ToMB 2015: Month 0

I remember the origin of the “Tale of” initiatives. It all started more than a decade ago in Games Workshop’s White Dwarf (back when it felt less like a catalogue), when a bunch of the GW staff decided to get together and start a series of articles called the “Tale of 4 Gamers”. Every player began with a certain amount of money to start their armies with, and they’d get an allowance each month to with which to expand their collection. In each issue, the gamers would describe their experience and exploits in building, painting and playing with their growing armies. The format was a massive hit. Not only did GW follow it up at least once more with a “Tale of 40k Gamers” series, but it was copied by gaming groups and on forums everywhere. The fact that it's still regularly done by players speaks volumes as to the concepts longevity and appeal. 

Anyway, the short version of this is that I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do a proper “Tale of” challenge. Unfortunately I was unable to take part in last year’s Tale of Malifaux Bloggers, due to having already committed to my Rainbow Challenge. This year however, all I’ve committed to is playing Ressers, so I’m free to give it a crack!

Rules, Rules, Rules.

So first thing’s first, the rules. If you’re not yet familiar with them, here’s a link to Psientologist’s blog;

http://malibros.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tomb-2-tomb-harder.html

The challenge is due to start proper at the beginning of February, but in the meantime I need to come up with a Master to commit to. As per above I’ve already decided on Ressers for this year so it will have to be someone from that Faction. But which one?

The tricky thing about doing Ressers for this challenge is that half of them are dedicated, drown-them-in-bodies summoners. Building a functional crew for such a Master is very tough when you can only spend so much per month. So despite having his crew available and unassembled, Nicodem is right out. Same goes for Molly (who lacks a plastic starter) and Kirai (who's $50 box has just 14SS worth of models). So what about the rest?

Seamus

Despite his ability to bring out Rotten Belles, summoning is not a major part of how Seamus plays. So the basic boxed set plus some hanged would probably serve me well as a functional staring point for my crew. The only negative is that I already have a Seamus crew (the Rainbow Challenge is coming back to haunt me!) and unfortunately, I like my “Evil Dead” Seamus much more than the current plastic version. That said, if I can find a suitably awesome/ridiculous proxy for Seamus then it might be enough to sway me toward him.

McMourning

While he’s not as demanding a summoner as the “big three”, McMourning is nevertheless quite capable of pumping out Flesh Constructs and Canine Remains to do his bidding. While I did give him a go last year I used him as a Guild Master, so I never got to try his summoning side. That said I *think* I can buy enough of his summons within the allotted budget to make a decent crew (side note: how many flesh constructs does he really need?), so he remains a possible option.  

Like Seamus I have a painted crew for McMourning. But while I’m fond of “Teatime McMourning” he’s never quite sat right with me. It’s probably just the green bases (something I can easily fix), but nevertheless it’s enough for me to not be fussed about painting a fresh crew for him. Again, I’d need a theme to go with it though, and it’d probably need to at least compare with Teatime McMourning…

Tara

Tara is effectively a non-summoner (especially if you don’t take Karina, her totem), but she also has no models available outside her Nightmare Edition Box so I’d probably have to proxy everything. That said, from what I hear, Tara doesn’t need her Void models or even her Totem to work in a Resser crew. So as long as I find a proxy for Tara herself, building the rest of her crew could prove pretty simple.

The negative for Tara is that she’s the Resser Master that I’m second least excited about using (after Nicodem). So if my suspicions prove true and I don’t enjoy playing her, I’m going to lose the motivation to finish this challenge pretty fast .

Yan Lo

I’ve said before that I was never all that happy with my Yan Lo crew. It wasn’t pink enough and the models themselves are just a nightmare to try and fit into my carry case. Given that his summoning focuses on replacing losses rather than boosting numbers Yan Lo should be pretty easy to build for this challenge. His starter is cheap and after you've got his ancestors, you only need a few more bits and pieces to round him out. The only problem is that there’s no way in hell I’m buying his boxed set again. So I’d need suitable proxies for his entire crew.

THE DECISION

I have to admit, I’d already decided on a Master before writing this article. But even so, putting cases forward for the other Masters did make me rethink whether it was the best decision. In the end though, it wasn’t enough to sway me and I’m satisfied I've made the right choice.

I’ve decided to go with the good Doctor, Douglas McMourning, BSc, MD, PhD.

Like I said before, I was never entirely satisfied with Teatime McMourning, so building a new crew will give me a nice, more Resser focused McMourning to play around with. Getting enough Flesh constructs might prove a challenge, but I’m not convinced it’s impossible. But most importantly, I’ve come up with a crew theme that I believe will keep me interested for the duration of the challenge!

So what will be my first purchase for my Resurrectionist Master McMourning, whom I’ll be playing as a Resurrectionist?

Huh…

Yet another New Years Resolution Blog...

Well it’s the New Year and the Rainbow Challenge is done (or at least on the backburner). So like just about every other blog this time of year, it’s time for some resolutions!

No relevance, just like the crew. ;)

The Not Malifaux Stuff

It probably goes without saying that last year was pretty Wyrd-focused. While I’ve no intention of stopping my Malifaux habit, after 5 years (jesus, it’s been that long?) I figure it's time to expand my horizons again and divide my time between Malifaux and something else. So for the time being, I’ve got a few games in mind;

Yay! I can use my goblins again!

The first is Kings of War. Initially released by Mantic (possibly as an excuse to sell cheaper alternatives to GW’s ridiculously expensive Warhammer Fantasy range), it’s really come into its own as a solid, enjoyable game in it’s own right. I got a demo of this from local Justin a few months back and I was instantly hooked. It was everything I wanted from Warhammer Fantasy, but without the stupid all or nothing magic, super-characters and all the other things I dislike about GW’s game.

