Today I want to talk about fucking up and how to learn from it, the first displays of my short attention span in Malifaux and becoming braver.
Let's get the painful bit out of the way and talk about my second game against my long term gaming buddy Borja and his Perdita crew...
Now, I don't want to diminish my opponent's play at all, Borja played a really tight game as always and scored almost all of his scheme points. That being said, I'm basically going to talk from this point on about just how many things I screwed up and the ultimate result that had on my game (namely, scoring 0 VP). Starting with the strategy, we were playing guard the stash, and to put it as simply as possible, I misheard the description of how to win, thinking I needed two models within 2" of either objective rather than one model within 2" of both... Suffice to say my deployment with this in mind was more than a little silly, and it was only on turn 3 that I realised my mistake. Oops.
Second, make them suffer, I'd listened to a Before We Begin podcast recently in which they discussed the scheme and the lists they'd chosen around it. Because of this, I skim read it just to remind myself of the rules, and completely missed the bit that stated 'Master or Henchman'. For those who don't know, make them suffer scores you a VP at the end of the turn if a master or henchman kills a minion or peon, or an automatic VP if your opponent has no minions or peons.
So let's take a look at the list I brought (the last scheme was protect territory, which at least I did get right)
Von Schill - I Pay Better, Survivalist, The Shirt Comes Off
Student of Conflict
Lazarus - Oathkeeper
Librarian
Hans - Scout the Field
Trapper
Trapper
...
And just like that it was as if a thousand pro-players cried out at once and were silenced.
So yes, this is frankly a terrible list for Make Them Suffer, with only one model that can actually score it (which I failed to note until turn 3). I then ran half my force - the little tank pocket of Lazarus, Von Schill and the librarian - over to one objective, on the premise that I'd never be shifted off it. We'll come to how I managed to screw that up as well, but as you can see, even the premise was flawed.
So let's fast forward a few turns into the game; I'd plinked a few damage off a few things, namely Francisco, and had lost a trapper in return. Poor deployment left the second trapper and Hans with little to shoot at after the first couple of turns, and I was down 2/0 - this was when I realised the horrible mistake I'd made scenario wise. In a desperate attempt to rectify it, my badly wounded Von Schill who was down to a single wound charged over to Francisco, knocking him down to hard to kill (yes, I had failed to remember to shoot off that upgrade with Hans) and then using FINISH THE CUR! to kill him, he turned his last attack on the peacekeeper and then attempted to rip his shirt off, completely forgetting that I'd used my (0) action already and thus being unable to heal! This led to Von Schill dying to a fecking Austringer (*sniff*) and thus turning off the bonus willpower and psuedo hard to kill for the rest of the posse... Oops.
From that point onwards it was a simple matter of cleanup for Perdita, I did bring the peacekeeper down, but too late, and the final score was 0/7 with me being almost completely tabled bar the librarian.
So, what did I learn from this fiasco?
Well, there really is nothing like fucking something up to make sure you never fuck it up again, in my next game I read each scheme two or three times, just to be absolutely sure I knew how to score them. I also had my first experience of managing multiple (0) actions - Von Schill could have forgone his attack on the peacekeeper to kill Francisco, and then ripped his shirt off, likely surviving (the peacekeeper had already gone) - and potentially paralyzing a model or two in the process. Even better given I hadn't activated the librarian yet. Finally, it's gotten through to me that I need to be less afraid of just attacking Perdita, def 7 or even def 9 isn't impossible to get through, and she lacks wounds, she's just too dangerous to simply be left alive.
So, where did that leave me heading into my next game? Well, I got a taste of Von Schill and didn't care for him much - I know I screwed up a lot, but it felt like I had to put a lot of effort into making him actually do stuff bar being tanky, I'm a big fan of specialists over all-rounders, and so he didn't quite fit with me in that manner. I also made a decision to be more proactive next time; I'd been trying to purely play objectives and rely on just 'not dying' for a few games, which really isn't a healthy way to play in my opinion, as it shoves all of the control into the opponent's court, rather than forcing them to cope with situations I'd generated.
So, game 2.
This was Reckoning against Ressers: I took murder protege and power ritual, revealing both. My opponent took power ritual and line in the sand, also revealing both. I chose the Viks for the first time this game, and my opponent selected Nicodem (also his first time with the master).
