Revisiting Malifaux…

As the Tale of 3 Painters project draws to a close – my two models are complete, Michael's two arrived on Saturday morning and Andy's are in transit – thoughts turn towards the scheduled game against The JoeyBerry next Monday. Given that I haven't played Malifaux properly in six months I thought I'd make use of the Bank Holiday weekend and arranged a game against Bull.

I had banked on it being like riding a bike – you never forget how it works or what you're meant to be doing, it just takes a little time to get back into the swing of it – errr…no!

I had totally forgotten what I was meant to be doing – even the fundamentals – and we played like two people who were learning the rules for the very first time.

Bull was intending to play Seamus and his Ressers but had left the cards at home. He decided on the Viks, with the addition of Von Schill who neither of us has seen before. I went Guild but for some reason thought that I would take Sonnia as Bull had never played against her before and she always seemed to do well. Unfortunately, Bull's crew had almost no spell casting so most of my crew's funky anti-magic abilities were rendered useless.

Bull took the initiative early on and threw Von Schill down my throat – despite multiple Fire Blasts and gun shots he would not die. In the end he managed to kill a rather hesitant Sonnia with ease. Santiago Ortega and The Judge made their way to the centre of the board to confront the Viks and pick up the Treasure. Alas they both died without getting off a single shot or swing of a sword. It was left to the Witchlings to step up. I managed to take out Sword Vik with a couple of exploding minions and a hand full of wounds off Von Schill, but that was it!

I had not even got to the treasure or close to achieving my schemes, meanwhile Bull's Wagon trundled to the centre of the board unhindered. Bit of a disastrous game for The Guild (the worst I've ever played if I'm honest) – it began with crew selection and went down hill from there.

However, we had a laugh and it helped to refresh my memory with Malifaux basic rules – mission accomplished!

Malifaux: Assessing my Guildies…

As I mentioned earlier in the week, my interest in Malifaux has been piqued and I've decided to have a look through my Guild models to see how things stand at present.

Lady J was my first love but only managed a couple of competitive (ie. not still learning the rules) games before being replaced by a younger, faster colleague. Just prior to putting Malifaux on the back burner I did give J another look, compiling a list that took advantage of her abilities more than I had done previously – though I didn't get to implement any of those ideas.

The rest of her natural crew – Judge, Scales and Death Marshals – are all painted bar a solitary DM. The model that came immediately after this box set (The Executioner) is also painted to a good standard but has never managed to deliver in-game. In contrast the Austringer delivered in every game and became notoriously painful for opponents – the model was never finished 100%.

These were always my beginner models and they need to be looked at again now that I have gained a lot more Malifaux gaming experience.

The second box set I bought was the younger, faster Perdita Ortega. She was a revelation when I started out – her speed and abilities allowed her to win many early games almost single-handed. Combined with her Nephilim Totem she was even better, and these two models became the foundation of many games. The addition of a painted Santiago Ortega made the lineup more reliable and added resilience. My semi-painted Nino added a long range threat, but was never allowed to fulfil his potential often being taken down early on.

As for the rest of the Ortegas: Papa never saw the battlefield but saw some paint earlier this year; Francisco never delivered as an unpainted model so sat idle in the case until being recently resurrected for my Newbie Guide to Painting. He is still waiting to be finished. Abuela participated in a game or two but was always considered too expensive for what she achieved so still lies unpainted.

Although she became my go-to master for many weeks, my Sonnia Criid model was never painted. This is quite a travesty as she always did quite well. Samael Hopkins never saw paint either – another model with a lot of promised but very expensive and rather unreliable in-game.

The Witchlings on the other hand usually did quite well – although they too remain unfinished. The fact that I could summon more mid-game meant they became the mainstay of lists against Rasputina. On a couple of occasions I even managed to turn Rasputina into a Witchling which always gave me a sick sense of satisfaction. Even when used alongside other masters, they proved to be a solid choice of grunt – much moreso than the Death Marshals did for the same price.

