Well hello! It's been a while but I haven't been doing jack shit! Infact, I've been writing a few more JargonBuster posts but with everything I've got going over the course of this week, I haven't managed to get any of them out. Hopefully soon!
Anyway, the good news is that after 2 weeks of waiting... I know... 2 WEEKS! I have received my order from an internet based stockist and I have now started work on my Ironsides crew! Remember, I am going to be doing a proxy crew and use any spare parts to proxy models which aren't out yet. If you want to go back and read my opening posts they are here and here.
Just to summarize: My contribution of WAAC over the coming months will entail that everytime I play my Ironsides crew I will: donate 10p for every point I score with and I will donate 20p for every point my opponent scores against me! I know it doesn't sound a lot now but trust me... if you've read my batreps you'll know my opponents get the jump on me and score highly!
So, I've built my crew and a few extras which haven't been released yet!
I've built:
Ironsides
Mouse
The Captain (Missing a hand and a Relic Hammer... but that'll be sorted from a Bitz Box rummage!)
3 Oxfordian Mages (On 30mm bases - Yes, they do need to be on 40mm but I want to do something special with these!)
Cassandra
3 Gunsmiths
2 Union Miners
2 Performers
On to the game. This is my first ToMB game and it couldn't come against a better opponent: Bear (@docbungle), the creator of WAAC! I'm not entirely sure what he was going to be playing because every time I checked twitter, he was on about a different master! So it was a great surprise to find out that I was actually playing Outcasts. We arranged to play a 50ss game on Vassal and I have to say, I'm quite excited!
Thanks to the Malifaux Schemes (@malifauxschemes) bot on Twitter we received:
Strategy: Squatter's Rights
Schemes: Line in the Sand, Assassinate, Bodyguard, Cursed Object, Make Them Suffer.
Deploy: Standard
I always think with crews you're finding your way with it's hard to really judge what they can do in terms of schemes pool. I guess Squatter's Rights is a more favourable Strat for me as it involves me getting up close and personal which Ironsides loves so I guess there are a few choices in the scheme pool which I could take which would make for an interesting encounter.
Line in the Sand... In a game like Squatter's, I think I'll leave this one at home!
Assassinate - I can see Bear perhaps taking this as I want to get Ironsides close but not knowing what I was facing, I'm not going to risk it!
Bodyguard - Interesting but I don't trust myself keeping anything alive long enough to do it!
Cursed Object - If I'm getting up close and personal then it's worth a punt! It is a popular choice for a Strategy which is as up close as this one!
Make Them Suffer - A Master or a Henchman must kill a peon or minion in any turn after the first. Seems a logical choice to do when getting up close and personal!
So... I have decided on: Cursed Object and Make Them Suffer! The fact that these start unrevealed is fantastic too as I can bluff my way to
My Crew? Oh, I nearly forgot!
Ironsides (Cache: 5)
- Iron Determination
- Frontline Leadership
- Imbued Protection
*I did consider taking Inbued Energies which when discarded gives a model Fast and it would have been excellent for her but I wanted to try her upgrades first!
The Captain
- Patron's Blessing
Mouse
Oxfordian Mage
- Nemesis Ward
Oxfordian Mage
- Blood Ward
Oxfordian Mage
- Doom Ward
Union Miner
Union Miner
I wanted to use the box crew and other models I have built. The Miners seemed like a good choice just to pad out the crew!
Bear took:
Von Schill
- The Shirt Comes Off
- Survivialist
- Oathkeeper
Libririan
- Oathkeeper
Specialist
- Oathkeeper
2 Friekrokps
2 Trappers
Steamtrunk
On to the game! We were on the Occulus map which was an interesting choice and one which I'd not come across before, lots of rooms and space to move around!
Bear's Set Up:
Both of our Step Ups:
Key Moments:
-
- Bear won initiative and chose for me to go first
-
- Trapper shoots Doom Ward Oxfordian Mage – 4 Damage!
-
- Ironsides charges trapper in 1st
turn. Triggers 2 Adrenaline and causes 7 damage to Trapper, reduced by 2 for
Armour!
-
- Von Schill, discards Oathkeeper – charges Ironsides:
Hits Ironsides for 10 damage, Ironsides hits back (triggering) for 5!
-
- End Turn 1 – Ironsides on 4 Adrenaline!
- - Specialist shoots into combat with Ironsides,
Von Schill, Trapper… misses Ironsides
-
- Bear wins flip and activates first – 3 ap to
kill Ironsides! Gains 3 points for assassinate!