So this year I’ve brought my Goblin army out of retirement and thanks to Mantic’s Kickstarter for Kings of War 2^nd ed, I’ve got a Forces of the Abyss (ie. demons) army coming sometime in the middle of the year.

A game for all ages...

Speaking of Mantic and Kickstarters, I’ve also gotten into Deadzone, thanks to their Kickstarter from… last year? I honestly don’t know anymore. It’s basically a simplified small skirmish game done in a similar vein to Necromunda. It’s not a perfect ruleset – the game suffers a little from “first edition-itis”. But I like how it plays, I’ve got some Enforcers painted and there’s a growing community to play against.

Pretty happy with how they're turning out so far...

Then we have Infinity, or as I like to call it “Crate-Wars” or “Overwatch: the Game”. ;) For a long time I’ve avoided Infinity on account of 1. not generally loving the boobalicious anime style and 2. because most of the models just sucked. Fortunately with the recent release of 3^rd edition and a marked improvement in model aesthetics, I’m keen to give it a try.

Just one Scourge transport painted but hey - it looks descent.

Other than that we have Bushido (got a crew for a Shenlong proxy), Epic Armageddon (there’s a consistent community here and I somehow have a marine army), Dropzone Commander and maybe, just maybe Wild West Exodus (nobody plays it here, but a few have the models from the Kickstarter...bloody kickstarters).

Some of the last minis I painted in 2014 - "Shang" (from Bushido) and a Nurse.

The Malifaux Stuff

When I started the Rainbow Challenge, I said I could go in one of two directions – either focus on a small selection of Masters, or just try to play them all. Obviously in 2014 I went with the latter, and wound up playing 30 crews in a year. In 2015 though, it’s time I was a little more focused with my gaming, and at least stuck with a single faction. As it turns out, a few of the other locals are thinking of the same thing, with Chris (Kadeton) moving from Outcasts to Neverborn and a few others going with Arcanists in particular.

In the end, I decided on Resurrectionists.

From the 2014 Malifaux Gift Exchange - thanks Alex!

Something bad

The Ressers are arguably the Faction I have the least experience with. Even less than Gremlins, for whom I’m at least familiar with all three released Masters and have even taken So’mer to a tournament. That in itself was good justification for going with Ressers this year, but my unfamiliarity is not without reason. They’re arguably my least favourite faction and one of their major shticks, summoning, is a playstyle that I’ve not been a fan of. Having said that, my experience with the Ressers I did play in 2014 has improved my opinion of the Faction. Seamus and Yan Lo in particular were fun to play and even Kirai, one of the dedicated summoners, proved to be really entertaining. As for the rest, like I said with Molly, the jury is still out. But I’m willing to give them a shot.

Also from the gift exchange, thanks to Bacms!

So yeah, if nothing else this is a test for me. Not only do I want to get more familiar with the faction I know least about, but I’m hoping to make my least favourite faction my… not least favourite faction. And if all else fails, the Gremlins and Ten Thunders factions are both still very tempting… ;)

Later,

Adrian

End of the Rainbow - Awards time!

It’s the end of 2014, I’m dying to talk about my plans for 2015 but before I do, there’s one more order of business to attend to. It’s time for the Great Rainbow Challenge Award Ceremony! When I started the Rainbow Challenge, this was the article I intended to finish with at the end of the year. The blog post in which I go through all the Masters I played and painted, and pick the ones that for good or bad, stood out from the rest in one way or another. This, of course, is all purely my opinion, so please keep that in mind when I start talking about Masters in terms of “Best” or “Worst”. ;)

Also, I’ve gone through 10 categories here but if there’s something you feel that I missed then by all means, ask in the comments section and I'll answer!

Raspy...coming to an X-wing game near you!

Biggest Surprise – Rasputina

I hated Rasputina for the longest time. From my experiences playing against her she was slow, easy to counter and seemed to have a pretty flat playstyle – just sit up the back and throw ice at the baddies before they engage your crew of mini-Olafs (my daughter’s been watching Frozen a lot lately). So using actually playing a game with her on my side was nothing short of a revelation. She was still slow, but her Armour of December Upgrade allowed her to avoid combat easily, removing what I felt was her biggest weakness. Also, as I said in my blog post on her she makes up for her lack of mobility with board control. The incredible range and reach of her spells gives the opponent few options for keeping out of danger, which limits their movements and gives Raspy a great tool for dealing with more mobile crews. Then there’s her paralyze-related tricks and some great crew support, all of which made her a far more interesting Master than what I ever expected.

Why throw fireballs when you can eat FAIRY FLOSS?!

Honourable mentions for this award go to Sonnia and Perdita. My initial feelings on Sonnia were actually similar to Rasputina – she’s a fragile caster who just throws fireballs and is stuffed once you get in melee with her. Fortunately there’s more depth to her than that and she can even pull some nice punches in melee. Plus summoning Witchling Stalkers is just awesome! 

Probably holds the record for the second largest swing in my opinion of a Master between editions. ;)

As for Perdita, there was a time when I swore I’d never play her, mainly because she came across as pretty flat in the previous edition. Fortunately she’s improved immensely, certainly enough for me to enjoy pushing her around the table!

A bureaucrat's dream...