My list was as follows:
Vik of the Ashes - Sisters in Spirit, Synchronised Slaying, Sisters in Fury
Vik of the Blood - Mark of Shezuul, Oathkeeper
Vanessa - Howling Wolf Tattoo
Trapper
Ronin
Ronin
Strongarm Suit - Oathkeeper
And my opponent's:
Nicodem - Love Thy Master, Undertaker, Maniacal Laugh
Vulture
Mortimer - Corpse Bloat
Toshiro, the Daimyo
Ashigaru
Crooligan
Crooligan
We were on Flank deployment with a great big Ht5 climeable structure in the centre of the board that made a lovely nest for the trapper. I split my crew into two teams, both Viks and a ronin on one side, the strongarm, Vanessa and a ronin on the other. My opponent deployed in more of a clump, with two crooligans hunkering behind terrain in either corner.
I was really happy with how I played this game; I managed to carry out my plan of being proactive quite well (helped by the absurd offensive potential of the Viks) - long story short, I killed my murder protege target (the hanged) on turn 2 and also took down Toshiro with a sex changed strongarm suit. I managed to score reckoning from every turn thereafter, as well as plant ritual, but props to my opponent, despite all the efforts on my part, he managed to score max points for both power ritual and Line in the Sand with a hilarious cycle of summoning crooked men, killing them and dropping scheme markers.
The end result was 10/6 to me, reckoning being the deciding factor (any other scenario and I think I would have had a much harder time). I made a handful of errors (deployed my ronin too far forward so had to spend an AP wandering back to plant ritual, and kept forgetting to do important (0) actions before charging), but a couple of noticeably good plays as well, such as dropping oathkeeper for fast on vik of the blood, just to get an extra AP to walk back behind terrain after scoring murder protege. Perhaps my favourite was using a ronin to cut a crooligan open, push into the corner, drop a scheme marker, and then happily die to poison, denying the reckoning point.
This was my highest point score so far, and for the first time I felt like my list was well chosen for the strat and scheme setup (although I do regret not taking Taelor vs Resurrectionists). It also felt nice to be in the driving seat for the first time since game 1, helped massively by the functionality of the Viks, I think my next task will be finding that happy medium between action and reaction. Big thanks to my opponent for making the game so much fun, never getting salty, and generally being a good guy.
So where do we go from here? Well, I'm 6 games in now and my record looks like this:
Hamelin: 1 win to Arcanists, 2 losses to Guild and 1 loss to Neverborn
Von Schill: 2 losses to Guild
Viks: 1 win to Ressers
I have a tournie to attend in November, which I'll be plugging practice for over the next few weeks. I'll be playing the Viks (because having two walking blenders is hilarious) and Hamelin, they seem to cover each other's strat/scheme weaknesses well, and don't require a massive extra investment in other models to play competitively (I'm looking at you Leviticus). I seriously need to improve my game against Guild, and get some practice vs the other three factions.
So, hope you enjoyed that brief(ish) redux of my last two games, I'll check in again next week (probably).
See ya soon,
Seb.
So let's take a look at the list I brought (the last scheme was protect territory, which at least I did get right)
Von Schill - I Pay Better, Survivalist, The Shirt Comes Off
Student of Conflict
Lazarus - Oathkeeper
Librarian
Hans - Scout the Field
Trapper
Trapper
...
And just like that it was as if a thousand pro-players cried out at once and were silenced.
So yes, this is frankly a terrible list for Make Them Suffer, with only one model that can actually score it (which I failed to note until turn 3). I then ran half my force - the little tank pocket of Lazarus, Von Schill and the librarian - over to one objective, on the premise that I'd never be shifted off it. We'll come to how I managed to screw that up as well, but as you can see, even the premise was flawed.
So let's fast forward a few turns into the game; I'd plinked a few damage off a few things, namely Francisco, and had lost a trapper in return. Poor deployment left the second trapper and Hans with little to shoot at after the first couple of turns, and I was down 2/0 - this was when I realised the horrible mistake I'd made scenario wise. In a desperate attempt to rectify it, my badly wounded Von Schill who was down to a single wound charged over to Francisco, knocking him down to hard to kill (yes, I had failed to remember to shoot off that upgrade with Hans) and then using FINISH THE CUR! to kill him, he turned his last attack on the peacekeeper and then attempted to rip his shirt off, completely forgetting that I'd used my (0) action already and thus being unable to heal! This led to Von Schill dying to a fecking Austringer (*sniff*) and thus turning off the bonus willpower and psuedo hard to kill for the rest of the posse... Oops.
From that point onwards it was a simple matter of cleanup for Perdita, I did bring the peacekeeper down, but too late, and the final score was 0/7 with me being almost completely tabled bar the librarian.
