The only one I’m not particularly happy with is Kade as I got the whole fuzzy primer issue going on.

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• Malifaux Pandora – complete
• Malifaux Baby Kade – complete
• Malifaux Candy – complete
• Malifaux Sorrows x3 – complete
• Malifaux Sonnia Criid – assembled and based
• Malifaux Samael – assembled and based
• Malifaux Witchling Stalkers x3 – assembled and based
• Malifaux Executioner – assembled and based
• Malifaux Hamelin – assembled and based
• Warhammer Ogre Bulls x3 – complete
• Warhammer Ogre Bruiser BSB – about 50% done
• Warhammer Ogre Tyrant – about 50% done

I will try to get some pictures done in the next couple of days.

Two Thursdays ago Joel and I got together to play Malifaux. Brian also showed up, but didn’t get a chance to play. I played my Neverborn (almost fully painted!) crew and he wanted to try something different:

My Crew:

• Pandora
• Baby Kade
• Candy
• Sorrows x3
• Convict Gunslinger
• 6 Soulstones
• Strategy: Treasure Hunt
• Schemes: Bodyguard, Hold-Out

Joel’s Crew:

• Marcus
• Sabertooth Cerberus
• Hoarcat Pride x3
• ? Soulstones
• Strategy: Treasure Hunt
• Schemes: Sabotage, Bodyguard ?

Deployment was Standard.

For terrain there were several trees, a few low walls, a forest and a CD-sized ruin subbing for Hazardous Terrain.

The game began with the Convict Gunslinger moving to get behind one of the low walls to use for future cover. Marcus and the Cerberus moved closer to the Gunslinger. Pandora and friends moved closer to the center with Pandora using the Pacify/push 4″ trick. It feels dirty using that ability, by the way. Next turn the Convict Gunslinger wasted the Cerberus through use of (2) Flurry and the Trigger Happy…trigger. The Hoarcat Prides tried moving in on Pandora and her buds, attempting Devour a couple of times, but failing (whew!). Eventually the Hoarcat Prides each fell to the power of Kade and/or Self Loathing. Marcus was all that was left. In an amazing flip of cards, one of the Sorrows was able to Paralyze him and the rest of the crew had their way with him. Candy picked up the treasure, but was unable to get it to their deployment zone. At the end, while figuring up VP, Joel said that the Scheme he had was Sabotage and the wall where the Gunslinger was standing was his objective. Joel said several times that he just doesn’t see how Marcus is good at all. Personally, I don’t know, but I do know that Candy and Kade both fear Hoarcat Prides and I fear the Cerberus pretty seriously.

This past Thursday, byt the time I showed up, Brian and Joel were finishing up their game with Perdita and her crew versus Joel’s Rasputina crew. Perdita and all the guns in the crew wiped out Joel’s crew to a man. I know Brian completed his Strategy, but I don’t know what other points were gained by either side.

Here are some pics of this game:

Terrain setup:

Joel’s deployment:

My deployment:

2nd turn immediately following the Convict Gunslinger killing the Sabertooth Cerberus:

5th turn, I think:

Brian offered to have Joel and I play after they finished. I played the identical crew I played the previous week. Joel, however, went back to Rasputina.

My Crew:

• Pandora
• Baby Kade
• Candy
• Sorrows x3
• Convict Gunslinger
• 7 Soulstones
• Strategy: Treasure Hunt
• Schemes: Kidnap, Hold-Out

Joel’s Crew:

• Rasputina
• Ice Gamin
• Hoarcat Pride x2
• Hans
• Sabertooth Cerberus
• 5 Soulstones
• Strategy: Treasure Hunt
• Schemes: Bodyguard, Sabotage

Deployment was Corners.

Terrain was mostly element terrain except for a forest and a CD-sized Ruin.