Biggest Disappointment – Collodi

Previous edition balance issues aside, I always felt Collodi was an interesting Henchman in Malifaux v1.5. In a world of monsters he had little more than a pile of puppets to defend himself, and the ways in which he could turn those puppets into killing machines was pretty cool. In M2E Collodi has basically the same sort of playstyle. But what’s turned me off him is the book keeping. Of the Masters I played this year, nobody else made it such a chore to keep track of conditions, scrap markers, corpse markers, scheme markers, auras, and pulse ranges like Collodi does. It was just a pain to deal with, made all the worse by the feeling that I had to keep my crew bunched up for all the overlapping bonuses (a playstyle that I generally dislike).

Probably one of my more expensive crews. :P

Strongest Master - Dreamer

The little boy with his monstrous friend seems to have it all. Condition removal, push effects, debuffs, obey effects, healing, summoning, there seems to be very few gaps in his playstyle. In my game with him he proved to be a real powerhouse, and that was with me using his non-summoning Restless Dreams upgrade. However the internet seems to have decided that Dreamer’s summoner build (With Dreams of Pain) is the way to go. I’m not experienced enough with Dreamer to dispute that, but I certainly do like the fact that you can switch between the two distinct playstyles at will. 

In any case, Dreamer is damn solid. I’m always reluctant to think of a Master as “the best”, but Dreamer is definitely one that left an impression on me.

One of the few moments in which I thought "hey, Von Schill's not so bad!"

Weakest Master –Von Schill

“Weakest” is probably an unfair term. It’s not right to label Von Schill as a bad Master, because he’s actually pretty viable. But what I don’t like about him is that all he really brings to the table are ways to neutralise your opponents strengths (eg. Burning, poison, Wp-based attacks, straight damage etc). It’s a very reactive way to play, and to be honest I don’t rate it very highly. Sure the odd Friekorps Specialist to clear markers is great, but an entire crew of such models just doesn’t feel that interesting.

To be fair, I really need to give Ms T another run!

Honourable mention for this goes to Tara. With her new upgrades in Crossroads her base crew has definitely improved, but at least from my perspective I still feel like she’s fighting to play how she was designed to (ie. bury stuff, make things fast, unbury stuff etc). Her activation control and ability to get reactivate is great, but that seems to be all she does. So for a good Tara crew you inevitably end up taking Tara, then none of her in-theme models. Of course to be fair this is all based on theory and talking to others – I’ve not played Tara since before Gencon so at some point I really need to give her another go on the table!

I swear, he's gonna be a menace once his boxed set comes out...

Favourite Master (Gameplay) – Jack Daw

For some reason, my daughter Miranda has taken quite a liking to Jack Daw. It all started when I was talking to her about which Faction I could take to Gencon (because you know, 2-year old girls know all about this stuff) – a conversation that ended with her and I shouting “JACK DAW!” at each other for a good ten minutes;

It's all her fault.

As it turned out, playing with Jack Daw was at least as much fun as shouting his name at a small child. His disruptive style is difficult to neutralise (ie. condition removal doesn’t work because they’re upgrades), he can strip cards from your opponent’s hand and he comes with an array of movement tricks that he can use to great effect against both his own models and the opponents crew.

She's not pleased at all about losing this award...

As an Outcast Master he gets access to a great mix of models with their own wacky playstyles, which has been a big appeal for me in my games with the Faction. And on top of that, like most utcast Masters he also has his Tormented – a pile of models from other factions that he can bring in at will. The good old Nurse has been the standout powerhouse with her Take Your Meds spell, but of the ones I tried my favourite might be Papa Loco – the crazy old exploding man that Jack just loves to push around. ;)

In any case, Jack’s proven to be a lot of fun for me. So it’s almost a pity that my time with the Outcasts (and by extension, Jack Daw) comes to a close with the end of this year.

Protip: Buy more Steam Arachnids. 

Least Favourite Master (Gameplay) – Ramos

Generally the Masters that have interested me the least are those with a limited playstyle. The edition change from 1.5 to M2E improved a lot of Masters and added some much needed depth to others, but some kind of just missed their chance for the latter. This year I labelled a few Masters with the “simplistic” tag (ie. not alot of tricks or variety in playstyle), which at least for me dooms them to a style of gameplay that I generally don't enjoy as much as other Masters. Of those however, there could only be one at the bottom, and it wasn't hard to give that dubious honour to Ramos.

While I’ve no problem playing against him, I just don’t like playing with Ramos. All he seems to do is summon spiders. Sure he can do other things but the bit I liked most about him (Detonating said spiders) still requires the tome Ramos would want for his Spider summoning and ultimately, every time I’d do something different I feel like I should be summoning spiders instead.

Perhaps my only LJ crew being undead was a little prophetic?

Easiest crew to figure out – Lady Justice

Love her or loathe her, it doesn’t take long to figure out how Lady Justice is supposed to work in-game. She hits stuff hard, heals herself if needed and possibly boosts her crew with Inspiring Swordplay. The toughest thing about her is that her average Df makes her easy to hit, so some care needs to be taken not to let her get overwhelmed in melee. Other than that, she’s a piece of cake to understand. :P

You've already seen Jack Daw, so here's another picture of Miranda instead...

Hardest crew to figure out – Jack Daw

I was originally going to give this to Leveticus and his crazy bury/waif mechanics but actually, I feel for me, the title belongs to Jack Daw. On the surface, Jack Daw is not overly difficult to figure out. You pass out Tormented, place Curses on the key threats and generally be a pain to your opponents crew while you achieve your own objectives. But there is a lot of depth to Jack Daw that isn’t immediately obvious when you first look at him. It’s hard to explain until you see it in action yourself, but the sheer variety of choice in movement effects and the need to maintain Line of Sight between relevant models with their auras and pulses force you to put a lot of thought into how you play each turn. I’ve played around 8-10 games with Jack Daw in 2014, more than any other Master this year, and I still feel like I’ve barely gotten a grip on the depths of his playstyle. He’s not an easy Master to, well, master, for me that was one of his big appeals for me!

