Seamus vs. Ramos (35ss) – 21/02/12

Tuesday’s minis night at Meeplemart was home to a 35ss game of Malifaux between Scott and I, after a couple of weeks of anticipation.  With my post on Tale of Gamers, Scott knew what I was going to run and some of my thoughts on how I was going to run them.  Similarly, I had a good idea of what he might be tabling, but not exactly.  Here’s what we had:

• Seamus (2ss + 6 unused)
• Madame Sybelle
• Rotten Belle
• Rotten Belle
• Punk Zombie
• Punk Zombie
• Punk Zombie

vs.

• Ramos (2ss + 2 unused)
• Mobile Toolkit
• Hans
• Large Steampunk Arachnid
• Steampunk Arachnid Swarm
• Hunter

Plus we both had a bunch of models to be Summoned throughout the game.

I guess I can get right into it:

Deployment

First off, yes, we played on a 4×4 board.  We did not realise this until I think the end of turn two, when we weren’t yet in combat.  Yikes!  What a n00b mistake, huh?  It sort of made the first turn sort of like an advance deployment turn, or something.

Anyway, Scott set up the board with a few buildings (the GameCraft and Games of War buildings I brought to show off) and some trees, while there were a few areas of shallow water built into the board.

I set my crew up along the deployment line, while Scott had his staggered a bit.  He later felt that at this distance, it didn’t really matter.  I got Reconnoiter and Scott got Treasure Hunt (the red marker in the middle).

Turn 1

There was just a lot of movement going on here.  I started with Seamus forfeiting his turn to dig up a Corpse Counter, as I had one more Belle model that could be Summoned.  The rest of the crew just moved up, spreading out.  Sybelle used her Call Bell ability to help slingshot one of the Belles way up.  Too bad I didn’t get Treasure Hunt, eh?

On the other side, everyone similarly moved up.  So did Ramos and the Toolkit, but Scott later realised he couldn’t moveanddo the other things he did, so he pulled them back, which is adjusted here.  The Toolkit boosted Ramos, who Scavenged then built a Steampunk Arachnid, which moved up a bit.

Turn 2

This turn would have seen action, if we used a proper sized board.  Instead, everyone on both sides moved up a bit more, and both Ramos and Seamus did some Summoning.  The one Belle moved up then Lured the Large Steampunk Arachnid forward a bit.  It didn’t do much, but at least I got to flip an extra card.

Turn 3

Finally, some action!  Not much, but it’s a start.

I don’t recall the order of things (Andrew has the video I took with his camera, so it’s pretty useless for helping me write this) but I know what ended up happening.

Ramos and the Toolkit did their combo again and Summoned a third Steampunk Arachnid.  Everyone else on his side just moved up into position for next turn.  The only model I can’t figure out is the Large Steampunk Arachnid, who in my pictures was in the same spot that he was in at the end of the last turn.  Weird.

On my side, Seamus and the Punk Zombies did the same, getting into position.  Sybelle and the Belles, however, got their hands dirty.  Belle 1 moved up and Lured the Hunter closer.  Well, we later realised this wasn’t possible as he is Immune to Influence.  We sort of made up for this on the next turn, but I dislike making another n00b mistake like this.  Belle 2 moved over and Lured Hans a little closer, who ended up taking a shot which I think didn’t do anything.  Black Joker, maybe?  Again, where’s that video when you need it?!  Belle 3 moved up and Lured the Steampunk Arachnid Swarm, right into range of Sybelle’s Shriek, which she did use, causing a Severe 6 damage!  That was some sonic scream, man.

Turn 4

Again, the order of activations is a little blurry to me, but there were a few little scuffles and deaths around the board.

The Hunter harpooned nearby Belle 1, reeling her but doing only 2 points of damage.  Later in the turn, the two Punk Zombies Charged in, but I’m pretty sure they both totally missed!  At least the Belle hit back for a snazzy 4 points of damage with her two attacks.  Don’t send a pair of Punk Zombies to do an Undead Hooker’s job, apparently!