Towards the end of my time fielding the Guild I went back to Perdita and added a Guardian (from the Hoffman set) into the mix. Although he was never painted beyond an undercoat he seemed to perform well.

I also purchased the Sonnia Avatar, and posted about its construction (as painful as it was). Alas she too never saw paint or play time before disappearing into the gaming case.

In addition to all the models listed so far for The Guild, I also have a host of models that didn't even leave their box/clamshell…

The remainder of the Hoffman box set sits unbuilt and unexplored. I like the idea of this master but he's not a priority at this time. In support of this I bought the Lucius box set (for Ryle) but again, the models sit undisturbed since arriving. There is also a couple of extra Guild Guard, Guild Hounds, Drill Sergeant and Mechanical Attendant not to mention a Peacekeeper still in his box. Even by my standards I'm rather embarrassed by the amount of unused metal here. They're all lovely models who need some TLC, but if my interest in Malifaux wanes they will be straight onto Ebay which would be a shame.

My problem now is that there are new Guild models being made available as Wyrd finishes off the Book 3 releases and moves onto Book 4. The Warden in particular looks like a very good investment but it'll have to wait until I can justify the addition – not likely any time soon given the length of my current wish list.

I think the solution is to scale back on things, like I have with 40k. Get a solid group of models together, that can crossover when necessary, and get them all painted to a decent standard. Let's see how that goes…!

A Newbie Guide: Malifaux – The Guild

“Make no mistake, the Guild exists for one reason and one reason only. There is talk of justice and peace, but these are secondary concerns, byproducts of their primary interest. The Guild exists to maintain the production of Malifaux Soulstone above all other things. The citizens abide by Guild law because it offers some amount of protection, but no one is confused about the way this force exerts its hold over the City and its resources.”

Malifaux Official Website

Yes, I'm going back to The Guild faction after my foray into Resurrectionist territory with my recent Kirai crew. Given that upcoming posts on the blog are likely to be Guild-orientated, I thought it might be wise to give an overview of The Guild troops for the uninitiated.

My first Malifaux master was Lady Justice and her Death Marshals. It was simply a case of how in love I was with the models – they blew me away and drew me into the world of Malifaux.

From a fluff perspective she is the calm authority of the Governor General, lethal in combat with her Greatsword. Her Death Marshals are trained in necromancy but forbidden to use it, and this knowledge twists and corrupts their appearance. They use their enchanted pine coffins to imprison enemies and expose them to horrific visions.

Game-wise Lady J is a melee monster, capable of taking down (almost) any model in a single round of combat. Her abilities are quite straightforward and buff the crew around her, making her an ideal master with which to learn the game.

The other miniature that drew me towards Malifaux was Perdita Ortega (it's not a boob thing, honestly). The rest of the models in this set I could take or leave, but she oozes attitude.

As the teenage head of the family, Perdita is something of a celebrity. She is a fast, gunslinging specialist and the family support this ranged theme. Every one of the family members can shoot well – even old Papa Loco throwing his sticks of dynamite as he goes.

In-game Perdita is another easy master to learn, and can seem overpowered in smaller games. She doesn't have much synergy with the rest of the crew and tends to work a lot in isolation, mainly due to how fast she can move – the others just can't keep up. She is not indestructible though, and if not supported will suffer.

The next crew in my Malifaux journey was Sonnia Criid and the Witchlings (sounds like a rock band). On this occasion it was her in-game abilities that interested me rather than the models in her set, though I've always felt that the Witchlings looked like Victorian Sith Jedi.

Sonnia heads up the Witch Hunter division of The Guild and she walks that fine line familiar between Light side and Dark side, straying a little too often for her superiors. The Witchlings are former witches who have been brainwashed and reprogrammed to hunt the very people they used to be.