Since I was the winner for deployment, I deployed in the corner nearest the forest. I wanted to use it to gain cover from Hans and maybe slow folks down from charging. Most of the first few turs involved my crew moving into this forest and having Kade go around one side of it. The Convict Gunslinger moved toward the other side behind a tree. The Hoarcat Prides, Ice Gamin and Rasputina came down that same side while the Cerberus stood far enough away from the forest on the opposite side to look all menacing. Hans moved toward the center to get better shots. For quite a while it looked like the Cerberus and Kade were going to just stare each other down the whole game, but eventually the Cerberus decided to strike first. He moved in to Charge Pandora, but did only a few points of damage. Kade then Charged him in return to finish him off. The Hoarcat Prides moved up and took the treasure and tried to get back home with it as quickly as possible. The Ice Gamin fell to Pandora and Candy’s Self Loathing spells and Rasputina fell to the Gunslinger. Pandor and crew started moving to catch the Hoarcat Prides and eventually killed off the one with the treasure, where it dropped the treasure just outside the deployment zone. Pandora then finished off Hans, leaving Joel with the one Hoarcat Pride in the center at the end of turn 6. we called the game at that point. Neither of us got any points for the Strategy. He got no points for his two Schemes and Ionly pulled out 1 VP from Hold-Out, having forgotten that Kidnap requires the target to die to melee attacks, of which Pandora has few and has the possibility of killing the target with her ability where they take 1 Wd from failing Willpower Duels. Again, I felt dirty using the Pacify trick to move Pandora (yet forgot to push her when the opponent failed Wp Duels!), but looking at her 3″ Mv, I guess I don’t feel too bad about it. Another great game with Joel!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Right now, this is my absolute favorite game to play! The card mechanic and the characterful figures make it a blast to play.

Having played 3 or so games with Pandora and feeling like I kinda “get” her, I decided to throw down the Resurrectionists. I really like Seamus and the Belles and I really wanted to see how well they worked.

Jim’s Crew:

• Ramos
• Steamborg – Executioner
• Ice Gamin
• Myranda
• 6 Soulstones
• Strategy: Claim Jump
• Announced Schemes: Bodyguard and Eye for an Eye

My Crew:

• Seamus
• Madame Sybelle
• Rotten Belle
• Punk Zombie x2
• 7 Soulstones
• Strategy: Slaughter
• Announced Schemes: Bodyguard
• Hidden Scheme: Hold Out

Deployment was Diagonal.

We began the first turn just moving our respective crews toward the center of the board. I realized then how quickly I could get Belles across the board and into the thick of things. Sybelle did a Move/Move and then cast her “(0) Call Belle” spell to move the Belle to within 3″ of her. Of course, I put the Belle 3″ away from Sybelle and toward the enemy. Then I moved Seamus to within 8″ of said Belle who then benefitted from his “Belles of the Ball” ability giving her +2 Wk. She then moved into base contact with the forest in the center that served as the objective for “Claim Jump”. At this point I was regretting not bringing more Belles. Not to worry, maybe Seamus will get to summon one or two.

Second turn was more positioning and no combat that I remember.

Later, Myranda (disguised as a Sabertooth Cerberus) charged my Rotten Belle and did some damage. We each discovered that the Belles are kinda difficult to put down what with “Hard to Wound 1″. After that combat, the Belle had 1 Wd left. The Belle then proceeded to pound on the tiger, doing some damage. The Steamborg then moved up and finished the Belle off. Thanks to “Slow To Die”, she inflicted more pain on the Cerberus and generated a Corpse token.  Ramos created an Electrical Creation. Seamus then moved close enough to fire his .50 Flintlock at Myranda to kill her and generate even more Corpse Tokens. He then cast “Arise, My Sweet” and barely pulled it off to recreate the Belle. The Belle attacked the Steamborg and did little to nothing. Madame Sybelle moved in on the Steamborg and tried doing damage to it, which did little as well. She then cast the spell that makes it so that when the Steamborg does anything but Pass, he has to take a WP -> 13 test. Of course, in his activation, I completely forgot and he proceeded to mow through the Belle and the Madame.