My only regret is that the horse isn't a zebra. 

Favorite Crew (Paint-job) - McCabe

This is a tough one, since there are quite a few crews that I’m really proud of. I’ve always liked my Nightmare Dreamer crew, not to mention Neverdita and probably my favorite non-pink crew; the Mei Feng Cake Crew. If I had to pick a favorite though, I guess it would have to be McCabe and his Adventurers Guild. As a treasure hunter I wanted McCabe and his lackeys to actually look as though they’ve been out in the wilderness, plundering tombs and most importantly, with more than enough gear to do so.

So many backpacks...

The conversions weren’t difficult but I did need to delve through my bits box for the required additions. There’s bits from at least half a dozen kits (all of them Warhammer Fantasy/40k related) and while the basing was my usual “enchanted forest”, I added some plastic diamonds I once collected off the tables at a friend’s wedding. ;) All in all, I was very happy with the end result. They were a fun crew to build but most importantly, they look great on the table top!

Yin is the exception. It's impossible for her NOT to look awesome. 

Least Favourite Crew (Paint Job) – Yan Lo

While there’s some crews I’m proud of and some I’m at least satisfied with, I have to admit that of the crews I’ve painted, there are the odd few where I feel like I missed the mark or at the very least, are really starting to look dated compared with my more recent work. Leveticus is a good example of the latter, mainly because I painted his crew near the end of my “neon pink” phase. And as much as I love my Marcus model, his crew would also fall into the dated category, certainly enough for me to want to rebuy the crew and start again.

It says "soup" but you know what? I really don't care anymore. :(

But the crew I’m probably most disappointed by is Yan Lo. With Yan Lo’s crew I tried going for something different to my usual approach – an old, rusted look with muted greens and browns rather than my usual tendency toward pink or occasionally other bright colours. Technically the crew looks fine, as they certainly should be given the amount of time I putting into them! But the end result just doesn’t pop like I was hoping it would. With hindsight, I feel like I should have just stuck with my usual pink scheme. In fact if I take him up more regularly, I’ll probably buy another crew to repaint. Either that, or find some proxies that are altogether less delicate!

One day, Shlong, one day...

The one that got away - Shenlong

So as you all know, I didn’t get quite as far into my Rainbow Challenge as I’d been hoping. All in all I missed out on playing 9 Masters (including Colette, the only one of those I had a painted crew for). The question then, is which of those nine do I wish I could have had a chance to paint and play in 2014? Well for me there is only one answer, and that’s Shenlong.

At least on paper I quite like Shenlong’s ability to customise his playstyle from turn to turn, not to mention how he supports his crew the most ubiquitous yet underappreciated of actions – Focus and Defensive Stance. I’m also quite partial to the monk archeotype – there’s something about using your own bare hands (or a bo) in a fight when everyone else has swords and guns that’s so incredibly a bad ass. Of the kits that are unreleased, Shenlong’s is the one I’m most looking forward to. In fact once he’s available, I may even put my 2015 plans on hold to get him on the table. :)

I couldn't finish this challenge without one more pic of my Cake crew!

Epilogue

Well, that’s it then. 2014 is done and with it my focus on the Rainbow Challenge. Like I said before I still hope to get around to the crews I missed, but for now it’s time to move on and find another goal to focus on.

So do I feel this Rainbow Challenge was a success? Absolutely. This challenge was never just about getting every Master painted and on the table. To employ an overused cliché, It was much more about the journey. I wanted to give each Master a fair go, put aside preconceived notions, see how they really perform on the table and actually understand how they really work. Most importantly though, I wanted to find Masters with more depth that I’d initially expected them to have. The perfect example of this were those Masters I’d mentioned in the “Most Surprising” Category – Rasputina, Sonnia and Perdita. I’ve never thought much of all three, but having actually played them on the table I’ve found that they’re actually really fun in their own ways. In the same sense there were losers (Collodi, Von Schill, Ramos), but all in all I feel as though this Challenge was a great success!

Pandora deserves a  pic too, because she'll hurt me if I don't at least mention her...

So with the Rainbow Challenge finished with, what’s next? Well I’ll be focussing on just one Faction for 2015, but that’s for my next blog. Stay tuned… ;)

Happy New Year,

Adrian 

Huggy says SMILE!!!

Those Left Behind - Molly, Leveticus, Von Schill

While the Rainbow Challenge is finished for 2014, there were still half a dozen Masters I had played but not written about. It felt a little unfair to ignore those Masters when all the others got a full article devoted to my experience with them, so I thought I’d at least play a bit of catch up and write about them here! Obviously I’m not going to go into the same detail as I did with the others, but I thought you’d at least like to know what I thought of the final 6 Masters I played in 2014!

NOTE: Because this wound up being a 3000 word post I decided to divide it into two articles. The first will be devoted to Molly, Leveticus and Von Schill while the second will address Jack Daw, Outcast Misaki and Hamelin. Part two should be available in the next day or two!

My Molly starter was originally a gift from my old Brisbane group when I moved to Perth - thanks guys!

