A Noob's guide for Noobs: Aionus

I'm back! Well, I never actually left, I just stopped writing because I have a miniature attention span and became busy in other ways (it's less sinister than it sounds I promise). In the meantime I've played a whole bunch of games (probably knocking on the door of 30 or so), I'm by no means an expert, but I feel I've progressed past the beginner stages and am working my way towards being a competent player. On that note, here's a presumptuous guide on my personal favourite model, and a new kid on the block; Aionus - master of time, scheme markers, AP and salty salty tears.

Aionus in General
More than any non-master in the game (and probably more than most masters), Aionus does everything, he can run schemes exceptionally well, he hands out extra AP for your units, he denies enemy AP, he is pretty damn durable, packs a decent punch and has a whole heap of shenaniganry that can be pulled off. All of this comes at a price though, as Aionus weighs in at a hefty 12SS in faction, 13SS as a merc., which seems to be what turns most people off to the idea of him, I'm hoping to dispel that worry. Here's a step by step breakdown of what Aionus can do, derived from my roughly 12 games with the geezer.

Aionus as a Beatstick
This is likely to be the element of Aionus where he's most lackluster for his SS cost, given he's sharing the spot with the likes of Nekima and Howard. However, his melee attack is by no means weak, sitting at a base of 2/3/5, it goes up to 3/4/6 if the target has fast/slow, at which point he's sharing a damage track with relic hammers and A&D, couple that with CA expert from the 3rd turn and the fact that it ignores armour and he makes short work of many otherwise tanky models. But does it stop there? No.

Aionus has three absolutely wonderful triggers on his Bony Fingers action:

 - On a crow, the target receives slow, both raising the damage track and bringing with it all the mighty boons of having an enemy with 1 less AP in combat with you.

 - On a mask, Aionus gets to place a friendly scheme marker in b2b with each enemy scheme marker within 3" then remove the enemy scheme markers. I must admit, this has never come up for me, but it's plain to see that it's awesome nonethless, making him just as good at hunting down enemy scheme runners as he is at running his own.

- On a tome (which is built in), after dealing severe damage, the target is buried until the end of the turn, then it is unburied in b2b with Aionus. The applications for this are vast. Bury a friendly model to save it from harm, bury a dangerous enemy model before it can attack, bury a model then move it to a different spot to deny turf war/entourage etc. I'm sure better players than me could come up with a greater number of uses. If I need this trigger, focusing to attack is the way to go.


Last but not least, Aionus can target buried models with this attack, which is why he bathes in the tears of Leviticus, Dreamer and the Hungering Darkness. He can also hit enemy models after he's buried them himself. It doesn't come up often, but it's the icing on an already delicious cake.

It is also worth noting that Aionus' ability to give out fast to friendly models adds to his offensive potential, one more attack from a relic hammer on Johan is probably better than the higher damage spread other models may carry.

Like I say, this is Aionus' 'weakest' aspect.

Aionus as a Disruptor
This is my personal favourite of all his roles, Aionus plays merry havoc with enemy plans, often while still being able to achieve his own.

AP Denial
Aionus' primary aspect of disruption which is universally applicable regardless of enemy crew is his ability to deny AP, his melee attack can give slow on a crow trigger, but he also carries a (1) action with a cast 6, rng 10, resisted by wp which gives out slow and has a built in trigger to force nearby models to take a wp duel or gain slow as well. At first glance, this is his weakest ability, but of late I've found it to be by far one of his most useful, here's why:

 - Aionus is nimble in the first turn, which allows him to double walk up and cast his 'Out of Time' action, significantly slowing the advance of a dangerous enemy (you may find you can even prevent a combat unit from getting there for upwards of two turns).

 - Some models absolutely 'need' 2 AP, like most snipers, if you cut their ability to focus, suddenly they can't even shoot your vulnerable models (note: Aionus will almost inevitably take the retaliation shot).

 - Enemy setting up with lures/alpha/pushes etc. to deliver the message? Not with 1 AP they aren't.