Seamus shot the Steamborg and tried doing spells to him, but again, did very little damage to him. He tried creating a Belle and failed. He then moved over next to the remaining Punk Zombie in combat with the Ice Gamin and finished off the enemy there. Ramos’ Electrical Creation then moved through the Punk Zombie and sacrificed itself using its spell, which killed the Punk Zombie and brought Seamus down quite a bit. The Steamborg then moved in on Seamus and laid the smackdown, leaving Seamus with just one Wd. In Seamus’ next activation he did his spell that allowed him to get life back for the damage he did, which killed the Steamborg, and then got 2 Wd back and a Control Card thanks to “Necrotic Ministrations”(?), which I didn’t realize he had until late in the game.

In the final turn, Jim moved Ramos into the forest to complete his Claim Jump.

Jim won with 8 VP (4 from Claim Jump, 2 from Eye for an Eye and 2 from Bodyguard) and I only had 5 Vp (2 from Slaughter, 2 from Bodyguard and 1 from Hold Out).

It was a good game, but it took quite a long time due to my running a new Crew and Jim having to get calls from work fairly regularly. We forgot or missed a few things, but we kept playing regardless and had a good time.

Next time I’ll bring more Belles!

Joel and I agreed to meet up at Gamerz and play a bit larger Malifaux game at 35 soulstones  rather than the “starter box” size of 25 or so soulstones. we also used Strategies and Schemes. Strategies are objectives both players are going fo as their main victory method. Joel flipped Reconnoiter (end game with a model in each of 4 quadrants) and I flipped Claim Jumper (have models touching a piece of terrain in the center of the board). Schemes are extra objectives that award a smaller victory point total. I decided on Bodyguard with Pandora as the target (make sure the model survives the encounter) and Eye for an Eye (end the game with one more model or equal models to the enemy). If you reveal a Scheme, it awards you extra victory points for completing it; I revealed Eye for an Eye. We flipped for deployment and got the one where we each deploy in opposite corners in an 8″ square.

According to the book, we are supposed to decide on our crews after all of this is decided, but both of us did it ahead of time to make it get started faster. In hindsight, with the small number of figures and the small soulstone costs, I think it would have been fine, though most of us don’t have enough models to make too many changes.

My Crew:

• Pandora
• Candy
• Baby Kade
• Sorrows x3
• Killjoy
• 7 Soulstones

Joel’s Crew:

• Rasputina
• Ice Golem
• Joss
• Ice Gamin
• Hoarcat Pride x2
• 7 Soulstones

My first 6-card hand had nothing lower than an 11 and had the Red Joker, so I kept all of them.

First turn was each of us moving closer for our objectives. I probably made the mistake of spreading out a bit far from Pandora, but it didn’t seem to matter much later. I had a Sorrow linked to Candy and one linked to Kade. Pandora moved through some woods to get into position and the third Sorrow went solo, the idea being that he’d be the one to get sacrificed to summon Killjoy.

Later on, a Hoarcat Pride charged Kade and did a bit of damage and then attempted Devour, which ‘ate’ Kade. Luckily, Joel realized he couldn’t do both a Charge and a Devour due to lack of action points (whew!). Kade then returned the favor and Backstabbed/Struck the Hoarcat Pride and finished them off. The second Hoarcat Pride saw the carnage and decided to hide behind a building. Joss moved around a building to threaten Candy, while holding three Power tokens. Rasputina did a couple of Biting Chills on Candy through the Ice Golem and the Ice Gamin made for the center of the table.

