ed up their Gen Con this year. I vented a lot on this already and am over it. But this was a prety big botch in my eyes. After Dinner Ellen got Sick, (I swear it was someone almost every night, Mike had migranes and vertigo wednesday) But she felt better in like 2 hours so we made it back to the Hall and Played Flash Point. An AMAZING (Check that out ok, amazing in all caps. this game will blow your god damn mind and then give you cookies!) game where you play firemen trying to save people in a burning building. Its 100% co-op and about 314159265359x better then it sounds. I know right now you're thinking, firemen... really dude? I know this becasue I did the same thing. But then you play it and the game just rocks! This was the #1 surprise Gem of Gen Con. (Smash up is #2, but that game sells it self) So we put out fires until we felt like we might pass out.



Sunday: We hit the hall one last time, I thought I might make it home with some cash, but blew all I had left Sunday on Dice, Warmachine, and a few odds and ends. We rolled out around noon, stopped a lot on the way home to break up the trip. We got back to Mikes around Midnight, I dropped Ryan off around 12:40, and got home a bit after 1am.

This Gen Con rocked!!! A few mis-steps in events we did/didn't do. Should not have done killer breakfast, should have done MEGA robo-rally. (I have pics, words, can't do it justice) But this was an awesome trip overall.

Pics will come later.

Resser love

Pics from the new book

25 Stone Tuesday Tussle 8/7

So I lied, the next update is before Gen Con. Bill ran a 3 round 25 stone tournament last night, ended up with a great showing with 12 people there. I of course took Ressers.



Round 1 vs Bo and his evil Vicks.
I have played Bo 2 times before both with Marcus, thing did not go well for me in those games. This time I had a better Master with me though and Nicodem came to play. We had Shared Supply Wagon, I called Grudge on a Ronin who I dubbed; "Stabby Pony Tail Ho" and Hold Out, since I figured he'd be forced to protect his wagon he would have trouble coming to my Deployment Zone. The game went fairly quick, we finished in about 45 mins. Highlights - Sword Vicki destroyed the dead rider, who only made 1 attack that game. Unfortunatly (for not me) the Vicks were then in range of Nico who kept them paralyzed for the remainder of the game. The Grave spirit and Nico then then took turns bouncing Decay's off the Vicks (unreal how well that little guy can cast spells sometimes) Eventually the Vicks Fell, I killed my Grudged Ronin with a Slow to Die attack from my Crookedman. Both our Wagons made it into the center untouched and the game ended. I got 2 for Grude, 2 for Hold Out, and 3 for Supply Wagon. He got 3 for Supply Wagon, 0 for Thwart (ballsy call) and 0 for Stake a Claim... This one was rough, he just forgot to put the Convict on the Terrain, and I forgot it was a scheme for him, should have been 7-5, but it ended 7-3



Game 2 vs Dave and Zorida
We got Shared Deliver a Message, which made me cringe. I took Seamus with Sybelle and some Belles. The game featured a ton of killing and a large play mistake by me. On turn 4 I had Sybelle and Belle ready to deliver the Message but wasn't paying attention to that, I instead used Seamus to try and Kill Tuco, forgetting that he had Slow to Die and botching the turn. He then delivered the message right there. I did manage to wipe almost his entire crew, of Lilitu, Lelu, and Tuco. We both ended up grabbing both our schemes, I had Kill Protege Lelu and Stake a Claim, he had Stake a Claim and Kidnap. I ended up losing 8-6.

Game 3 vs Hugh and Kirai
We flipped Shared Plant the Evidence. I called Breakthrough and Eye for Eye. He called Grudge and Assassinate. I decided Nicodem could handle Kirai and took the old guy. I ended up with a clear line to Kirai on turn 2 and had both Crookedmen and Nico start blasting them. On turn 3 I had killed the Seishin and Lost love and had Kirai down to 3 wounds. She booked it away from them but landed near my night terrors who then finished her off. It was kind of amazing. From htere I just started to clean up his crew. The problem then became Eye for Eye. I ended up with 2 models left after forcing most of my crew to kill each other, but it was too many and I ended up winning 6-2.

So I ended up with 6 tournament points, a differential of +6, and 19 total VPS. That was good enough for 3rd, and very close to 2nd (Second place when 2-0-1 so he had 7 tournament points) It was a good time, im looking forward to the next one.

