4-Player Story Encounter markers

There are story Encounters that use the four suits in their set-up and the players Scenario.
Below is an image of such a game's set-up where we had to deploy four 30mm markers representing the four suits onto the table  and the players later pulled aces or jokers to see which one of the markers was their target.  If you pulled an ace, your goal was to Interact with that particular marker and then hold onto it for the rest of the game for 3 VP.  You could get another VP for grabbing one of the other Markers.  Joker meant you could grab any marker, but each one was only worth 2 VP.   Max for Scenario was 4 VP, so Schemes were still important and even more important for the player with the Joker.


Table



Deployment from Bird's-eye view.

 
 

The silver rounds on top of the 30 mm markers have 1 of the 4 suits written on them.
 Each marker was placed on the table by a player prior to drawing their Scenario win-condition.  Most placed the Markers mid-table.  The silver rounds are Fantasy Flight plastic tokens I bought on sale and they are pretty great for writing on with a dry-erase marker, but they do stand out and I am always looking to replace them with more thematic tokens when I can.

I found some cake toppers that I am in the process of staining and dinging-up to replace a the silver tokens for these Scenarios.

I am liking how they are turning out thus far:


FYI

It has been so long since the game, I do not have a Battle report, but here are the participants seen in the set-up.

Top Left:  Ten Thunders' Kang and 3 Rail Workers
Top Right:  Arcanists' Snowstorm, 2 Ice Gamin, and December Acolyte
Bottom Left:  Guild's Sadhir and 3 Westrels
Bottom Right:  Resser Valedictorian, 2 Rotten Belles, and Effigy

Guild left the game on the 3rd turn and the game ended with Arcanists and Ressers tied.
Ten Thunders could have actually won the game, but the player dedicated the crew to attacking other than following their Schemes and Scenario (I believe they pulled the Joker which meant they could get 2 VP for grabbing any of the markers).  Combat is a means to an end in this game rather than the sole purpose of the crew which I love about Malifaux.  
 

Perdita vs. Ramos - Part 2

Now, it is time to make a decision on my Crew and how they will be placed on the table.


6.  Hire & Reveal Crew:   I was certain I was bringing Guild Hounds because there was a majority of Interact schemes and that meant 6 Soulstones were already spoken for.  My initial reaction was to go with Sonnia since she specializes in fighting Arcanists, but I was not sure if she could handle Rasputina which was my guess for his declared Arcanist Master.  Sonnia is not a pushover, but  it was the terrain, deployment, Scenario, and Schemes that made me question Sonnia.  I considered Lady Justice but passed because she is melee heavy and I was still thinking Rasputina and exploding Gamin. I instead went with Perdita and her Family because they are amazing with sniping and I could slow forward movement with the Family covering lanes.   My mind was fixated of getting VP from dropping Scheme Markers, so I went with a Brutal Effigy for cheap Interacts and possible Healing for Perdita if things went wrong.  Two Guild Hounds and the Brutal effigy seemed plenty to deal with the Schemes and Scenario while the Family (Perdita, Francisco, Santiago, and Nino) were all about tying-up the enemy and preventing them from doing any Interacts. 
I took two Upgrades -
Perdita: Trick Shooting
Francisco: Wade In

Daniel's arcanists sent Ramos. Grrr..... I pictured swarms of metal spiders and exploding Octopi and wished I had chosen Sonnia or, at least, chosen Papa Loco over Santiago.
Ramos brought an Electrical Creation, Howard Langston, Brass Arachnid, and Joss.  I am guessing he went with the heavy models because he was planning of summoning an army of constructs to run
schemes.
Upgrades - I believe Ramos had Electric Summoning which seems really powerful for only 1 Soulstone.  Also, he had Under Pressure and Field Generator which were both really irritating to deal with. 

7.  Choose & Reveal Schemes: I chose and declared Line in the Sand since the Strategy had us fighting for the center of the table already and my thinking was that on turns when the Squatter markers were occupied, I could drop Scheme markers with models out of engagement.  In case I was overwhelmed or lost the center, I decided to go with the one melee-focused Scheme, Murder Protégé.  I was still wishing I had Roundup as an option.  I delclared Murder Protégé in hopes he over- or under-committed Langston; either option would be optimal for me: over-committed 12 SS model would aid me with winning the VP for killing it (still at the expense of a ton of AP to do it).  More ideal would be him under-committed which would mean I would not have to deal with the monster most of the game and Ramos would not get his Soulstones worth out of him.


8.  Deploy Crew:  We deployed incorrectly and we drew the center line incorrectly, too. 
OOPS!!!!
The image in rulebook shows players deploying from our respective right corners of the table, up to 18" from the corner and up to 9" inward from the edge.  We deployed  from our Left corner instead (see below).
I won the deployment flip, which allowed me to force Arcanists to deploy first. He hid his Brass Arachnid and Langston on the far side of the table by the woods which I was happy and sad about:  probably impossible to get Murder Protégé but did not have to deal with three powerhouses at once.  His other models were as close to the center as he could deploy.

I took advantage of Out of the Shadow and deployed Nino at the center of the table and peeking out from Hard Cover with LOS to Ramos and the Electrical Creation.  Nino moved only once this game and that was due to repositioning after being pushed by a Defensive Trigger after hitting Ramos.  I would say Nino was my MVP.
The two Guild Hounds deployed 9 inches up from the edge and as far right as I could because I had hoped to get to far right of the table to do some Squats on that side of the table. I was not thinking.  The hounds would have to deal with Langston and that would never happen.  I did not realize my error until the 2nd turn.  They were largely wasted this game.
The rest of my crew (Perdita, Family, and Brutal Effigy) were cramped together between a cactus, building, some rocks and a lot of Severe terrain underfoot.  It was a less-than-ideal deployment that required too much AP to reposition. 