I sacrificed Candy’s Sorrow and summoned Killjoy on Turn 3 (I’d almost forgot!) to get between Joss and her. Joss proceeded to lay the beatdown on Killjoy and killed him. Before dying, Killjoy got off two attacks thanks to the Onslaught trigger to leave Joss with just one wound left. Turns out that the way Joel had done the power tokens was wrong and Killjoy likely would have survived, but we decided to stick with it the way it was. Candy then cast Self-Loathing on Joss and he failed the Wp resist. Pandora’s emotional Trauma finished him. Candy healed herself a bit and later received a charge from the Ice Golem. Some damage was done, but Candy survived. Pandora cast Self-Loathing on the Ice Golem and got off her trigger making him fall back. She then cast another spell on the Ice Gamin to make it do Wp duels on any of its actions. This caused one wound, leaving it with one or two. The Hoarcat Pride moved down the side of the board to try and help complete Reconnoiter.

Kade, with two wounds left wanted to really kill the Ice Gamin so that it couldn’t count for Reconnoiter, but the Ice Gamin has an ability called Shatter that deals 2 damage to anyone in 2″ when it dies. Kade decided to move to one side of the center of the board and cast Lure on it to displace it from its position. Kade’s Sorrow charged the Ice Gamin and finished it and took two damage from the blast. Being turn 6, I still needed to get at least one of my models on the terrain feature in the middle of the board to complete Claim Jumper. Pandora moved as fast as she could toward it, but fell short. Candy, who’d been charged by the Ice Golem earlier in the turn, successfully disengaged from the combat to make it to the objective. We then flipped to see if the game ends and it did.

Joel got 2VP from Reconnoiter and I’d gotten 4VP from Claim Jumper. Joel’s Schemes were Bodyguard (Rasputina) and one I don’t remember. I completed Bodyguard for 1VP and Eye for an Eye for 2VP. So I won 7VP to 3VP.

A very fun game. I like the bigger Scraps a bit better than the 25ss games. As always, Joel was a great opponent. Of course, we messed up a few things in the game, but all in all I think it went well.

Right before we set up for the game, I’d flipped my Army Transport and ended up breaking a few figures and scratching the hell out of a few others. Luckily, Pandora’s paintjob got fixed this morning and is no worse for wear. The Rotten Belles’ parasols will need to be reattached and a Punk Zombie lost an arm. These will be fixed probably over the Labor Day weekend.

Brian had already left to go take care of his preganant wife, who’s about to pop any minute, so I challenged Bryan to a game. He whipped out the Lady Justice crew to pound on Pandora. Fortunately, I’d heard a bit on how Lady J works from Joel so I had at least some thoguhts on how to deal with them.

My crew:

• Pandora
• Candy
• Baby Kade
• Sorrows x3
• 7 Soulstones

Bryan’s crew:

• Lady Justice
• The Judge
• Death Marshals x3
• 8 Soulstones

Even though I started on the same side of the board, I deployed a bit differently. Of course, Sorrows were in base-to-base contact with their potential Link targets. This time I put Pandora to one side and baby Kade and Candy closer to the other. The idea being he’ll have to split his force to deal with them.

Somewhere on the second turn, Pandora was able to get off self Loathing on the Judge who was about 4 inches from a table edge. She pulled off her trigger causing him to fall back to that edge. She then cast Self Loathing again and used the Red Joker to make sure to pull of the trigger again making him fall back a second time. Since he was already touching the table edge, he ran off the board. One down!

Candy + Sorrow cast self Loathing numerous times, doing damage to a Death Marshal and eventually bringing him close to death. She tried a few times to get Harmless back, but that is tougher than it sounds. Kade worked on another Death Marshal and eventually killed him thanks to Backstab. He also tried to get Harmless back, but for the most part didn’t. The bad part about my setup was that all the Wp Duels happening on the other side of the table from Pandora was not doing any damage like it should. Eventually, Kade and his Sorrow died to Death Marshal gunshots.

The last few turns were spent with Lady Justice trying to Charge Pandora and failing due to not winning the Wp Duels. Pandora spent every bit of her Soulstones and every good card in the Control hand to keep that from happening. All the while, Pandora + Sorrow was casting Self Loathing on Lady J in an effort to do her in. Eventually it worked and Pandora’s Crew pulled through.