Blunders in Malifaux

I don't want to pin this squarely on Marcus, at some level I have to just not understand him. But I am pretty good with most other masters I play and while I really want to be good with Marcus he just doesn't click for me. So im 7 games into my Marcus foray and in those games I have lost 4, tied 1, and won 2. Not great by my usual standards. Now the upside is Im having a good time regardless. I would like to see Marcus live longer as he is fun to play with, but as I've seen even 8 soul stones can't keep him upright long term.



So with Gen Con around the Corner Marcus will be given a breather. the Next time he hits the table will likely be when I get around to painting his alt sculpt up. I really like that model.

So I am taking Ressers with me to Gen Con. In my C4, my new bag of fun wonders I have managed to fit 2 full crews. One for Seamus and one for Nicodem. I went ahead and spent the extra dough for a custom cut tray, here is what I will be bringing to Gen Con.

Nicodem + Avatar
Seamus + Avatar
Dead Rider
Grave Spirit
Bette Noir
the Hanged
6x Mindless Zombies
4x Night Terrors
3x Punk Zombies
2x Rotten belles
2x Drowned
2x Crooked Men
2x Canine Remains
Molly
Madam Sybelle
Necrotic Machine

And as luck would have it Bill has decided to run a 25 stone tournament tonight. So I will be bringing this exact bag of wonders for tonight to see how well it can handle it.

Next update likely will be after Gen Con when I have tons of new Malifaux and other toys to brag about. At the moment I plan to gran Mei and all her buddies

Marcus' New Friends

Got the Slate Ridge Mauler and Blessed of December painted up to help Marcus out.

Eulogy of Kyle Carver

I'll clear this up now, Kyle was my RP character in a Scion campaign that we finished up last night. He easily makes it onto this list of my favorite RP characters.

Kyle was the Scion of Dionysis and was an iresponsible party boy. Of all the members of his Scion band it took him the longest to come to grips with what he was, The Child of a God, but once he accepted this truth he held on to firmly and fought for it with his life. Though he and his companions ended thier trials at odds with each other. When the time came to step up and save the world they all banded together. Kyle never expected to be elevated to the status of Godhood and never would have dreamed of trying to stand up to a being like Chronos 1 on 1, but he did for his friends, his Son, and the entire world. His divine life ended as abruplty as it started. He is survived by his Son who shares a small portion of his divine blood. Rest in Peace Kyle. I'll miss you.

Zombie Chihuahua

I wanted to share my tactics with the little guy since I think most people just view him as a cheaper Canine Remains.

First off He is a cheap corpse, but I would recomend not using him as such if you can help it. He has better things he can do.

Turn 1 cast wracked with pain. Most people know this one. It drops a dog to 1 wd left and grabs a body part. Its basically the same as McM doing it, but doesn't cost his AP.

After Turn 1. This is where the Zombie Chihuahua gets to have some fun. He has a spell that is just fantastic. magical extension. I know every totem gets it, he just does better stuff with it then most. Wracked with pain casts for him on a 9+ it does 2 wds outright, with a ridiculous range of like 12". Very nice spell to have. Plus you can boost it with stones if need be. And everytime he does it he grabs a body part counter.

But far and away his absolute best cast is Dissection. This is tricky, but can basically outright kill any Minion. First it has to be channeled, the Zombie Chihuahua only has a cast of 3, so its a tough bet that you will get a cheatable flip with out the channel. So to set this up leave him until your last activation for the turn and then run him up near his target. The following turn have him start things off. Burn a stone to put the resist out of reach (Cast 3, a double digit card, and a stone should hit any minion in the game.) Once you hit lay down the Severe and watch your foe die.

I often tell people when they ask how to counter McMourning that the Zombie Chihuahua should be an considered an equal threat to their crew as McMourning himself. And MUCH easier to kill off.

So thats pretty much it. Focus Dissection or cast Wracked with pain. My Zombie Chihuahua has wracked up some impressive kills over the games. Lillith, Executioner, and Von Schill, name a few. And some of them could even use stones.

Dust Warfare

Its been a while since I started Dust and I have yet to come up with a good way to review it. So I guess what Im gonna end up doing is just kind of stumbling through it, slop on some pictures, and then shove it on the blog.

Starting the Pics off early

Dust Warfare uses the same models as Dust Tactics the Fantasy Flight Board Game. Also the Same Dice. From what I hear they are similar, but Warfare is more free formed and not played on a Grid like Tactics.

So Dust is a dystopian world based around WWII, which I like. The general back story is that the Gemans were about to lose the war when they found what might be, but totally is, Alien technology. They used to to Kill Hitler and have the regular military take over the country. Then they started to push back the Allies. The Gemans then asked for Peace, saying Hitler is dead and something worse is coming. The allies said hell to the no and then stole some Alien Tech and built their own awesomeness. So did the Russians. So now the world is divided into what I think is 3 major powers. Allies, Axis, and Russia, who got mad at the other allies for something. Also there is a rumor that Aliens who may not exist, but totally do, will be coming to town and become the 4th Faction.