Potentially the strongest all-round master The Guild has to offer, Sonnia is deadly against magic users – even having line of sight through terrain when facing the strongest casters. She has decent synergy with the crew around her, capable of turning wounded friends or foes into fresh Witchlings – very useful if you're running low on troops.

The C. Hoffman box set was a recent Christmas present from my friend Bull. I have to confess that I have only built and undercoated The Guardian so far for use in a Perdita crew, but the rest of the constructs set will be seeing the light of day – I look forward to test driving this crew first hand.

The background story speaks of a frail man stricken with polio, who travels through the breach to Malifaux with his heroic brother Ryle. The transition to the 'otherworld' had terrible effects on the brothers, stimulating Hoffman and giving him terrific synergy with machines. Ryle on the other hand had a complete meltdown and became something of a monster.

This crew seems to play as a real unit, with Hoffman in the middle pulling all the strings. More then any other crew, he is the heart and soul. He is able to use abilities from nearby constructs as well as buff them. He can also sacrifice constructs to suit his needs.

The final character to look at is Lucius Matheson. He is the Governor General's secretary, and quite a nasty piece of work by all accounts. Lucius is a henchman rather than a fully fledged master, with more of a lieutenant status than someone who leads outright. Having said that you can take him in place of a master, giving you additional soulstones to spend on your crew – however, he is not as powerful as a master and that is where the balance is struck. This box set has been gathering dust for some time, but I'm looking forward to painting some of these quite unique models.

From what I can glean from book and web, Lucius works best with Guild Guard, the footsloggers of the faction – he buffs them and vice versa. His starting crew also contains C. Hoffman's brother Ryle, now a minigun-toting psycho.

The starter boxes are, of course, interchangeable and there are a host of additional Guild troops that you can bring in to boost your crew. I will go through some of these options in a future post when I talk about selecting a crew for a game. I just have to wait until my next game!

For anyone wanting to learn more do visit the Official Malifaux website, or alternatively the Malifaux wiki Pull My Finger is a great source of information.

To be continued…

Perdita vs Kirai

It was quite a strange feeling facing a master you consider your own; a master you've learned inside-out and have great affection for. Last night my Kirai crew got to face Perdita for a totally different experience to normal – Fugs didn't have his models with him so had the choice of any of my Guild army.

Everything is a little bit of a blur. We had a very small window of opportunity in which to have a game last night, so we flew through it. Despite Fugs not playing any Guild models before, he had faced them often enough so knew their potential.

He flipped Reconnoiter for his Strategy and took Kill Protegee and Perdita's specific Schemes. His final choice for crew consisted of Perdita, Enslaved Nephilim, Abuela Ortega, Papa Loco, Watcher and 3x Witchling Stalkers.

Sneaky, sneaky guild

I flipped Turf War for Strategy and decided upon Stake a Claim and Grudge (Papa Loco). My crew lineup looked familiar – Kirai, Lost Love, Datsue-Ba, Desperate Merc, Canine Remains, 2x Insidious Madness, 3x Seishin. The Guild opponents have quite high WP, Perdita being Immune to Influence so I would not need the Insidious Madness for the usual negative WP flips (though this was still viable). I decided to include them for their low cost and speed. If I could get them into Fugs deployment zone they would provide a strong distraction – if he didn't kill them he would potentially be handing me 2VP on a plate. I had chosen a wood near his deployment zone for Stake a Claim, and Papa was the obvious choice for Grudge given the damage he could do to my grouped spirits.

I was both confident and wary going into this game, knowing the enemy models as I do. As luck would have it the cards were largely on my side, getting the Black Joker in my hand in the first turn as well as FOUR crows and a mask. I did only have one card higher than an 8 but that was not so much of an issue early on.

Kirai, flanked by her bodyguard Seishin, surveys the battle

The game started with me doing my summoning and the dog and merc continuing their 'Looney Tunes' style beating on each other. I managed to summon Ikiryo (for no reason other than I could and I wanted to lose the summoning Slow in time for turn 2) as well as a Shikome who homed in on the Watcher who was perched on top of a building in the middle of the board. He died, much to Fugs disappointment, and the rest of the Guild shuffled forwards.

