Malifaux 2012: Game 1 – Kirai vs Lilith

I was rather excited going into this game, after our taster battle on Sunday. We'd had a glimpse of the possibilities of Kirai and her spirits and I was expected Fugs to come back with a game plan.

As a caveat to this game it should be noted that we've decided to spice things up for 2012. Instead of defaulting to the same "easy" Schemes (Bodyguard/Hold Out) each week we've made a ruling. You're not allowed to take the a Scheme you've already had in a previous game until all the Schemes in the book have been attempted. This means you have to pick and choose your Schemes carefully.

We went for individual Strategies for this game. Fugs flipped Line in the Sand and took Steal Relic and Breakthrough as Schemes. I flipped Escape and Survive and took Stake a Claim and Breakthrough.

I took Kirai and her Lost Love, Datsu-Ba, two Onryo and five Seishin. I had the intention to roll up one flank, sitting on one of the Dynamite tokens to prevent Fugs getting 4 points, within arms reach of his deployment zone and my chosen target terrain piece.

Don't have photos or a full battle report, but will run through the highlights – it was a battle royale and a half.

Kirai first turn was a disaster due to a very poor hand of cards, nothing was summoned. Lilith attempted to switch an Onryo with a Tot, but didn't have the suit.

Lilith and the Mature Nephilim headed over in in my direction and I moved my entire crew to the other flank (to where Datsu-Ba was skulking). Lilith's response was to move full shift into my deployment zone just over 12" away from Kirai.

Despite my plan to not engage, I devised an alpha strike of sorts to deal with Lilith. Can't remember the details but it went something like this –

Lost Love moved up and used Magical Extension to cast Chill of Death on Lilith, giving her negative flips vs Spirits. Kirai summoned Ikiryo into melee with Lilith and then Shikome. They went to town on the Master inflicting quite a few wounds, and two poison tokens, but taking a lot of Black Blood damage in return. Datsu-Ba moved in too, but couldn't finish the job. All attacks were against Lilith's WP to avoid her Df trigger that ends combat.

The next turn (Kirai won initiative) Shikome finished off Lilith (Ikiryo died from the Black Blood wound) then charged the Mature Nephilim who was nearby. She did a couple of wounds on the big man. Kirai then swirled the Shikome with Datsu-Ba and healed the wounded bird for a couple of wounds.

The Mature attacked Datsu, but used Knock Aside on her and charged the Shikome, killing her. Next, the Seishin cast Empower Spirit (or whatever it's called) on the two Onryo in front of the Mature Nephilim and Kirai cast Spirit Food (meaning if killed the Mature would turn into a Gaki) before summoning the Shikome back. The Shikome killed the Mature in revenge, creating the Gaki and freeing up the Empowered Onryo. My crew was getting bigger.

Fugs had interacted with all but one of the Line in the Sand counters and I was still in my deployment zone. The game ebbed and flowed again up to the last turn.

Fugs had two Tots in Defensive Stance sitting on two of the four activated Dynamite tokens. Shikome sat on a third within spitting distance of the terrain piece I wanted to Stake a Claim with. I moved up a Seishin and Onryo in base with the two Tot-occupied counters then swirled in an Onryo and Ikiryo (as yet unactivated) with the intention of (2) Interact to defuse the bombs. However, I hadn't remembered that you can't interact if you're in melee with another model, which they both were with the respective Tots. Damn.

Shikome defused the other counter then used Nimble to try and get within base contact with my chosen terrain piece – half an inch short. Damn.

I used my remaining activations to get 8" beyond my deployment zone to achieve my Strategy. Only Kirai didn't make it but it meant that I didn't have 75% of my starting number safe so only scored 2 points not 4. Never has half an inch mattered so much, twice in one game. Damn.

Games ended 2-2 we concluded on the night, which was a fair result. However, upon a little investigation this morning I discovered that the Shikome only needed to be within 2" of the terrain piece, not in base contact, so technically should have scored 2 more points. Never mind.

Very exciting game, was absolutely knackered afterwards, and sets up the next game nicely.

Round 2 in a week's time, with the distinct possibility of new models on both sides (and maybe even some painted… and photos!).