Molly

First things first – I quite like the choice of crew types Molly has between her two limited upgrades – Forgotten Life and Forgotten Path. It makes me feel as though she’s got a lot of replayability as to the type of crew she can take. The reality might not be so great – they’re practically the same aside from one keyword (Spirits of Horrors), so how drastically her playstyle changes will probably depend on how different the spirit/horror models are from each other.

The game I played with Molly wound up being a three-way against a Ramos and Collodi crew. With Turf-war style mission I went for Molly with Yin, the Necrotic Machine, Bete Noire, a Rotten Belle and a Necropunk. That last minion was purely taken to achieve Deliver a Message, and it didn’t disappoint - Reactivating him with Imbue Vigor gave me an easy 2VP on turn 1. With my crew moving quickly up to a commanding position on the Turf War marker it didn’t take long for it to become a 2v1 match, with Molly attempting to hold off both crews over the course of the game. I eventually lost Molly herself but with the models she summoned and the VPs gathered, I still tied for the win at 5VP.

With both crews making use of hordes of cheap minions this seemed like the ideal situation for Molly’s unusual summoning style, and that certainly proved to be the case. The Punk Zombies summoned from The Ones Left Behind utterly devastated Collodi’s puppet swarm and while the Steam Arachnids were immune to the spells pulse damage, it was nevertheless effective in keeping Ramos at bay too.

 The summoned punk zombies take their toll on the Collodi and Ramos crews...

The Necrotic Machine didn’t do a lot in this game, although for a 2SS totem I wasn’t expecting much anyway! Even with Insignificant, as a minion it was able to help me hold my Turf War marker for a few turns, plus it got in the way of a flanking Joss (who was otherwise out to get Molly). Near the start of the game its (0) Brethren action was great of course. It required a crow to work (or a corpse, not that there’d be one around on turn 1), but the 4” push really helped get my crew up the field and into a commanding position to dominate the Turf War Marker.

One thing that became clear throughout the game was aside from the Necrotic Machine, Molly really didn’t have a use for her corpse counters. This almost seems a pity, since she can generate them very easily (Summoning a model away from the enemy will essentially create a corpse counter for her). For that reason I feel like it’s worth including some option for using all those corpses. Molly already has a lot of great (0) actions so Maniacal Laugh probably out, but Corpse Bloat and Spare Parts both have potential, especially since Molly’s likely to have plenty of corpses clumped together or around enemy models. Other corpse-utilising models might work too, although Molly’s likely to hog all the good crows in your hand.

While I’d acknowledge that this game went pretty well for Molly, I’m still undecided as to whether I really like Molly’s playstyle. She’s a summoner of course – something I’ve already said I’m not keen on. Her crew support and debuff attacks are great though, so I sort of feel like the jury is still out on Molly.

You can tell the crew's age by how vivid the pink is!

Leveticus

My game with Leveticus was against local Paul with his new McCabe crew, and it was an unmitigated bloodbath. Levi himself just destroyed one target after another while the Ashes and Dust bulldozed up a flank, killing everything in it’s path before planting the required scheme markers for Breakthrough. After the game, I was left with no doubt that Leveticus is a powerhouse and he’s certainly able to lay the smackdown on just about anything that gets in his reach. However that said, I’m still not sure I like him, and I think my reservations about him all come down to the Hollow Waifs.

The Hollow Waifs have a big influence on how Levi plays. Most obviously their existence is essential to keeping Levi alive, thanks to Eternal Shackles. But if you position them right it also gives him some excellent mobility, letting him unbury himself where his skills are needed the most. Levi can only summon one per turn so long as he sacrifices himself, so while he can always replace the Waif he unburies to at the end of a turn, he can’t replace the ones his opponent kills. From a balance perspective this makes Leveticus very killable, which is a refreshing change compared with how he tended to be in v1.5. Although just like Voldemort, it requires his enemies to go on a bit of a “quest” to kill the Waifs before tackling Levi proper.

The requirement for a 6SS model to bodyguard the Waifs definitely has a large influence on crew design. In one sense it’s not a big issue, since in most games you’ll want a few half-decent models to back Levi up anyway. However it does mean that you can’t hide a waif on a flank somewhere, and that your opponent can prevent Levi unburing next to one by killing or pushing the 6SS model out of range. It’s a weakness that can be mitigated, sure, but it’s a weakness nevertheless, and quite an obvious one at that.

 They might look like ass, but god damn they're nasty. 

I must admit that it’s something that makes me a little uncomfortable using Levi. With enough practice I’m sure I could mitigate the risks that those Waifs present, but I feel like a good enough opponent will have little trouble picking those Waifs off unless I play conservatively with them (which in turn limits Levi’s effectiveness). So overall then, Levi is good. But I don’t think his playstyle is one I enjoy.

Yes most of them are converted. No I can't help myself. ;)

Von Schill

Of all the Outcasts, Von Schill was the one I was least interested in. My Kirai game against local Chris, aka Kadeton (who was using Von Schill) did not improve my opinion of him either – he seemed like a Jack of all Trades, with rules that lacked a sense of purpose or clear strategy for him to adopt.

I ended up playing two games with Von Schill. In the first my fears seemed to be confirmed. Von Schill and his crew sort of flailed about uselessly, able to neutralise my opponents offensive abilities but otherwise ill-equipped to do much more than that. In my second game I veered away slightly from Von Schill’s in-theme crew and added some hard hitting elements like Bishop and Johan. Against Hoffman, the flexibility of Bishop in particular complemented Von Schill’s crew perfectly, especially with his push effect able to line up targets for Von Schill to finish off. Perhaps all the anti-construct, armour ignoring tricks made facing Hoffman somewhat easier than it should have been, but it still felt as though the additional hitting power gave Von Schill what he needed to work well. The Man himself even managed to look useful, Finish the Cur worked supremely well with a high-damage model around and Augmented jump kept him mobile, able to both chase down key targets and keeep himself out of danger.