Turn 2 saw Papa Loco Obeyed forward into the ruined warehouse, he then moved forward to just a few inches away from (which was a mistake by Fugs who should have Obeyed him a second and even a third time into position, leaving Papa his activation in tact). Perdita lurked in the background covering the warehouse in case of any intrusions.

This threat was a little close to home and I had Datsue-Ba Guide my Gaki (who was Slow due to summon) through the wall next to Papa. Perdita charged in but, thanks to some solid Defensive flips and a Corpse Counter, failed to kill him off. Kirai summoned a second Shikome into base contact with Perdita and the first Shikome moved in to attack the Guild master. Despite multiple plus flips on the attack the combined Shikome attacks failed to wound Perdita at all, although Fugs had expended most of his control hand and a Soulstone or two. The Gaki hit Papa for no result, then I moved Ikiryo through the wall and hit Papa a couple of times for 4 wounds or so. I was a little underwhelmed by the result but was still in a commanding position.

The turning point of the game

Turn 3 saw me win initiative, despite Fug flipping an 11. Ikiryo punched Papa who exploded causing all kinds of chaos, inflicting wounds everywhere and killing the Gaki. Perdita, intent on revenge, turned and killed off one Shikome then inflicted more wounds on the other. The Shikome was swirled away for healing, being replaced by Datsue-Ba who only managed to inflict 1 wound on Perdita. Another Shikome was summoned into melee with Perdita, and it was pretty much over. Perdita dropped leaving the Guild master-less. In the mean time, all this carnage had refilled Kirai's Seishin count and wounds.

We finished off turn 3 and, with a few minutes remaining, dived into turn 4. Abuela blew a few holes in Ikiryo but failed to kill him. On the other side of the warehouse wall two of the Witchlings had engaged the Onryo, with wounds dealt out on both sides. The wounded Shikome then moved in and finished off one of the Witchlings, who inflicted additional wounds all round when he exploded.

At this point, half way through turn 4, we had run out of time and we called it. The two Insidious Madness were sitting pretty in Fug's deployment zone, well out of reach, and the Guild had lost their master. Kirai was in a 6-0 winning position, with 2 more VP easily achieveable. The Guild survivors had a potential 2vp and another, somewhat unlikely, 4vp possible but the game was essentially over.

The birds just keep coming…

The Kirai summoning machine had achieved another victory – I'll take them all. Despite the fact that Fugs was playing with a crew he didn't know, I was quite pleased with the way things went. I had a plan to achieve my VPs and that went pretty much as hoped. Whilst I don't think I learned anything new about Kirai (aside from Datsue really is all or nothing) my gameplay was nicely underlined and I felt confident in my decision making. It was a very pleasant change facing a different master, but the signs are that Lilith will make her return next week, with the Nephilim twins, so that will be a totally different challenge indeed.

Building Avatar Sonnia Criid: part 4

Read Part 3 here

At the end of the last installment I had finally pinned Sonnia onto the dragon, now I had to make it look like she was breathing fire!

I added a long pin, glued in place at the resin fire end. The other end I rested on Sonnia's bottom lip and secure with a spot of glue. This gave me the frame on which to (re)build the flame spout.

I fleshed out the shape of the flames roughly in greenstuff, with the intention of adding more detailed sculpting later. I paid particular attention at this stage to make it look like the fire was coming out of Sonnia's mouth, and to cover all evidence of the long metal pin.

When I went back later I added small amounts of greenstuff at the lower parts of the new spout to add shape and some texture. At this point I decided to call it a day – model complete.

However, looking at the photos now it still looks a little awkward so I MAY add a little more greenstuff tomorrow to help define the shape of the flame spout more. Then again, once I've slept on it, I may not.