See totally Alien Technology

The game is pretty simple but has a lot of tables to keep track of. Each soldier has a gun. The gun has a range, basically from 6"-16" (Some are longer, but most cap at 16") Then there is a table that says when shotting said gun at a Soldier of X type roll Y Dice. So a Standard Army Ranger shooting his rifle at a standard German Grenadier would roll 1 die. The Dice are set up with 4 Blank Sides and 2 "Hit" Symbols so any single die has a 1/3 chance of scoring a hit.

There are 2 rules to the game that are really crucial. Cover is the first. Your soldiers can benefit from Hard or Soft Cover. Soft cover cancels a single hit against them from enemy fire. Hard Cover cancels two. So a Squad of Rifles (5 man on average) shooting into cover has a very poor chance of actually killing anyone. This leads to weapons that ignore cover. Grenade Launchers and Flame Throwers and the like. If a single weapon in your squad ignores cover, then all of them do. So special characters who can ignore cover with their shots are great choices to add into units so you can make normal weapons ignore cover. Most weapons that ignore cover have a smaller range so you have to up close to use them.

That Grenade Launcher in his hands is handy for kicking guys out of cover, the chick is kinda hot

The Second Rule is Supression. When a unit is hit by an enemy attack they suffer supression, whether you lose soldier sor not. At the start of a units activation they roll a die for each supression token. On a hit its removed. So building up a couple on a unit is a good way to keep them supressed. If a unit stays suppressed then they lose either their move or action for the turn. The game also uses a reaction system, where if a unit hasn't acted yet during the turn they can do something when an enemy is within 12" of them. Supression removes their ability to react.

Check it, a Rule Book


So those are the most important rules to Dust. I guess now I will tell you why I like it. First off the world is really cool to me. I love the feel, the slightly advanced tech from WW2, plus the chance to field and force that is basically 100% Army Rangers is awesome to me. I like most of the rules. Some feel a touch tacked on, like the reaction system. But overall I think it still makes for a good game.

I dislike the Aliens. Thye don't exist yet, but I keep hearing that they are coming to be faction #4, and I do think these days Mini games need 4 factions to function right. But I dont really care for the idea of Aliens. Also I dislike how late it feels like the Russians army rules are. I don't play them, but several people at my LGS bought into them and have yet to get rules on how to play them.

She wants to play too


Overal I would rate this game fairly well. Lets say a B+. Its my second favorite game at the moment behind Malifaux. But ahead of Hordes and any form of GW army game.

At Half Time

Moving into July means the year is half over (wow really?) and I decided to check back in on my New Years Resolutions and Overal Malifaux record for the year. Lets start with the resolutions.



#1 Don't buy Minis for a game I do not already own.
FAILURE!!!! I bought into Dust Warefare. No regrets yet, its a fun as hell game. But I am off to a bad start.


#2 Dont buy any out of faction malifaux crews.
SUCCESS!!! For the moment anyways. the release of a 10 Thunders faction may draw me in. Gotta see what they are all about. Gen Con might be very Expensive.


#3 Read more
Im gonna call this a Success so far this year I have 15 books. Thats a big improvement over past years. But I'm gonna say if I don't read anymore by December then I failed to really follow through

#4 Get Into Grad School
Im not gonna get into specifics but, I decided not to apply.


OK MALIFAUX At the Half! (Be Warned I do love myself, and will pat me on the back a lot here)

Overall Record for 2012 - 26/9/2 I am really pleased with this number my personal goal was to win 60% of the games I play, so far Im ahead of that at 70%



Faction Break Down
Resserectionists - 15/4/0 (.789)
Outcasts - 7/2/0 (.777)
Archanists - 2/2/2 (.500)
Neverborn - 2/0/0 (1.000)
Guild - 0/1/0 (.000)

My top 2 masters - Seamus 6-1 Vickis 6-1 (this surprised me honestly)

Also I am 1-0 with Molly (this surprises everyone)

Finally my eternal struggle to be better then Mike over at White Rabbit's Blog. I'm starting Small and just trying to go .500 in my games against him this year. To this point its not going great. I am 3/6/2. But I have 6 months left to bring that back up, I'm gonna need a win streak!

So there you have it, Im awesome at Malifaux, but only mediocre with Archanists.