The important aspect here is to know that trading a single AP for a single AP is not an equal trade of resources; a pure melee model that can't charge is effectively denied 2 AP, an enemy that can't deliver the message is denied 3 VP. If you can use 'Out of Time' to hit the enemy right in the sore spots, you'll be feeling really good really fast.


Burying/Hitting Buried Models
This is a less significant aspect of Aionus, but still nonetheless important. Sometimes, slowing a model won't cut it, and you doubt you can kill it with 3 AP of attacks, if that is the case, Aionus can always walk up, focus, and cheat the severe off the hit to remove the model from the table for a turn. It's a temporary fix, and it requires a severe to be cheated (don't forget you still get the damage), but sometimes a turn is all you need. I'd give examples, but I'm sure most people can see the value in just not having to deal with something for a whole turn.

Whilst it's more niche, Aionus can hit buried models, which can really make your opponents struggle more with their 'bury happy' masters and henchmen. Dreamer suddenly has fits about summoning Chompy, Levi can't just get all trigger happy and be impossible to kill and Hungering Darkness learns the true meaning of brilliance. Against people who run those models to a well-oiled, practiced level, Aionus can really throw a spanner in the works, and result in many a scratched head. Oh, and the image of killing Papa Loco while he's in the box is just too satisfying for me.

I don't play Tara, but I'd love to hear stories of Tara shenanigans!


Mucking up Markers
Aionus is remarkably good at messing with opponents plans, mainly due to one of his (0) actions 'Time Changes All' which allows him to pick up any non-strategy marker and place it within 6", not in base contact with other models, markers or terrain for a low tome (don't forget he can stone).

Obviously this allows him to throw enemy LiTS markers off the centre line, often throwing them just off so that enemies have a massive area on the centre line where they can't place another marker, protect territory markers away from their guardians and so on and so forth.

Further than this, Aionus can really screw with masters who need their markers, ressers who want corpse markers in specific places, Ramos, who needs his spiders and Mei Feng who really struggles if she can't railwalk properly. But more than that, any 'pillar' master (Sonnia, Raspy, Lilith) can suddenly find their carefully placed blocking terrain in a very awkward place, or somewhere entirely irrelevant. He single handedly disrupts the 'root, beckon' combo that can shut down models every turn from Lilith, and none of the major casters like to suddenly find themselves way in the open or with their LoS disrupted!

It's a more complicated ability, but probably the single best thing on his card when used appropriately.

Aionus as a Scheme Runner
Here it is. This is what he does. This is what he does better, in my humble (and not wildly experienced) opinion, better than anyone else in the game. I'll start with the general things he will always do, then move onto the specific schemes.

Aionus has four major abilities that are relevant to his scheme running, three of which we've touched upon already:

1. He's nimble in the first two turns, allowing him to walk twice and place a marker way upfield, or, on a good day, to deliver the message.

2. He gives out fast, see above for relevant applications.

3. He has the ability to throw markers into a better position with 'Time Changes All' - this can be absolutely massive, allowing you to drop scheme markers out of scoring position and then drop them on at a later date. It also allows Aionus to bait the enemy into thinking you're running one scheme, when in reality you're running another (convict labour - setup is a good example of how this might be abused).

4. On a 10 of anything, he can push all friendly scheme markers in play 2", again, this can be situationally massive, gently pushing markers into range of enemies for plant explosives etc. or away for Convict Labour and its ilk. This can also stack up over the course of the game (I've had one scheme marker travel 8" to become a breakthrough marker). On a tome, he gets to place a brand new marker within 2", friendly or enemy (usually friendly, but he has the option in niche cases), allowing him even greater marker flexibility.

All of these will help him more or less regardless of the pool and the enemy, either by scoring points himself, or denying the opponent. Now I'll break down all the core book schemes he likes and why he's good at them (I may come back and add in the GG16 schemes at a later date).

LiTS
Give out fast to help get markers to the line, edge markers that are off the line onto the line, nimble to get the markers out quicker, and he can throw enemy markers off the line to prevent them scoring it, without having to sacrifice AP.