THE CONCLUSIONS

How do I feel about the model now it is built?

How do I feel the build went?

Is there anything I would do differently?

I think the model is fantastic. Now it is built I'm very eager to get it undercoated and painted – but that's a whole other set of blog posts. The beginning of the build (ie. the dragon) went together quite well. The individual pieces didn't match up exactly and a lot of greenstuff was needed but, to be honest, you have to expect some of that in a model this large and complex and cast in different materials.

Having said that, the model is fundamentally flawed in one area – there is no obvious or natural place for Sonnia to go. No peg or socket to indicate where the sculptor intended her to be positioned and this is something of a double-edged sword. For the advanced modeller it gives you a certain freedom to put her where you want to and go from there, however, for your average gamer this freedom will pose a problem and I know many who will be afraid of building this model as a consequence.

For me the problems started with the Sonnia figure from the get-go. The arms don't have an obvious way to go and I had to find reference images online to see what it should look like before I got it right. At the time I felt like an idiot but with hindsight this was inevitable without a lucky guess or reference. Similarly the position, angle and shape of the resin fire spout meant it was almost impossible to get Sonnia at this eventual angle without some major surgery – followers of this series of posts will have seen the traumas I went through to get her looking right.

At the end of the day, despite going 'around the houses' I am very happy about how this model turned out. All I would say to someone else looking to build it is learn from my mistakes. I would also reiterate that this model does allow you some freedom with positioning, so go with what feels right for you – you always have greenstuff to patch up the gaps!

Building Avatar Sonnia Criid: part 3

Read Part 2a here

I spent some time adding greenstuff…well, pretty much everywhere to be honest. The various pieces of the dragon were out by up to 2mm in some places so a lot of attention had to be paid to this. I also added greenstuff to Sonnia's shoulders, now her arms were on the right way!

I was struggling to find a satisfactory place to pin Sonnia so I tried a different tack. I removed the "cigar" pin I'd previously added to her mouth (slightly squashing her nose in the process – a trip to the plastic surgeon is now on the cards!) and simply tried to find a solid angle to pin her to the dragon's neck – I would worry about the fire spout later else I would never finish this model.

Looking at my reference image from the previous post I concluded that the only place that could hold a decent pin was the back of her head as it was snug against the dragon's neck. This was added and her ladyship was finally glued in place! I had trimmed a little off the dragon's chin to accommodate Sonnia's hand, and I added a little superglue here too.

I trimmed more of the fire spout away and drilled a hole in anticipation of the next – final – stage.

Read Part 4 here

Building Avatar Sonnia Criid: part 2a

Read Part 2 here

I know I said in the last post that, regarding Sonnia's arms being the wrong way round, "I don't think it really matters in this instance", but that wasn't true. I have a perfectionist streak in me and the whole arm situation was bugging me all of yesterday and last night. This morning I decided to do something about it before I left for work.

After double-checking my reference image (above) I re-positioned the arms to match.

As you can see the fit is now much better – which makes sense – and the model does sit better against the dragon. It means I can pin Sonnia against the resin neck of the dragon, which will ensure she is as secure as she can be.

There is a definitive guide for anyone building this in the future and coming across the same arm-related confusion – Coat cuffs pointing up and thumbs pointing down!

Being the perfectionist, I was quite annoyed at myself for taking three attempts to get this right – how hard can it be to stick arms on a model?! However, in my defence I have to say without a visual reference it was not very straightforward. Bottom line is it is now correct, I can chill out and carry on with the rest of the build.

Read Part 3 here

Building Avatar Sonnia Criid: part 2

Read Part 1 here

At the end of part 1 I had all but completed the fire dragon – just the horns to add.

I'll hold my hand up now and say I was lazy. I decided not to pin them, just glue them into position. I filed the ends free of excess metal and opened up the holes on the head but they weren't a great fit. Deep down I'm convinced they will break off at some point, however when I tested them yesterday they seemed pretty solid, so what do I know.