So, what did I learn from this fiasco?
Well, there really is nothing like fucking something up to make sure you never fuck it up again, in my next game I read each scheme two or three times, just to be absolutely sure I knew how to score them. I also had my first experience of managing multiple (0) actions - Von Schill could have forgone his attack on the peacekeeper to kill Francisco, and then ripped his shirt off, likely surviving (the peacekeeper had already gone) - and potentially paralyzing a model or two in the process. Even better given I hadn't activated the librarian yet. Finally, it's gotten through to me that I need to be less afraid of just attacking Perdita, def 7 or even def 9 isn't impossible to get through, and she lacks wounds, she's just too dangerous to simply be left alive.
So, where did that leave me heading into my next game? Well, I got a taste of Von Schill and didn't care for him much - I know I screwed up a lot, but it felt like I had to put a lot of effort into making him actually do stuff bar being tanky, I'm a big fan of specialists over all-rounders, and so he didn't quite fit with me in that manner. I also made a decision to be more proactive next time; I'd been trying to purely play objectives and rely on just 'not dying' for a few games, which really isn't a healthy way to play in my opinion, as it shoves all of the control into the opponent's court, rather than forcing them to cope with situations I'd generated.
So, game 2.
This was Reckoning against Ressers: I took murder protege and power ritual, revealing both. My opponent took power ritual and line in the sand, also revealing both. I chose the Viks for the first time this game, and my opponent selected Nicodem (also his first time with the master).
My list was as follows:
Vik of the Ashes - Sisters in Spirit, Synchronised Slaying, Sisters in Fury
Vik of the Blood - Mark of Shezuul, Oathkeeper
Vanessa - Howling Wolf Tattoo
Trapper
Ronin
Ronin
Strongarm Suit - Oathkeeper
And my opponent's:
Nicodem - Love Thy Master, Undertaker, Maniacal Laugh
Vulture
Mortimer - Corpse Bloat
Toshiro, the Daimyo
Ashigaru
Crooligan
Crooligan
We were on Flank deployment with a great big Ht5 climeable structure in the centre of the board that made a lovely nest for the trapper. I split my crew into two teams, both Viks and a ronin on one side, the strongarm, Vanessa and a ronin on the other. My opponent deployed in more of a clump, with two crooligans hunkering behind terrain in either corner.
I was really happy with how I played this game; I managed to carry out my plan of being proactive quite well (helped by the absurd offensive potential of the Viks) - long story short, I killed my murder protege target (the hanged) on turn 2 and also took down Toshiro with a sex changed strongarm suit. I managed to score reckoning from every turn thereafter, as well as plant ritual, but props to my opponent, despite all the efforts on my part, he managed to score max points for both power ritual and Line in the Sand with a hilarious cycle of summoning crooked men, killing them and dropping scheme markers.
The end result was 10/6 to me, reckoning being the deciding factor (any other scenario and I think I would have had a much harder time). I made a handful of errors (deployed my ronin too far forward so had to spend an AP wandering back to plant ritual, and kept forgetting to do important (0) actions before charging), but a couple of noticeably good plays as well, such as dropping oathkeeper for fast on vik of the blood, just to get an extra AP to walk back behind terrain after scoring murder protege. Perhaps my favourite was using a ronin to cut a crooligan open, push into the corner, drop a scheme marker, and then happily die to poison, denying the reckoning point.
This was my highest point score so far, and for the first time I felt like my list was well chosen for the strat and scheme setup (although I do regret not taking Taelor vs Resurrectionists). It also felt nice to be in the driving seat for the first time since game 1, helped massively by the functionality of the Viks, I think my next task will be finding that happy medium between action and reaction. Big thanks to my opponent for making the game so much fun, never getting salty, and generally being a good guy.
So where do we go from here? Well, I'm 6 games in now and my record looks like this:
Hamelin: 1 win to Arcanists, 2 losses to Guild and 1 loss to Neverborn
Von Schill: 2 losses to Guild
Viks: 1 win to Ressers
I have a tournie to attend in November, which I'll be plugging practice for over the next few weeks. I'll be playing the Viks (because having two walking blenders is hilarious) and Hamelin, they seem to cover each other's strat/scheme weaknesses well, and don't require a massive extra investment in other models to play competitively (I'm looking at you Leviticus). I seriously need to improve my game against Guild, and get some practice vs the other three factions.
So, hope you enjoyed that brief(ish) redux of my last two games, I'll check in again next week (probably).
See ya soon,
Seb.
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