A lesson I learned in this game is that Pandora needs to be relatively close to the “kids” so that Emotional distress can do some damage.

When I arrived, Joel and Jim were playing with Bryan observing. Bryan and Joel had played prior to that game as well. Brian showed up a little while later and we set up to play. We didn’t use and of the encouters, we just threw down to learn the rules. We were each using the regular starter boxes.

Mine:

• Pandora
• Baby Kade
• Candy
• Sorrows x3
• 7 Soulstones

Brian’s:

• Perdita
• Papa Loco
• Francisco
• Santiago
• Nino
• 5 Soulstones (I think)

I dodn’t really remember all the details other then my near lack of tactics knowing he had lots of ranged attacks. I basically sent Pandora and Candy to their doom. Papa Loco moved down the side of the board to finally move in on Baby Kade. Pandora was able to make Perdita and Nino fall back and hit the edge of the board, but they ended up out of line of sight for her to try and do it again. Kade tried to kill of the nutjob before he could blow himself up, but he failed by 1 point. Papa Loco hit the self-destruct and Kade with his Sorrow died quickly. Pandora died well before that to ranged attacks. It seemed she couldn’t win a Wp Duel to save her life. We called the game not much after that.

It was a good game and I learned a bit on how to use the crew. First, have those Sorrows do Link right at the beginning. It makes keeping everything together much easier, plus allows for extra castings of Self Loathing from Pandora and Candy. Kade gets less use out of them, but having that damage shunt is good, too.

I love it when a company releases a book, finds issues and posts official errata within a week’s time. So far, I feel like Wyrd is keeping their promise of being available and on top of things with their game. That’s why I think this game is only going to get bigger in the community. Right now, most of the locals feel like this is going to be our replacement for Confrontation, which I think is awesome!!

Last Gen Con I went ahead and bought what is now called the Redchappel Gang which includes Seamus, Madame sybelle and three Rotten Belles. We intended to run through the beta, so I needed models. Unfortunately they didn’t get fully assembled until right before Gen Con. At the convention I picked up the Pandora box, which includes Pandora, Baby Kade, Candy and three Sorrows as a “starter” box and then I got Killjoy and the Convict Gunslinger just for fun and finally I got a blister of Samurai Punk Zombies to supplement the Resurrectionists I already had. I chose Pandora on recommendation from one of the designers, Eric, who said Pandora was one of his favorites due to her more cerebral playstyle.

I look forward to next week where I’ll actually get to play my first official game. I’ve been reading almost every thread on the Wyrd forums and talking to friends about the rules. I’ve also been studying my rulebook to make sure that when I play we have as few rules questions as possible.

There’s even talk of a tournament up at Games Plus in the Chicago area that is quickly getting full!

Malifaux – This game has a lot of buzz right now. They only had a closed alpha demo thing last year, but the rumor is they’ll have the book and new starter boxes. I picked up the Seamus box last year along with Hamlin the Rat Catcher. This time I think I’ll pick up the Perdita or Resurrectionists box depending on what I think of the rules when I read them.

Pulp City – I will likely be behind on a few things by the time the convention rolls around, so I’ll get caught up then.

Arcane Legions – I was really kinda excited about this game until I saw the Roman booster box art, which depicted a Spartan in power armor and wielding a gun of some sort. The Han Army booster art, however, has me somewhat interested again. I’ll probably get a demo of this just to be sure one way or the other.

Warlands – The idea of playing a game with Hot Wheels has me intrigued. If the rules look good, I may buy the book.

Uncharted Seas – I’ve played a quick game once with two other people and I did think it was cool, but like many other games, there isn’t anyone playing it regularly.

CthulhuTech – Damnation View or Mortal Remains – Whichever is out, I will likely buy it. I really like the setting of this RPG and would love to play it someday.

All in all, I think I’ll just be looking at stuff moreso than buying.