On to Sonnia herself. She is a very delicate model to say the least – reminds me of some of Rackham's females from Confrontation with tiny, tiny feet. Her arms were separate and it's taking a while to work out which arm should be on which side. I have pinned them on twice and I've discovered this morning it's still wrong. The problem is that they are twisted and at an unnatural angle so don't look right either way. Bottom line is I don't think it really matters in this instance.

I trimmed the shoulder end of the arms flat and drilled a hole, then used the socket already in the shoulder as a starting point for the hole there. I did manage to drill through the arm on one side!… the drill bit re-appearing by her wrist (more greenstuff work). Neither arms had a good fit – see above photo – despite my best efforts and will need filling.

I positioned the Sonnia model against the fire dragon, trying lots of different angles to get her to sit comfortably and match up to the blast of fire she was meant to be breathing. I have no idea how the guys at Wyrd made up the original as the angle of the fire spout is too vertical to match their photo.

I decided the best way to anchor her to the base was via the fire spout so I drilled a hole into her mouth and added a pin like a huge cigar (or insert innuendo here for all the potty minds). This wouldn't be enough on its own to fix her to the base model securely, but it would provide the backbone and ensure it did look like she was breathing fire. A corresponding hole was drilled into the fire spout itself (which to be honest crumbled away – not convinced about the quality of the resin, too much filler maybe).

I was hoping to paint the Sonnia model separately from the dragon, but due to the tricky pinning and greenstuffing involved to ensure she doesn't fall off I've pretty much decided that I will have to build the complete model then paint it as best I can later.

The next stage is to decide where to add additional pins to secure Sonnia to the dragon, then the massive task of filling in gaps. I have to say that, despite how much I love the model and concept, I'm a little disappointed with the production quality of the piece. This has not been an easy build so far and I would fear for gamers with less pinning/building experience – this model would simply fall apart without the heavy pinning.

I must add to that – I'm reeeaaaallly looking forward to painting it!

Read Part 2a here

Building Avatar Sonnia Criid: part 1

Along with my Book 3, Avatar Sonnia arrived a couple of weeks ago. Given that I am currently fielding Sonnia as my master-of-the-moment I'm very keen to get the avatar built (not least because it is an amazing model).

The model is mostly metal – including the weighty base piece – with a couple of bits in resin. I wanted something solid on which to put the base piece so rather than use a regular hollow plastic base I used a resin one I had. This gives me a solid foundation on which to pin the heavy bit of metal so there is almost no chance it will come off.

I filed the underside of the metal piece as flat as possible and superglued it onto the base. Once the glue was dry I drilled two holes from the underside of the resin base through into the metal. Pins were glued in place and clipped/filed flush with the resin so that the model doesn't wobble when on the table.

I decided that the resin 'swirl' didn't need to be pinned as it had a broad area and wasn't really exposed. This was simply filed and superglued in place. The neck on the otherhand needed to be strong, so I drilled pinning holes at the apex of the ball and socket joint already present. This was pinned and allowed to dry.

The dragon's head comes in two pieces and again needed to be pinned for strength. In the same way as the neck, I pinned at the apex of the ball and corresponding socket. Once this was thoroughly dry I then pinned the back of the head to the neck using the same ball/socket locations.

Needless to say the casting is out quite a bit in all join locations. Luckily with it being all flames it should not be a big deal to add some greenstuff to disguise the joins completely.

In the next part I will be adding the horns and looking at Sonnia herself.

Read Part 2 here

P.S. I noticed recently that I had passed 100 Followers so a big thank you to everyone on that list!!

Sonnia Criid Sighted

As anyone who knows me will understand, I hate playing with unpainted models. I don't like playing with undercoated models much more, but some paint is better than none. I just don't understand why you would own these beautiful models and not want to put some colour on them.