The Nicodem Tactica part 2

How I handle each strategy with Nicodem.

1 - A line in the Sand - This is a little tricky, but not impossible. I like Necro Punks for this mission personally. You grab the frings markers and then use your rolling crew to work up and hold on to the middle 3. I would also use Riggor on anyone who gets next to a marker.

2 - Claim Jump - This is a solid one for Nicodem to work on. Move up towards it, kill anything in your way, and summon heavy hitters onto it as soon as you get to it. Then Riggor away any enemies who try to hit back.

3 - Contain Power - I dont care for this mission as a resser player. It lends itself to using McMourning. Nico can do it. its just not easy. Decay is your only damage dealing ability, his cane does not count. Soften the enemy up with summoned Punk Zombies, and try to use Riggor Mortis to work through their stones, most people will always burn a stone to not be paralyzed. Once they are low on stones start the Decays up if they are low, channel one to get to that 5 damage spot.

4 - Deliver a Message - There is a fun trick to this one I learned. If you are close to the enemy and holding a Joker, summon a Flesh Construct right on top of them. Then Ditch the Joker to Dumb which will cause fast to cancel out slow. take the 2 AP and deliver. If you want more reliable methods Use 2-3 Necro Punks and be ready to resummon them.

5 - Destroy the Evidence - This is an easy one actually. Have Nico roll forward with his crew as usual. Then use Summons to place models directly on the Evidence tokens and use pop them. Necro Punks also work great for this mission.

6 - Distract - Riggor the Enemy master into oblivion. They can't more if they are paralyzed the whole game. Also you could kill them. Bolster makes most Resser minions a threat to masters. especially a guy like the Dead Rider.

7 - Escape and Survive - I hate this fucking mission. a lot. Use the Avatar here and chain summon zombies so you have as many or more minions then you started with by popping out a ton of mindless zombies.

8 - Plant Evidence - Copy paste Destroy, its the same thing, just easier.

9 - Reconoiter - This is an easy on for Nico, I would definetly attach the Avatar here. And make a ton of models, then kill your enemy and on turn 6 have them all scatter.

10 - Slaughter - I love Nico for Slaughter. there is a trick. DON'T SUMMON. He can still control a board with decay and riggor. Now I do summon models with Nicodem, but I'm the best with him ever, and it is a bit tricky to pick your spots. If your comfortable or need a gamble then summon something, but really its not usually a good plan. This is also the only mission where I might auto leave out the avatar.

11 - Supply Wagon - Easy as pie, have Nico himself escort the wagon. Pop up a few zombies and just try not to get in its way too much. Summon as much as you want and Riggor any threats.

12 - Treasure Hunt - Roll foward and then backwards. Its a pretty easy mission for a slow crew, since your opponent can't touch the treasure until you do.

13 - Turf War - Keep your crew moving, and use the Avatar. Once you get on their half, summon as many Punk Zombies as you can. to try and keep you numbers up.

So the big thing here is these are pretty general ideas. Most plans die the second I engage. But keeping the big picture in mind with Nicodem is huge.

Schemes are too hard to explain since they have way too many variables. I do tend to use Stake a Claim, Breakthrough, Kill protege, and Body Guard.

The Nicodem Tactica

I say THE Nicodem tactica, because I am conceited and believe I am the best player with him ever. Really. But lets not get into that. What this really is, is the sum of my experiences with him over the past few years. A lot of people keep telling me he is bad and I think he's more misunderstood. So hopefully I can clear some things up about him and the models he works well with.

Nicodem himself is a low wk, low def high cast master. He fits in alongside, Levi, Criid, Ramos, and Raspy. The difference between him and the rest is that his spell list runs through a lot of different things. The others are more focused. With his versatility I have come to believe that Nicodem has the best spell list in all of Malifaux. Lets break them down.

Decay - One of my favorite spells. Does damage, has solid range, and the best part of it all, any time it hits your guys instead of blasting them it heals them 2 wounds. It lacks the punch of Raspy and Criid's blasts, but it still can pack a whalop, and the heal in return is very solid.

Reanimator - This is the spell that trips people up. Nicodem can summon anything. This does not make him a minion factory. Use Reanimator to replace lost troops. Dont get caught up trying to dig out corpses and constatly have him summon new dudes. Its not his best spell, but it is a clutch one. My rule of thumb for reanimator is Summon a Flesh Construct or Punk Zombie, unless you have a specific goal in mind. Need to pull an enemy off and objective make a Belle. Need to go take one make a Necro Punk. Otherwise the hitting power of those two will cover a lot of bases.