The crew I used vs Hoffman - Gooo Bishop!

In the end, it seems to me that while Von Schill remains a Jack of Trades, he is first and foremost a crew Support Master, who works best while close to the bulk of his crew. Push effects like Bishops also help a lot, since it gives him a better chance to use his more damaging attack, the clockwork seeker, against enemy models.

As for the crews paint job, I’m kind of okay with it. I’m really happy with Von Schill (whom I converted with a top hat and massive-ass gun), Lazarus and more recently, Hannah, but the rest feel a little plain. The paint job itself is alright, although I think they’d benefit with a little more battle damage like I’ve done with my two “robot” Freikorps. 

My recently finished (and somewhat evil) Hannah. :)

Big Trouble in Little Malifaux - Yan Lo

Yeah, so it’s been another few weeks since my last blog post. I can’t say I’m entirely happy with this pace but in a sense it can’t be helped – real life, as always is getting in the way and I’ve found myself with limited free time to spend on an ever-increasing number of responsibilities. Painting and writing for the blog has unfortunately taken a back seat. I’m still intent on catching up with this blog (somehow!) but the Rainbow Challenge is definitely living up to its name! I’m not yet ready to throw in the towel though, so this isn’t over yet, not by a long shot!

Anyway, this blog post is all about Lo Pan Yan Lo and in particular, my game against local Charles with Pandora! Yan Lo is a crew I’ve only played against once in M2E (in my game with Dreamer against Paul). Paul was only just getting into grips with Mr Lo himself so while I did get to see some of his tricks as an opponent, Yan Lo unfortunately never got to realise his full potentiual before getting eaten by Lord Chompy Bits. On the plus side however, it did give me a starting point from which I got a few ideas on what I wanted to try myself.

It took ages, but it was worth the time spent. :)

The Paint Job

It’s interesting in itself that I’m talking about Yan Lo right after Kirai because in a sense, my experience in building both crews were quite opposite. As I said in the last blog post, your average Kirai crew seems to involve painting A LOT of models – 7 of the required ones don’t even have a SS cost attached! But the positive was that at least the spirits were easy to paint and in most cases, easy to assemble too. Yan Lo, both for better and worse, was a different beast altogether.

Yan Lo has a very defined set of models for his crew. After the buying the starter crew you really only need the three Ancestors (Izamu/Yin/Toshiro) for 9 models, then MAYBE a few other cheap Resser minions to help with certain Strategies and Schemes. So the required model count is quite respectable, especially for a Resurrectionist crew. The negative is that being some of the first plastic models released by Wyrd, Yan Lo’s crew presents some, uh, interesting challenges to your average gamer! First there’s the ridiculously small and easy to lose Yan Lo’s beard, a piece that’s got its own exclamation (“By Yan Lo’s Beard!”) and is probably one step away from developing its own meme. But that’s not the end of it. Spindly bits seem to be a common part of the crew, especially the Ashigaru, so even once they’re assembled the models seem to be quite fragile and difficult to store safely. Certainly my Battlefoam Breach Bag is ill equipped to hold most of Yan Lo’s crew!

Finally there’s the painting of Yan Lo’s crew. Now while they’re not as simple to paint as Kirai’s Spirits, they’re probably about average in painting difficulty compared to other crews. Unfortunately for me I decided to go with a rusted, old look to the crew. It was an approach I wasn’t entirely familiar with and as a result, it took me quite a while to figure out. All in all, it took me close to TWO MONTHS to complete Yan Lo. Not good when I’m working to a deadline for this Rainbow Challenge!

Anyway, despite all this I must admit I’m satisfied with the end product. Yan Lo’s crew seem to look the part and it gave me another chance to use the great transparent bases that Wyrd supplies! In pictures you’ll see that I’ve gone with green but at the moment the bases are temporarily fixed to the inserts. The green just feels a little to rich for the crew’s colour scheme, so I’m first hoping to try the recently released (?)“Rootbeer” bases before settling on a colour.

The Game

45SS, Standard Deployment

Strategy: Squatter’s Rights

Schemes:
- Line in the Sand
- Breakthrough
- Assassinate
- Spring Trap
- Murder Protege

The List

Yan Lo
- Reliquary
- Brutal Khalkhara
Toshiro
- Command the Graves
Chiaki
- Pull of the Grave
Yin
- Unnerving Aura
Soul Porter
Nurse
2x Canine Remains

For this game I diverged a little from my usual practice of taking the starter box plus some extras – I figured the Ashigaru should be easy enough to summon with Toshiro later in the game. It also gave me room to fit in some of the models I really wanted to try, specifically Yin but also the Nurse, who’s ability to heal and paralyse a friendly model can be downright brutal with a model that can remove conditions (Chiaki). The Canine remains were there mostly to act as flankers and claim unguarded Squatters Rights markers, but I also figured their ability to dig up corpses would help me summon some Ashigaru, cards allowing.

I have to admit I’ve always been a bit anti-Toshiro in the past, but after hearing other people’s opinion of him and reading his card, I found that I couldn’t say no to his inclusion. He really is a great piece. The notable exclusion in this crew is, of course, Izamu. To be honest I mainly decided against taking him because after using him with Kirai, I already know he’s a great model. I didn’t feel the need to prove that again with Yan Lo, especially when his exclusion allowed me to take models I really wanted to try instead (ie. Yin!).