So, when I decided to use (unpainted) Sonnia Criid in this week's game versus Fug's Cult of December crew you will appreciate how excited I was to get the third of my Guild masters onto the gaming table. Not only did she have no paint, her huge Runed Blade was sitting on the painting tray (to be added post-colour). I was really looking forward to the battle of the elements – Fire vs Ice.

No in-game photos this week – I would not do Sonnia the indignity of photographing her running around Malifaux streets effectively in the buff.

30 soulstones (definitely this time), the crews were as follows:

Rasputina
Essence of Power
2x Silent Ones
Ice Gamin
Sabretooth Cerberus


Sonnia Criid
Purifying Flame
Samael Hopkins
2x Witchling Stalkers*
2x Death Marshals

*My Sonnia box set contained two of the same Witchling and when pinning them to their bases the leg of one of the duplicates broke off, so he is currently in surgery. I have also ordered backups!

I flipped Plant Evidence and took Hold Out and Bodyguard (nice and easy!), Fug flipped Reconnoiter, re-flipped Contain Power and took only one Scheme (Bodyguard) for the extra stones. Diagonal Deployment.

I split my crew into two – Sonnia, totem and Sam to the right, Witchlings and Death Marshals to the left. Raspy and her crew shuffled around on the edge of her deployment whilst the Cerberus moved down the flank to my far left.

The game played out with Fug being quite cautious in the early turns and me making a few little mistakes throughout (the perils of a brand new master). As things progressed and my teams moved forward, Fug sent a Silent One to confront each team with Raspy, the totem and Gamin sitting centrally without committing to either side.

The Death Marshals got into some bother taking a lot of damage, Fug was trying out some Silent One spell combos – even giving one Marshal Frozen Heart and turning him to a statue – opening up lots of possibilities, even if for little gain. Spotting the danger from the encroaching Cerberus (who seemed consistently unable to cast his Leap) a Witchling charged him, inflicting 4 wounds and depriving him of his extra heads attacks. He then died in the return attack, exploding in the monster's face inflicting a further 2 wounds. The big cat was finally taken down by a Death Marshal who had staggered across the street on his final wound. Meanwhile, the frozen Death Marshal killed the Silent One, then the totem, before Raspy finished him off.

On the right flank, Sonnia's team got tied down by the other Silent One. Instead of taking decisive action to take her down quickly I only half committed and she came back from near death to kill the totem and Samael. Sonnia finished her off then took cover behind a wall and healed herself, with still less than half wounds remaining. She retained full line of sight to Rasputina (who had committed to this flank now) thanks to her Magic Seeker ability. Raspy sent the Gamin around the wall to face Sonnia in combat. He did no damage and was hit twice in return by her Runed Blade (forgetting to end her activation with his trigger Sub Zero after she hit him the first time!). Instead of doing damage I managed to trigger Deconstruct on both occasions and Fug decided to discard cards rather than let him die. Sonnia blasted the Gamin with her last AP, the Gamin was left with only 1 wound and Fug with no cards in his hand. Raspy chose to shoot the Gamin with a blast of December's Curse, which caught Sonnia and killed the Gamin. The exploding corpse inflicted additional wounds which were mostly avoided with a prevention flip.

With no cards of consequence in my Turn 6 hand and no soulstones left I was struggling to get my offensive magic off, despite being in a fantastic position. Instead Sonnia shuffled position slightly and cast the firewall to restrict Rasputina's movement. Miscalculation on my part left a marginal line of sight position open to Raspy and she took it. In desperation I discarded almost my entire hand to Counterspell her blasts.

End of Turn 6 my remaining Witchling and Marshal had tagged 3 pieces of terrain between them on the left flank (staggering around with only a wound left each), on the right Raspy was stood on one side of a wall with 7 wounds left, Sonnia on the other with 2. If the game went to Turn 7 activating first would make or break the result. It didn't – Fug flipping a 9 for the third game in a row – and Sonnia came away 6-2 winner.