Distract
To remove the distract condition, you need to take a (2) action, hard to do if you're slow. Fast also helps models get there to apply the distract in the first place.

Breakthrough
He's fast, and he can get multiple scheme markers into the breakthrough zone extremely early in the game. He can also drop markers a little outside the zone, and then push them a bit at a time each turn while he achieves other goals, he doesn't have to stay stuck in the backfield.

Protect Territory
Make friendly models fast so they can drop scheme markers for this in the first turn, nudge scheme markers closer to friends if they get pulled away, throw enemy scheme markers away from their guardians. My personal favourite scheme with the lad.

Bodyguard
Generally, Aionus is far up the board, he's decently hard to kill, and he can give a lot of heavy hitters the run-around. Another great choice for him.

Plant Evidence
I'm yet to try this one, but I have no doubt Aionus will have little trouble, do be aware that he can't use 'Time Changes All' to put markers b2b with terrain.

Entourage
Fast, durable henchman? Sure.

Plant Explosives
Another favourite, somewhere between 'Midnight' and 'Time Changes All' you'll score 3 VP for this. Aionus is the master of getting markers into good places.

Make Them Suffer
Aionus is fully capable of scoring this while still achieving another scheme, he loves to hunt down enemy scheme runners, and most of his scheme running comes from (0) actions.

Deliver a Message
Touched upon greatly above, Aionus both facilitates and denies this by giving friendly models AP and denying enemy models AP or burying them.

Take Prisoner
Again, I'm yet to do this, but Aionus' ability to bury a model repeatedly, or to slow it (or both) should make him extremely good at holding a prisoner.

Spring the Trap
I'd rather not take it, but Aionus is probably one of the better models at scoring it, it's a good candidate for the whole LiTS bait and switch, if you can lure the enemy leader into an appropriate position (although it'd be easier to just score LiTS)

Power Ritual
Scheme markers in far off places? Sure. Often it's better to drop the marker just outside one corner at the end of one activation, then throw it into the corner before running to the next corner (also, another scheme where his ability to move enemy markers is fantastic).


Weaknesses
Much as I hate to admit it, Aionus is not perfect, in fact he's far from it, here are a few of the things that might quite rightly deter you from fielding him.

Cost
The big one, 12SS is a lot, 13SS is even more. Aionus brings a vast amount of utility, but he lacks the raw damage output of the other tanks like Nekima and Howard, and really only has the damage track of a 6SS model if he's failing to hit the slow trigger. This usually means you need to take another beatstick, which is another high SS model, greatly limiting your remaining options in the crew.

Greed
When attempting to work at max capacity, Aionus absolutely chews through resources, adding to his already hefty price tag. He needs to discard cards for his friends to gain fast, he needs tomes to throw markers and a high card to push markers (or a high tome if he wants to place a brand new one)... he even wants crows to give out slow on his 'Bony Fingers' action. Whilst all of these are 'optional', you'll almost certainly be wanting to use one or two every single turn, and he has no innate way of drawing cards or contributing to the crew's handsize.

No Scheme Markers = Sad Aionus
If you're not using scheme markers, Aionus' value is going to diminish colossally, even more so if your opponent is not using scheme markers. Unless you're playing Gremlins, I doubt I'd ever bother fielding Aionus in a pool where I'm not taking at least one marker based scheme.

Hard to Kill Models
These guys are the bane of Aionus' existence. Anything with 7 or more wounds and hard to kill is likely to take Aionus 2 rounds to deal with, given the propensity for low SS models to have this ability, this can lead to Aionus getting tied up.

Telegraphing
Aionus is exceptionally good at getting markers into important places, but often times that marker needs to be placed in advance, which can give the opponent time to react if they've correctly read your scheme pool (or are just being careful). It can be both a blessing and a curse, allowing you to play the bluffing game, but also giving your opponent opportunity to deal with it.