For upgrades I went with what I thought was most appropriate. Toshiro got Command the Graves for the summoning, while Chiaki got Pull of the Grave for the very useful debuff attack it gives. Unnerving Aura seemed appropriate for Yin, who’s very well equipped for keeping models within her melee range. Yan Lo’s upgrades were the trickiest of course. Reliquary for the chance to resummon an Ancestor seemed too good not to pass up and thinking ahead to how I might spend Yan Lo’s Chi, I decided on Brutal Khalkhara to give him some additional melee potential. 

The schemes I chose were Assassinate (Pandora) and Murder Protégé (Coppelius)

Charles' crew - I particularly like Candy. ;)

The Result

Charles had taken a Pandora crew basically consisting of the boxed set (Pandy, Sorrow, Poltergeist, Candy and Kade), plus an Insidious Madness, Teddy and Coppelius.

Setup saw both crews deploying roughly in the middle, with the option of a large building near the centre to hide behind. In the first turn, between Toshiro and the Soul Porter, Yan Lo’s entire crew was able to move up quite quickly and take position near the centre, ready to strike at the enemy should they start going for the central objectives. By comparison, Charles advanced his crew cautiously, unsure of how dangerous the opposing crew might be. This proved to be to his detriment, as I took multiple squatters rights markers early and the crew carved through Pandora’s models as they moved in piecemeal. Yin, to her credit took the brunt of the opposing attacks yet survived the entire game, proving to be a major thorn in Charles’s side right up until the end. Yan Lo did his best to Lightning Dance in and out of danger, helping to take out Coppelius and a few other models before the game ended. This was a comfortable win for Yan Lo, although to be fair it was in no small part thanks to Charles not having fully grasped the intricacies of playing a Pandora crew!

 End of Turn 1 - Yin leads the charge as Pandy's crew hangs back. 

Post-game Thoughts

One of the decisions I made early on in this game was that I didn’t want to just sit on Yan Lo’s Chi to benefit from the higher Ca and (if I’d taken the upgrade) boost his Df and Wp from a Fortify the Spirit trigger. Paul had tried that in our Dreamer vs Yan Lo game and at least from my perspective, it really didn’t work out for him. So instead I chose to burn Yan’s Chi whenever I could to start gaining Ascendant upgrades. Unfortunately I got few opportunities to generate more than one Chi per turn until the end of the game, so I only got as far as Ash and Spirit Ascendant before the game finished. On reflection, with so few Chi coming in I probably could have saved my Chi after getting the first Ascendant upgrade, and instead used it to both improve my Ca-based actions and to use his Transcendence action. Speaking of which…

Handing out Armour +2 with Transcendence might not have been that useful against Pandora (what with Misery and all), but it’s otherwise a great buff to hand out. In fact, looking back it seems that I didn’t even try using what is actually a major part of his playstyle – his crew support. Transcendence (for armour) and Instil Youth (for healing) would both be very effective in keeping your crew alive. In fact, the Spirit characteristic given out by Transcendence synergises The Spirit Ascendant’s Fury of the Yomi Action, which grants a free (1) action to up to three friendly spirits. Altogether that seems to make Yan Lo a very effective crew support Master.

Turn 2: Both crews consolidate their position in a standoff between the Squatter's Rights markers.  

I did try the Brutal Khakkhara upgrade in this game and while the minimum 3 damage was nice, in practice it feels a bit average compared to Yan’s usual Spirit Barrage attack. Spirit Barrage may have the same attack value (5) and a worse damage profile (2/3/4), but with the Chi condition the attack stat can be bumped up to 8, plus you can gain yet more Chi with it’s built in trigger (though it does require either dealing severe damage or killing the target). For 1SS Brutal Khakkhara is certainly not a bad upgrade. The damage on disengaging rule, plus the fact that it gets around anti-Ca models makes it worth throwing in. But I suspect its real value comes into play when Yan acquires the Bone Ascendent upgrade (for Hunpo Assault and an ass-load of attacks).

If you've been keeping up with my blog you should have figured out by now that I have a particular fondness for mobility-based tricks, and Yan Lo's crew was certainly not without them either, two of which were Toshiro's War Fan and the Soul Porter's Empower Ancestor (below). In this game I also enjoyed using Yan Lo's Lightning Dance to isolate enemy models by swapping them into the middle of my crew (specifically right next to Yin). It potentially exposes Yan Lo to counter-attack though, which was Paul's downfall when I played his against his Yan Lo crew with Dreamer. So you need to be careful about where he ends up and if he can be pulled back to safety (either with his own AP, the Soul Porter or with help from a Rotten Belle).

While I did take Reliquary on Yan Lo to resummon my Ancestors, in practice it never came into use since none of them died. Still, it makes for an interesting contrast to most other summoners of the game. It plays into his preference for keeping his crew alive rather than replacing nameless fodder with more nameless fodder. Instead, the crew’s “nameless fodder” summoning came from Toshiro and his Command the Graves upgrade. Now in some crews I can see Toshiro’s summoning potential to be not that great, particularly when he’d compete for resources with a more dedicated summoning Master. Nicodem’s the classic example, of course, but even summoners like Kirai or Molly would prefer to keep any high crows for their own summoning. However summoning seems to be a secondary concern for Yan Lo and even when he’s using Rebuild Corpus he requires a Tome, not the Crow Toshiro needs. In this game Toshiro only summoned one Ashigaru, with help from a corpse dropped by a Canine Remains – not a lot but it was still well worth the effort and it certainly made him that much more useful.