Ramos and the Toolkit moved up and Summoned an Electrical Creation, the Large Steampunk Arachnid moved up closer, and the third Punk Zombie also moved, skirting around the building getting ready to join the fight at some point.

Now, I’m not sure if Hans took a shot, or the Swarm moved up and attacked Belle 3, but one or both of them took 4 wounds off of her.  She hit back, though, killing the Swarm.

Belle 2 did a double Lure to get Hans right next to Sybelle, who had moved up.  She used her Flurry ability and chopped up Hans real good.

Seamus moved up, aimed at the Large Seampunk Arachnid with his Flintlock, did 3 damage, then moved again behind the building.  On the other side of the action, the three little Steampunk Arachnids joined together to make another Swarm, which moved up closer to the fight (only to watch its brother Swarm get smushed).

Turn 5

Again, I’m not sure about which order these things happened in.

The third Punk Zombie Charged into the Large Steampunk Arachnid and finished it off.  The nearby Electrical Creation moved in so that it could blow up and hurt the Punk.

Belle 2 Lured the second Swarm closer, right beside Sybelle who did another set of Flurry attacks, but she wasn’t very successful this time around, only doing a little damage, which the (steam)punk Healed anyway.  Belle 2 also came in and hit the Swarm, probably doing a point of damage.

The first Punk Zombie went all Flurry on the Hunter, who died good.  This left the other Punk Zombie to Charge into the Swarm.  Not exactly sure if he did damage, but by the end of the turn the Swarm was down to 5 wounds left, after the Healing.

Belle 1, who had been freed by the death of the Hunter, moved up and actually Lured Punk Zombie 3 out of the way of the Electrical Creation’s sacrificial blast.

Oh, and Ramos, the Toolkit and Seamus all did diddly this turn!

* * * * *

Technically, we called the game here.  I was getting my 4 points for Reconnoiter, and it was clear that Ramos would not be getting any points for his Treasure Hunt.  This was definitely due to playing on such a big board, as his crew had a long way to go to get to the middle of the board, then run back.  Oops!

Nearly tabling his forces was also a reason.  Even if he had hid back and got lucky enough to Summon some more Arachnids or whatever, I think my Undead horde was bound to overrun Ramos.

We did play out a few more activations, just as a taste of what might happen.  A Punk Zombie Charged into Ramos (doing nothing, and thus being unable to attack with his Slow to Die, thanks to Ramos’ über grip).  Ramos retaliated maybe by punching him in the face, then Summoning a second Electrical Creation, which totally killed the Punk Zombie.  Ramos was then Lured into the fray by a Belle or two, or something like that, and Seamus came in to Flintlock Ramos’ face right off his head, and then, as he had no cards left, Seamus used Live For Pain and took off the last two wounds, killing Ramos.  The Toolkit was surely going to be next, if we continued.

And thus endeth what Scott dubbed, “Slaughter at Boot Hill.”  And a slaughter it was.  In terms of models lost, the ratio was 5:0 against Scott, or 6:1 if we count the final turn.  Brutal.

But good on Scott for not letting the game get him down.  In fact he’s doing the opposite, using this game to learn a lot about how his crew works.  We talked about it there and later online, and he realised a number of things he did poorly.  Like holding Ramos back and just Summoning at the beginning, instead of getting him close and using some hitting spells instead.  Ramos could have done a lot of damage to the Belles, which would have changed a lot.  Etc. etc.

I’ve written my own personal take on the game and the models in my crew in this post at Tale of Gamers, so check that out if you’d like.  But I will say here that my personal MVP of the game goes to the Belles, as their expert board control gave me the advantage I needed.  Oh, and I started with 8 soulstones, and I only used I think 4.  3 of them were on trying to gain the initiative, and all of them failed.  In retrospect, I should have brought another model for 6ss, but that’s hindsight for you.

Anyway, that’s all for now.  Hopefully I can get that video from Andrew and post a different kind of batrep that way.  If I can find my video camera charger for next week, I’ll bring mine as well.  But that’s a week away, and I’ve got plenty of painting and other hobbying to do before then.

Thanks for reading.