Weirdly Tanky and Weirdly Not
Aionus is an odd one when it comes to durability, on the one hand, he halfs all damage from CA actions, packs 12 wounds and has the pretty sweet df/wp spread of 6/7 and can spend SS. On the other, that's all he has; you're likely to be running short on SS due to both his cost and his greed (not to mention your master will want some and you may well need to stone for cards/initiative), so it's harder to justify prevention, and he lacks the defences that protect him from the really nasty damage tracks in the game (more or less anything that starts with a 4). It's hard to see if this is truly a downside, as he's resilient against models which ignore armour, but falls over to what effectively amounts to 'high damage'. I tend to lose him, but only after he's scored a handful of AP.


Justifying his Inclusion
This is a slightly difficult one, as he has differing values in different factions (I'll add to this when I've seen him played in more factions, but for now too much of it is theory) - but here's a rough guide to when I'll include Aionus.

- My master is more killy than supporty: Aionus can act as a surrogate support master for people like the Viks, his high cost is also more easy to justify when your master is capable of doing the heavy lifting when it comes to killing.

- My crew can generate more models or brings 0 cost models with them: One of Aionus' biggest issues is his cost, often resulting in a smaller crew if a proper beatstick is also being added, models that can summon, or crews that bring free models, go a great way to mitigating this downside.

- The pool is marker heavy: If the scheme pool is mostly marker based (or at least, has popular marker based schemes), Aionus can unleash his full potential. I tend to try and think of Aionus as a super-silurid, he can easily be responsible for 3VP as well as making your opponent's life completing the same schemes much more difficult.

- Your crew benefits greatly from fast: As mentioned above, not all AP were created alike, models with high walk, flurry, charges for (1) AP etc love Aionus. However, try to think of the cap on models getting this fast ability as cost 8 or below, any more than that and it's hard to guarantee the card in hand (or that you'll want to use it). Particular winners are Johan, Ronin, Rooster Riders and Bayou gremlins (or other models of that ilk).



Well there it is, a guide on the uses I've found for Aionus, I'm becoming rather infamous for not being able to leave him at home by this stage. Again, I'm not the most wildly experienced player, this is just what I've found so far. I hope you enjoyed it, and next time, I'm not starting to write one of these at 2AM!

Thanks,

Seb.

Screwing Up and Branching Out (6 games in)

Hello again! So, either you passed the terrifying check required to click on my highly photoshopped mug or I've replaced the link photo with something more palatable (probably Killjoy). Thanks for coming back to read more of my blathering in what I hope will be either a weekly or bi-weekly update of my gaming progress (although I have the schedule keeping skills of a squirrel, so no promises).

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.

It Begins... (4 games in)

Introductions and Salutations

Hello! If you're reading this the chances are you're one of the poor souls I've roped into giving me your 'honest opinion' on this (that means nod, smile, tell me it's amazing and you'll be sitting on the main page clicking the refresh button, waiting with baited breath until the next post comes up). If not, welcome! My name's Seb, I'm an actor, voice-actor and generalist nerd with an all-consuming addiction to pushing small men/women around a board and fake-murdering other people's small men/women.

At this particular moment, my current vice is Malifaux, which is like as not what has drawn any of you non-emotional conscripts to this dusty corner of the blogosphere today. And boy, has it hit me hard, I'm currently four games in, a rather large sum of money down, and have spent the last few days with my face buried in books, forums and pullmyfinger articles. I'm hooked, utterly hooked, so hooked that I'm actually physically compelled to splurge my feelings about the game into the web in the form of this blog; so here we are. This will be a blog about my not-so-tentative first forays into the world of Malifaux; replete with battle-reports, musings, over-zealous analysis of the game and just about anything else my extremely short attention span drives me to write about at any given moment. I hope you enjoy your time here, or at the very least learn how to turn the word 'hello' into two paragraphs.