Thoughts?
Fug has got quite a handle on his crew, especially the Silent Ones. Now he has two they are becoming an issue rather than an annoyance. The Cerberus had a rather anonymous start to his career, but this was largely due to the fact I knew his strengths and had contingencies to deal with him. His cautious start and positioning throughout meant he neither disrupted my plan nor stole in to prevent Hold Out late on. New-model syndrome for sure.

Talking of which, Sonnia missed out on lots of spell prevention tricks. I forgot that Advanced Counterspell includes friendly models within 3", so she could have prevented a lot of damage from the Silent One and stopped Sam from dying. She also needs a lot of soulstones, or hold on to ANY tome cards as she is very dependent on these. We also missed ending Sonnia's activation after hitting the Gamin late on – this too could've had quite a significant impact on the game.

The game certainly boiled down to a close final turn. Fug is really starting to enjoy the game now he's seeing some success with his crew. I now need to consider him a genuine opponent – no longer a padawan learner!

Perdita vs McMourning – Practice Run

Today was the debut performance for Bull's Dr McMourning crew. This was very much a beginner's game as Bull hasn't played in a good six weeks and was fielding an unfamiliar crew to boot. Fair play he had done his research and had his opening sequence of hacking up dogs and slicing chihuahuas bullet-pointed on a piece of paper.

For whatever minor role they would play in this game we flipped for Strategies and chose Schemes. Perdita got Contain Power and so I chose Hold Out and Stake A Claim in support. Bull flipped Line in the Sand and chose Stake A Claim and a Ressers specific Scheme. For anyone interested the crew lineups were as follows:

Perdita
Enslaved Nephilim
Santiago
2x Witchlings Stalkers
2x Death Marshals

Dr McMourning
Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Nurse (Miss Pack)
Convict Gunslinger
2x Rotten Belles
4x Canine Remains

Not much point going into details about the game as it ended up being more of a practice – there were several incidents where we could have, and should have, done one thing but ended up doing something else to see how a new model worked or the impact it would have on a given situation.

Some of the highlights included:

Perdita Obeying one of the Canines who turned on the Nurse and tore 5 wounds off her. To avoid any reprisals Perdita then shot the dog.

Mc Mourning finally managed to summon the Rogue Necromancy who was then shot to bits by Santiago. Hanging onto its last two wounds the Necro was jabbed by the Nurse with a Booster Shot so he would go nuts when attacking Perdita in melee – Perdita had the intention (and the cards) to Obey the boosted Necro to turn around charge McMourning or kill the Nurse. However, as mentioned, I decided not to do this so we could see how nasty the Necro was in combat.

Later on in the game the Belles were Luring people left, right and centre and McM got an amazing turn moving across the board, Slinging his Scalpel at a Death Marshal then moving in for the kill. The second Death Marshal was Obeyed into melee with McM in order to Pine Box him next turn – the doc escaping via another Lure from his Belles before the trap could be sprung.

We called the game at Turn 5 after I had won initiative and activated Perdita, Santiago and the Nephilim. Perdita killed McMourning and Santiago was Obeyed into a position with full LoS to the wounded Belles and Gunslinger. The balance had tipped in favour of The Guild. At this point I had managed to achieve my Strategy and one of my Schemes quite by accident and Bull had a Scheme (and had ignored the Line in the Sand, haha!). However, today wasn't about final scores.

Good game, it has to be said – despite the 4 hour timespan. Bull has got a bit more of a handle on his new crew and I got a glimpse of what they can do. We went back and practiced his opening turn with the Chihuahua and Doc so he got that right and bagged his 8 Body Parts. He seemed a lot happier and very excited at the prospects of his Ressers.

As for me, I got more practice in with my master-of-the-moment. Santiago didn't do much, though would have contributed more had the game continued. The Witchlings (my Sith Jedi) got into combat and managed to have a little more impact than Wednesday – though not much. I think it's because I haven't finished painting them yet.