Coppelius attempts to take down Yan while a Canine Remains sacrifices himself to hold up Teddy

As for Toshiro himself, much like Iggy he’s one of those models who took a while for me to warm up to. Part of the reason for this was that I didn’t like his model that much but for the most part, I’d never read his stat card in any detail! Toshiro has some good resilience and a nice attack with his Ancestral Katana, but his real strength comes from the buffs he gives to the Minions around him. Daimyo and his (0) Daimyo’s Price action will both dramatically improve the melee potential of any Minions within 6”, and the ability to give Fast (and a 4” push, with the trigger) to a friendly minion with War Fan was something I got a lot of use out of. Specifically it helped me to bringing a summoned Ashigaru into combat, and it sped up a canine remains for flanking duties after dropping his corpse marker in turn 1. With his “in theme” Master he does seem to run slightly counter to Yan Lo’s fondness for Ancestors (none of whom are minions). So similar to other Masters like McCabe (with his Badge of Speed vs Promises upgrades), it’s a matter of striking a balance between Yan Lo’s and Toshiro’s competing synergies.

The Soul Porter is one of those Totems that seems almost an auto-include for their Master. There's just so much that he offers Yan Lo's crew that I honestly don't think you could find a better alternative for 3SS. For that bargain price, the Soul Porter prevents Yan losing his Chi to enemy condition removal, can give +1 Chi to Ancestors when he damages the enemy with his high Ml Bladed Spear attack, pushes friendly Ancestors around with Empower Ancestor and if all else fails, can sacrifice himself to give an Ancestor +1 Chi. His only issue is his relative frailty but otherwise, there's nothing on his card that Yan Lo won't love to have in his crew. 

Yin, I must admit, was great fun. She never did much damage for her cost, but her resilience was just incredible, thanks in no small part to the negative flips against her granted by Mass of Viscera.  Together with Ml 6 and Wicked, she was essentially like glue – once you got her engaged with something, that model was going to have trouble getting away (push and place effects aside, of course). For that reason, Unnerving Aura was a natural fit for her, adding some nice damage to what is otherwise a relatively low-damage model. Yin’s (0) action, Gnawing Fear proved to be pretty strong as well. It’s got a good Ca value, no suit requirement and the negative flip to Wp and Ca can mess with both Casters and basically anyone engaged with Yin (thanks to her Terrifying).

Chiaki’s Pull of the Grave upgrade proved to be very useful. Any attack that hands out slow is pretty respectable in its own right, especially when it can be recast on a trigger. But its real value is that it gives Chiaki something useful to do when she’s not spending her AP on Memories Past (for condition removal) or Purity (for the push pulse). Both of those might be great actions, but they’re also a bit situational and aren’t actions you’d see her doing every single turn IMO. So while Pull of the Grave is not an upgrade that you’d specifically take Chiaki for, if you have a spare Soulstone then it is something that ensures she remains useful throughout the game.

Thanks to some ridiculous flipping, this pair somehow managed to take down Kade...

Summary

My initial impression of Yan Lo as a Master was that he played like a block of putty - he starts out pretty generic but with his Chi and Ascendant upgrades he can mould himself into one of a number of different roles. After my game with him I think the clay analogy holds true, but I’m also getting a better idea of what he is, and what he can become.

At his simplest, Yan Lo is a support Master. He can use Lightning Dance for pulling enemy models out of position and then with the help of Transcendence and Instil Youth, can bolster the resilience of his crew and play the attrition game very well. This support aspect can be further improved by Spirit Ascendant (for an obey-like effect on spirits, including those affected by Transcendence) and Ash Ascendant (with the direct anti-movement debuff from Terracotta Curse). His resilience is merely average to start with, but that improves as the game goes on as he accumulates Chi, both for Fortify the Spirit and to gain the Ash and Spirit Ascendant. In terms of damage output he starts off kind of average but again, Brutal Khakkhara and Bone Ascendant upgrades give him the chance to deal a lot of direct damage, if he’s willing to burn the Chi for it.

Improving each of these aspects requires Yan to accumulate and spend Chi, but unless you’re deliberately throwing fodder into the enemy (possibly with some help from the Maniacal Laugh upgrade?) actually generating enough Chi to fully power Yan Lo up is both time consuming and difficult. So at some point, you need to make decisions about what you want Yan to do (Support? Melee? Resiliance?) and use what Chi you have to adapt Yan to that role you need him for.

The whole Chi dynamic even goes as far as forcing Yan Lo to make some tricky decisions about who to use in his crew. Yan’s easiest way to generate Chi is to lose friendly models to enemy attacks, which encourages you to take a crew of cheap minions. But his Ancestor and support synergy pushes Yan toward taking big expensive models that he can buff and resummon. Focusing on one of these crew builds seems to be to Yan Lo’s detriment – you’ll either have lots of Chi but limited opportunities to benefit from it, or a very elite crew to buff but not enough Chi to do it. You definitely need to strike a balance between the two styles.

End of game: The remnants of Pandy's crew fare off against Yan and Friends. 

Anyway, this has gone on for long enough. Overall I have to say I quite enjoyed Yan Lo’s playstyle. His Chi dynamic introduces a degree of complexibility that requires getting used to but once you get your head around it, Yan seems to be a very flexible support Master who can adapt himself to a number of different roles on the fly. He lacks the all-out summoning that other Resurrectionist Masters can achieve, but at least in my books that’s a good thing. As per my Kirai article I realise it’s a powerful mechanic, I’m just not entirely comfortable with the resources usually needed to summon all those models.

Until next time,

Adrian