Two Down, One to Go!

So on our regularly scheduled game night on Tuesdays out at Huzzah Hobbies, in Ashburn, VA, I was able to take another step towards ridding myself of the moniker that has plagued me since that fateful day on the Gamers Lounge.

The week before, I challenged Chris, but played against some new players from Warrenton instead. The new player, Joe, was a blast to play. Good guy, I hope he keeps up with the game and comes out for the Tourney in Feb at Huzzah. Chris and I agreed that this past week, it was on like Donkey Kong!

Game 1:
Skill-Less Brian, Guild Crew - 30 - Scrap
Contain Power, Kill Protege, Eye for an Eye
Perdita Ortega -- 8 Pool
Governor's Proxy [2ss]
Nino Ortega [7ss]
Santiago Ortega [7ss]
Witchling Stalker [4ss]
Witchling Stalker [4ss]

vs.

eChris, Neverborn Crew - 30 - Scrap
Deliver a Message, Kidnap, Holdout

Pandora -- 5 Pool
Primordial Magic [2ss]
Doppelganger [8ss]
Insidious Madness [4ss]
Insidious Madness [4ss]
Insidious Madness [4ss]
Sue [8ss]


This was my third time against playing Pandora. The last two times she pretty well man-handled me. We played a very long game where I probably spent 3/4 of the time thinking about my moves and what was going to happen next and Chris would move and own me. He was able to Deliver the Message on Turn 1. So, taking the Proxy against Pandora...that sucks, don't do it. Or find a way to sac it on turn one. Or have it hide in a corner or something. It ended up killing Santiago on the top of turn 2 so he didn't do anything at all and cost me 7 points. From there I managed to basically ignore Pandora while burning down his Madness. Then Perdita jumped up and shot the Dopplganger in the face. Nino followed up by finishing off Sue. On Turn 5, Pandora finished off the last Stalker for Kidnap, guaranteeing Chris 6 points. On Turn 6, it came down to Pandora and the Magic vs. Perdita and Nino. I still needed to run all the way across the board and kill his master with Perdita, then with Nino, run half way across the board to break his hold out. Chris, sacrificed Pandora netting me 2 points and that left me free and clear to run across the board. A tough long, hard fought, great game ended as a 6-6 tie.

Afterwards Chris was chatting about the Perdita Obey list, which is one I have not been hugely fond of. He decided to play it against me to show me how it works.

Game 2:
Skill-Less Brian, Outcasts Crew - 30 - Scrap
Slaughter, Holdout, BodyGuard (Gun Vik)
Viktoria -- 7 Pool
Student of Conflict [3ss]
Convict Gunslinger [5ss]
Ronin [5ss]
Ronin [5ss]
Ronin [5ss]

vs
eChris, Guild Crew - 30 - Scrap
Escape and Survive, Family Justice (He was pretty cocky), Assassinate (Sword Vik)
Perdita Ortega -- 5 Pool
Enslaved Nephilim [2ss]
Abuela Ortega [7ss]
Guild Austringer [5ss]
Nino Ortega [7ss]
Papa Loco [6ss]

I had played the Viks one time way back in May or something when I first started playing Malifaux. The first game I played was against Mike (1st Gen) where he built a Vik Crew v. a Lilith crew with Shared Claim Jump. This is the first and only time I have beaten Mike. It also did not include schemes or all of the rules. I think we didn't discuss focus striking or channeling among many others.

Well eChris says he is going to show me how well an Obey Family list works because I have never personally been a fan. Since I wanted to see it, that made sense. Dixon (Pharaoh) put together the Vik list, for me and eChris and I threw down. Well after turn one of moving up and positioning, I was able to win initiative on turn two and slingshot the Sword Vik into melee with Perdita. I managed to out cheat / stone and did away with Perdita early turn 2, which then really reduced the effectiveness of teaching me how eChris plays the Obey list. He retaliated by flinging Papa Loco forward and boom goes Papa. I focused on saving Gun Vik and let Sword Vik take some wounds. He then proceeded to mow down Sword Vik, getting Assassinate (or did he?!?). Next turn, I used my last 2 stones to sac a Ronin and re-create Sword Vik. Then I threw Sword Vik back into the fray. She essentially acted as a missile I expended to throw at his models. I did away with Abuela, Papa and the Austringer at this point too. Leaving him with only Nino sitting on a high pillar in the corner. Realizing I had the game in hand, I backed off out of range since I was only up on Slaughter 15-12 and did not want to give Nino the chance to even things up. Game ended 6-0 with a victory for the good guys!

So with that, I have defeated two of the people who I had to in order to rid myself of the Skill-Less moniker. Next up is Mike, who I almost had except for the unfortunate flip of a Black Joker on my part. I have a feeling my first win is going to come against him shortly. I can feel it, the fates are going to late me cheat and win!

New Year's

So I figured since everyone who is skilled is doing it, also doing it must make me skilled too right? Right?

Nerding resolutions for this year:

Read 5,000 pages
I actually have no idea how many pages I read during the course of a year. It seems to me like 100 pages a week is up my alley. I am not a fast reader, but I did resolve last year to focus on increasing my speed. Also, I need to spend more time actually reading. I figure I can knock a lot of this out with the Robert Jordan books. I stopped reading those after Rand healed the male half of the source and then there was the one book where everyone else in the world relived those three days. I figure if I start now (actually back in August) I can finish most if not all the books by the time the last (yeah right..) is actually released. Since I read mostly sci-fi and fantasy this counts as a nerding topic.

Paint all of my models before I buy new ones
For some reason I have never been one to get excited or enjoy painting up my models. I always loved playing the games but never enjoyed the tasks of sitting down to paint them up. I think life-time I have actually painted only about a half dozen models to completion. Well not true anymore, with these Malifaux models from Wyrd, I am very excited to paint them up and get the crew / faction looking really nice.

To that end, I have resolved to get all of my stuff painted and not purchase any more models (except maybe the Warden) until I have everything painted. While this seems pretty daunting, I am not sure it is.

Here is my list of painted stuff:

Sonia Criid
3x Witchling Stalkers
Lady Justice
3x Death Marshals
Judge
Executioner
Perdita
Santiago
Fransisco
Papa Loco
Abuela
Nino
Lucius
Guild Guard Captain

On the painting table:
3x Guild Guard
Drill Sergeant
2x Guild Austringer
2x Guild Hound

The list of unpainted is:
Enslaved Nephlim
Scales of Balance
Purifying Flame
Hoffman
Mechanical Attendant
Peacekeeper
Guardian
2x Watcher
Large Steampunk Arachnid
Mechanical Rider
aJustice
aSonnia

Wow, that's a lot more than I thought...hopefully I can get all of this done by I don't know....2013...

Track my Malifaux games
So, I would like to know if I am getting better over time or if there are certain strategies / schemes I struggle with or if there are certain people I can not beat. To that end, I have decided to track all of my Malifaux games. It should be fun and I will probably report the results here every once in a while.

Well, that's it for now. If I decide to add something in the next week or two I probably modify this but right now, I think that's good enough!