It Begins

Three weeks ago, I was sitting on my sofa, staring at a laptop screen upon which is the pullmyfinger wiki page, the core rules on my lap, mind abuzz with what to do. I'm a faction-hopper by nature (honestly, I'm even classified as one by my Myers-Briggs personality type), I like to experience as much as I possibly can, and that usually involves me finding as many different excuses to swap around as possible. Mentally, by this point, I'd played three different factions, Ressers, Gremlins and Outcasts; and trust me it was a lot of work to boil it down to those three. In another tab is an online wargames shop with the Malifaux page open, I've promised myself I will decide who to play tonight.

The mouse slides up to the Von Schill box.

Then down to the Somer box.

Then to the Mcmourning box.

Finally, it comes to a rest on the Hamelin box.

I click buy.

Fast forward a handful of days and I'm spewing rats out all over a Colette crew on Squatter's Rights, I've managed to dump Killjoy onto my Murder Protege target turn 1 only to flip an untimely black joker and have her pushed away to safety. A solution to my problem, MORE RATS! I manage to out-activate consistently and eventually wander a rat-catcher into a group of enemies, who, telling them not to mind him, plants a stick of dynamite in the middle of them before being soundly beaten to death (netting me 3 VP in the process with plant explosives though). Killjoy, whose been stuck in one spot playing whack-a-mole with damned steam arachnids for the last few turns finally cuts himself free and yanks the Firestarter to him Mortal Kombat style, although it takes him two rounds to finish him off. A timely obey followed by a sound 'thwonk' on the head from Hamelin ends a breakthrough attempt and by the skin of my teeth I manage to pull a victory out of the hat (get it?).

Next game sees me face off against the mighty Perdita and her crew of gunslingers in Turf War; the first turn sees Abuela get a little over-confident, walking into range to be obey'd, and sending the Austringer next to her to the deepest pits of hell with a well-placed slug, only then to follow him on his journey after a brief encounter with Killjoy. Clearly murdering people's grandma is not the best idea in territorial disputes however, as the fury of the Ortega's descended upon Hamelin and his company of undead/diseased children and big, blubbery hellspawn. Killjoy was cut down in short order, Nix followed shortly after, Hamelin held out as Hamelin does but was eventually downed by Perdita herself. I learned the pain of Austringers as a bird carrying dynamite compelled Perdita to drop the explosives in a bunch of rats, and finally, whilst my attempt to bluff breakthrough worked, a random and I quote "I may as well" shot from Perdita ended my hopes of scoring outflank. A rather crushing defeat (but I still killed Grandma).

A week on and I'm staring down The Human Blender aka Lady Justice in Squatter's Rights. Long story short, the Walking Damage Flip rips open a Strongarm Suit scoring murder protege on turn 2, and clockwork traps are dicks. On the plus side, I did get Lady Justice blighted enough that she had to flee from my army of children and I discovered just what kind of horrible things Trappers can do once you start applying them to the right targets.

My final game thus far came against Malifaux's most violent hippy: Lilith. Having decided that all the children really needed adult supervision, Hamelin had brought a number of responsible grownups this time, including two Trappers and a Strongarm. Hamelin decided that this was not the time for more rats, and instead spent most of the game telling the Trappers to shoot more (although of course, he probably should have told them to shoot at Nekima rather than Graves before she walked into combat with everything and made life horrible). Nix lost his life early on after a brief trip to the shadow world, for some reason the Strongarm and the Wretch ended up on scheme duty (note to self; Wk 4 summoning models are not ideal for this job) and Nekima decided to be what is commonly referred to as 'a colossal pain in the arse!'. Funnily enough, I really nearly managed to win this one, the final score being 8-6, as I got overly greedy attempting to kill Iggy and failed to save my Red Joker for defence, allowing me to score a full 3 VP from take prisoner on Lilith, but alas, it was not to be. Perhaps the crowning achievement of the game was a single rat, spawned by the obedient wretch on turn 1, who managed to inflict a grand total of 15 blight tokens to two different models, survive two rounds of combat and flip two red jokers for defence, I have since dubbed him the Rat of Destiny.

And that's it so far! Apologies for the short summaries of the games, from this point on I'll try and record battle-reports in full.

I hope you enjoyed this brief foray with me and you'll stick around to see what happens next.

See ya soon!

Seb.