Riggor Mortis - The Best spell in all of Malifaux. (Pandora's flee thing is a trigger, so its different) The Ability to paralyze models will win games. If you cast it 3 times in a turn, you should be able to take advatage of your opponets crew nicely. But this spell needs a 10+ to cast and people will sell out to stop it. Pick your spots and only burn stones on really nasty foes (Like Lelu or any master)

The Fog - A great spell to protect your crew from shooting on the way up the field. It needs a low mask so you can hold one if need be. I like to cast it on turns 1-3ish and not so much once you engage.

Nicodem's (0) actions. Both of which are amazing. The problem becomes when to use each one. I have a method thats pretty easy. If there are corpse counters on the board and you don't have any Mindless zombies use Arise. Pretty much otherwise use Bolster. If you only have like 1 MZ I would make more. Thats pretty much it. Choose wisely.

All right lets focus on something that can be trouble, keeping Nicodem alive. He has a poor defence of 3, but has a nice 12 wounds and hard to wound. So its easy to ensure he only takes minimum damage from attacks. He has the ability to pass off attacks onto Mindless zombies too, so be sure to take advantage of that and keep 2-4 of them around him at all times. The other big thing to do is start every game with 8 soul stones. He will need them to stay alive and ensure key Riggor or Reanimator spell goes off. You can take less stones if you really need the points, but Im telling you very often those 8 stones are better then most models he will take.

Nicodem's Avatar. Its awesome, plain and simple. In just about any game I would pay the 2 stones to attach it. It is a solid upgrade and his manifest is easy to acomplish. generally only achieving 1 requirement can work fine, and I would focus on the use arise to make 3 Mindless zombies requirement. Once Manifested he keeps Riggor Mortis and Decay so his offensive spells stay the exact same. But he gains a new (0) action which freely makes 0-4 Mindless Zombies depending on a card flip. I would always use it if you have less then 2 on the table. If you have several Zombies up then use his other (0) to start making Punk Zombies out of them. The Resser Men have FANTASTIC avatars, I would almost auto-attach all 3, they are that good.

Ok so now we move onto crew choices. This is where I feel like people get tripped up with Nicodem. I'll break down some common choices for him.

The Dead Rider I would take him in just about any list with any reser master. He really needs the Grave Spirit to shine to keep that in mind when you buy him. Nicodem doesn't need a totem so the Rider and Grave Spirit combo is perfect for him. The Dead Riders biggest weakness for Nico is he leaves only 1 corpse. But its not that huge.



Mortimer I hate Mortimer. He is 7 points and prety useless. All he does most games is lag behind the crew popping out Corpses. Its not enought to justify the cost and resouces he commands. Ignore him please. he is dead weight and his points can be spent on models that will actively help Nico win.

Punk Zombies I have a rule for Punk Zombies, Only Summon. Never pay points for them, they are slow and very easy to take down. Its a lot more difficult to handle them when they appear in your face. That is their strength. Don't over pay for your minions, the 4 stone guys are way better early game.

Crookedmen This is my favorite Minion. I like to take 2 with Nico, Seamus, and McMourning. They have range attacks, board control, and their hammers do great damage with the chance to paralyze and the kicker, cheap. There is very little to dislike about them. If you don't use them, try them they will change your games.




Rotten Belle Coming in at a close second on the minion chart is the Belle. They are also a bargain, but don't really need company. 1 is enough for most games. They can move Nico more, or bring enemies into your lines if you set it up right.

Canine Reamains These are the tough ones to figure. I've been taking them with the Avatar, but not with Regular nico. I have decided that I liek them to a certain extent, but for Nicodem I would never take them just to kill them. That slows down your crew and is a bit of a waste. Instead I have been using them to run up first cause some havoc and hopefully do some damage before they die. Im not a huge fan of them, but they can be a necessary part of ressers.

Rafkin On paper he seems like the coolest minion we've got. In practice I find him a bit lacking. Not sure if he fits with Nico, but I do think its his best bet to find a spot. More games is needed I guess. at the moment though I rarely take him and when I do he underperforms.

Necro-Punks / Night Terrors These our the ressers best objective grabbers. Its a tough call as to which to take for Nico in my mind. Night terrors are faster and a little more durable, but they dont leave corpses so thats a pain. Night terrors are conditionally fast (needing a mask to leap) but do leave corpses so they aren't usless once their mission is complete. I would leave this one up to play style and choice honestly.

So those are my Nicodem thoughts. Post up any questions or arguements in the comments if you want something explained better or just think I'm way off on this.