-
- 2 Mages cause 4 damage to Von Schill, ignoring
armour. Takes him down to 3 wounds!
- - Schill gets a healing flip on a positive flip –
3 wounds back!!! And then does it again… 2 back! All that work!!!
-
- Trapper shoots Oxfordian Mage with Doom – 6 Damage…
gone!
-
- Captain pulls the Trapper out in to the open
ready for next turn!
-
- Captain wins flip for initiative and goes first,
pulls in hits with a Relic Hammer. Forgot that he has casting expert and could
hit him twice!
-
- Mage kills the trapper on one wound.
-
- Von Schill charges Mage and hits for 3. Shirt
comes off but all passed.
- -
Von Schill gains first turn for turn 4 and
pounds into Oxfordian Mage with Blood Ward on and then takes Nemesis Ward to 1
wound!
-
- Captain charges Von Schill and causes 4 damage
with the hammer.
-
- Libby walks around the board and heals Friekorps.
-
- *Bodyguard Announced by Bear* on Librarian.
-
- Captain wins Initiative for Turn 5 and hits Von
Schill twice… Severe and Moderate flip!
-
- Von Schill uses a stone only prevents 1 – Von Schill
gone!
- -
Miner and Oxfordian Mage place cursed object on
Friekorpsmann and Specialist.
Game ends: 10-1!
In Game Action:
My Hand on Turn 5 - Great for Poker... Shit for Malifaux!
Lessons Learnt:
Well... lesson one... Don't put Ironsides anywhere near a Master, especially Von Schill! Getting first activation on Turn 2 didn't help as Von Schill went wild on her ass but I can see the potential with her. What I did do was fling her too far forward, leaving her away from healing and support! I over estimated her power but also, I didn't realise the distance which Von Schill could charge in! I know now she's a Master on Minion type of lass! It's really important to get the trigger 'Good Shot, My Turn' off so enable slow damage to mount up but with support!
3 Oxfordian Mages, although they look amazing, didn't do that much for me. Two of them would have been far better and having a Gunsmith or points free for something else. Again, I can see their potential but three might be excessive!
Mouse, not bad for healing but in this, didn't really do a great deal. In a game like Squatter's Rights I need more feet on the ground which can turn markers but in truth, he wasn't the one to do that! Not bad but slow movement didn't enable me to utilize him with the crew.
Union Miners - Solid choice to stick around but I didn't really get the best out of them! I might look towards Soulstone miners in future. However, the Miners did do a good job of distraction and have a ton of abilities which would be useful in a scheme marker specific schemes.
The Captain... WOW! He must be a choice to consider in ANY Archanist crew, with a 5" push on other models and a Relic Hammer, he is a great all rounder. A superb model! Really impressed.
In hindsight, I should have hung the crew back and fired first then thrown Ironsides in to finish off and gain the Make Them Suffer points. Maybe next time some Gunsmiths and use the Mages to deal out Burning!
Thoughts on the crew:
I'm really impressed with her, despite losing heavily. Like I said, the Mages' could do with being reduced to 2 in my crew and be replaced with something else: Gunsmith, Johan, etc. And also, Mouse out too!
Will be something to think about in time for the next game which I can hopefully get in soon.
WAAC Payment:
20p for each point my opponent scores = 20p x 10: £2
10p for each point I score = 10p x 1 = 10p
Total: £2.10!
Well, that's it for this post! I've got a small backlog of posts to put up which I can hopefully do over the course of the next week or so!
Thanks for reading.
I'll see you soon!
nice write up, just wondering how close The oxford mage with nemesis ward was to ironsides, and whether you remembered the positive flips it would give you? three is definitely overkill, I usually use just Nemesis (for the built in tome) and Blood (because 4 melee attacks with those triggers is brutal, and condition immunity is tasty too)
ReplyDeleteIronsides needs to blob up a bit more than you did for full functionality, but Von schill is a great hard counter to her crews unfortunately, I lose as many as I win with Ironsides but I've never had a game I didn't enjoy with her, she's a lot of fun and scrappy as hell:) next time try a gunsmith and the message from the union upgrade (I once used imbued energies to gain fast and put Burning 12 on an enemy master, hehehe)
oh and one more thing- If you play against this crew again, a cheeky thing you can do is get an Ox of Blood within melee range of a Librarian, you'll get extra Tomes on your attacks because she's also an academic;)
ReplyDeleteNice conversions. I like the battle report, it's interesting to see Ironsides in action as she's a bit rare now until the miniatures are released.
ReplyDelete