I did not take a picture of deployment, so the dots with show where I deployed. 

- Table -

 

Purple:  Perdita

Orange:  Francisco

Grey:  Santiago

Yellow:  Nino

Blue:  Brutal Effigy

Red:  Guild Hounds

Guild managed to score 7 VP's and Arcanists scored 3 VP's so it all worked out in the end.  Arcanists did have terrible Fate hands and two terrible Black Joker flips which sealed their fate.  Ramos flipped a Black Joker on his Turn 2 Summon and Langston flipped a Black Joker Turn 3 for a damage against Francisco who was sitting on only 3 Wounds.  Francisco was then able to kill Ramos turn 4.

Some Thoughts

 

 Perdita is amazing with the ability to ignore armor.  I felt the first two turns were wasted with her spend AP moving herself and casting Obey to move Family.  Obey is so great on the enemy.  Obeying Joss to Walk out into the open  on turn 3 so he could be shot up by the Family was cinematic.  She would have been better away from Severe Terrain.  She would have done better deploying with the Guild Hounds and moving up to the stone walls by the large building.  This would have allowed her to threaten Langston and Ramos.  I should have taken the Upgrade Aura Ancestral.  Ignoring Terrifying and making it easier for Guild to pass Terrifying duels would have ensured Langston died. I didn't know who he would take, so the better way to think about it is that I should not have taken Murder Protégé knowing I would have to pass numerous Terrifying duels to kill Langston.
Nino is great in a spot where he can see 12 or more inches into the enemy's half of the table..  Francisco and Santiago are only good as a pair; I think I was most disappointed in their performance.  Not having a way to get around terrain really made those two suffer.  An Austringer, Death Marshal, and extra Soulstones for Perdita or Upgrades probably would have been better.
The Brutal Effigy did not stand out because he just dropped Scheme Markers and Interacted. Perdita was barely in combat so it was not worthwhile to spend an AP so she could draw 1 or 2 cards for the whole game.  Perdita was never attacked, so there was no need to heal.  The Brutal Effigy is still a solid choice for 4 SS.
I love dogs.  If dogs are in the game, I play them.  Guild Hounds are not even close to being good like Canine Remains.  It is just so expensive to take two so they can Interact and drop Scheme Markers.  It is also so precarious having to keep them both alive to be useful.  A Watcher or Death Marshal might have been better.  Part of their ineptness this game was my poor planning which led them to be on the same side of table as a 12 SS Terrifying model for two turns.  They should have switched places with Perdita and the Brutal Effigy.  It would have been more difficult for Francisco and Santiago to deal with Joss, but I think they could have still done it.  I am sure I have more thoughts, but I have written more than planned already and I have no bat rep for anyone else to really understand what I am going on about.  Enough journaling for now!

I will take more pictures next game and that might help me write a journal/bat rep hybrid that might make more sense to those who were not there.

Happy gaming, everyone!

Perdita vs. Ramos - Part 1

I got the chance to play an actual game of Malifaux on Monday at Battleground Games.  
Rather than a play-by-play, I wanted to take a look at the effect decisions made during the Set-up had on the following 5 turns of the game.  Part 1 will have Steps 1-5; part 2 will have steps 6-8.

Standard Set-up

1.  Define & Place Terrain:  The table was a desert outpost. There were three small buildings, 1 medium building, one forest, Ht 1, Climbable stone walls that provide Hard Cover,  1 large Severe Terrain patch at the center of the table with 3 cacti that are Hazardous but also give Soft Cover.  From the Deployemnt area to the center of the table there are lots of Ht 2 Blocking, Impassable Rock Outcrops that also provide Hard Cover. Shooting can be really dangerous in Malifaux, so lots of cover and Blocking terrain is essential to keep the game fun for both sides.

2.  Determine Encounter size:  35 Soulstones.  Not really ready for 50 Soulstone games at this point.

3.  Announce Factions:  I declared Guild.  I had brought Seamus, Perdita, Lady Justice, and Sonnia, so I had the most choice with Masters under Guild.  Daniel declared Arcanists.  I am glad I did not pick Seamus who has limited influence on Rasputina and Ramos crews, one of which was certain to appear on the other side of the table.

4.  Determine Deployment: Daniel flipped for Deployment zone and he seems to always flip Flank.  This is definitely the hardest deployment for some reason.  Even with Nino having From The Shadows, I still felt like my Deployment was not going to be advantageous.  The L-shaped deployment always makes me feel like I am going to get crowded too fast.  I had initially thought I was going with Sonnia, but my fear of getting jammed moved her to 3rd place with Lady Justice moving to the top spot. 

5.  Determine Strategy & Scheme:  Squatter's Rights was the Strategy flipped.  Lady Justice still on top, but uncertain of the crew I would take with her that could hold the center well.
The Schemes flipped were Breakthrough, Distract, Murder Protégé, Power Ritual, and the ubiquitous Line in the Sand.  The Arcanists also had their Faction-specific Scheme, Gathering Power.  I would have like the Guild Scheme, Roundup, but I had left my card at home.  So, now we have only one combat-based scheme and the rest are all about getting to the Center or beyond and holding territory.  Guild Hounds?  Brutal Effigy?  Francisco and Santiago tag-team?  This looks like the heart of my team because those 5 models could handle any of those schemes. Even if I chose my Master poorly, this crew could still pull it off themselves.  I am starting to consider Perdita .......

To be continued......