So closing out day 2, my first ever brawl and two bigger point games, how did I do, well lets see.
Game 1 - Dave - Seamus & Kirai vs Nicodem & Kirai
Brawl
Shared Destroy the Evidence
Crews
Me - Seamus, Kirai, 5 Seishin, 2 crooked men, drowned, dead rider, graveyard spirit, lost love, Datsu Ba, Gaki, Avatar Seamus
Dave - Nicodem, Kirai, 4 canine remains, desperate merc, Sebastian, Dead Rider, Graveyard Spirit, Lost Love, 2 insidious madness, drowned
My strategies
Stake a Claim
Bodyguard (Kirai)
My opponents strategies
Stake a Claim
Assassinate (Seamus)
Game Summary & Outcome
After watching Dave slaughter four canines and a merc in two activations to get himself five corpses and five Seishin, I had to wonder what was coming next and wasn't surprised when two insidious madness ran up either flank to grab objectives. A perfectly thought out strategy that would allow Dave to capitalise in turn 2 unless I could get the drop on those outriders.
We both linked the graveyard spirit to our dead riders and then piled the rest of our minions on towards the centre evidence marker.
Turn 2 saw Dave win initiative and he immediate jumped on one evidence marker before leaping that madness forward for the evidence marker in my deployment zone. I skilled that with a couple of crooked men's eyeing little point in stopping the second, given how many minions were almost directly behind it.
I spent a lot of turn two trying to neautralise two threats, the dead rider and the drowned. Because of the way I had Kirai deployed if Dave had gotten off riptide, even once, it would have of devastated her Seishin and I wanted it dead to avoid that happening now or insusbsequent turns, where I might not have Seishin beacon raised. I was eventually forced to sent Datsu in and she did a good job of paralysing and in the next turn killing the drowned before she got totally mobbed by raised punk zombies and flesh constructs. I was desperate to get initiative and either pull her out, or when my cards failed me to get her two action two strike all combatants within 2" off, the damaged she might have done would have made up for me wasting her but sadly I lost that initiative as well.
Meanwhile both my dead rider and Seamus were taking the brunt of it with summoned Shikome needing to taken out to clear a path to my objectives. I was whittled down of turns two and three with Dave strengthening his position in the centre.
The final swan song came when Seamus bought it, Kirai was forced to flee and only the timely death of a Shikome allowed the dead rider to break through. We both had our objectives in the centre, Dave had broken though to get his objective in my deployment zone and his stake a claim, he was on ten VPs and I think he was a little gracious in letting my lost love get my claim and my dead rider trying to take out his lost love to get the evidence marker in his deployment zone. Unfortunately for me his lost love out up a valiant fight and denied me the APs I needed to get that last objective.
In the end it was a 10-7 loss to me, but still a fantastic game.
Learnings
Where to start, I certainly learnt a lot by playing a very experienced Resser player, thanks to Dave for the many lessons.
- Graveyard Spirit cannot link to Seamus, he's not undead and I really should learn to read my cards better!
- When it comes to remembering how many actions Kirai has taken there's nothing like the bingo dabber approach. Simply put a little mark on the back of the card next to the entries used and only wipe off when it's her next activation - it quickly reminded me if I'd put spirit and pitiful back on the her as part of her two zero and two one actions
- Nicodem and Kirai can effectively double dip if you start with a pool of canine remains, which you slaughter within range of both. Nicodem gets corpses and Kiri get Seishin
- A defensive stance flip doesn't have to accept the highest card, you can use defensive stance on a minion you intend to kill, flip three cards and take the lowest, thereby ensuring their fate
- Insidious madness's can be excellent objective grabbers in a large sized battle, they are very fast spirits
Game 2 - Peter - Collette vs Seamus
Shared Claim Jump
Crews
Seamus, Avatar Seamus, 3 drowned, 3 crooked men, rotten belle
Colette, Cassandra, performer and mannequin , 2 coryphee, 2 mechanical doves
My strategies
Kill Protégée (Cassandra)
Eye for an Eye
My opponents strategies
Perfect Performance (I think)
Game Summary & Outcome
I went into this game a little to trigger happy with the simple plan of shooting up those showgirls when they made their move on the claim jump. The drowned lead the way with the crooked men branching off slightly to act as a second wave, and Seamus and the belle following, ready to help out where they could.
The coryphee duet soon came bouncing into my lines forcing me to sacrifice two drowned over a couple of turns but every time I did damaged they old find a way to pass it on to another girl or spin just out of range.
Seamus came up a and made sure to get his avatar requirements off before shooting the performer. In return the drowned received a couple of mechanical dove hand grenades to the face, felling a second for very little advantage.
I think I must have taken the bate because my crooked men and Seamus became embroiled in a slug rest near the left side of the board whilst Cassandra and a mannequin were able to own what few models I'd been able to send peace meal towards the claim jump.
In the end I got eye for an eye off but lost out on the claim jump. Peter got off his scheme for a 6-2 loss for me.
Learnings
- Coryphee Duet is a tough model to combat. I'd tried to pin it in combat only to have it swapped out with another showgirl and I'd tried to one shot it with Seamus, neither had worked, if only I could have gone avatar on that bad girl
- Drowned aren't the solution against this crew, they're slow and because the crew doesn't need to bunch up, its better to invest in something different next time, probably into punk zombies
- Mechanical doves make excellent hand grenades, I need to look out for this tactic next time
- Next time I go up against Colette, remember she can take time to play, it's best to get on with your objective, as a activation can eat into your time limit
Game 3 - Todd - Nicodem vs Kirai
Shared Treasure Hunt
Crews
Kirai, 5 Seishin, canine remains, Lost Love, Datsu Ba, 2 drowned.
Nicodem, rotten belle, 2 punk samurai, 2 canine remains, dead rider, graveyard spirit
My strategies
Breakthrough
Exterminate (undead) - what was I thinking?...
My opponents strategies
Holdout
Game Summary & Outcome
With this being the Gencon variant I was expecting a blood bath and I wanted to try out some different tactics. With the drowned managing to scare me so much in game one and not really doing me any favours in game two, I decided to give them one more outing.
When Todd lunged at the treasure with canine remains and threatened to own anything that was set on them with his dead rider, I sent in the drowned and a shikome to see what could be done. The Shikome killed the dogs in no small order but it was soon set upon by the dead rider. My drowned were hit hard by Nicodems decay, with one falling and the other following in turn two for little or nothing in return.
I progressively traded up Seishin for another Shikome and Ikiryo (twice) but was getting to bogged down trying to hold the treasure. With Kirai exposed and no way to hold the treasure I lunged the Shikome for Todds deployment zone and pulled Kirai back.
In the end a couple of belle lures and a punk zombie just finished my Shikome, in Todds deployment zone, just as time was called, leaving Kirai with the lost love and very little else to show for it.
A 6-0 loss to me and my thanks to Todd for going over a lot of Nicodems tactics during the game.
Learnings
- The cb bonus that Nicodems bolster undead spell grants can turn any run of the mill minion into a one man killing machine
- I really like punk zombies, I need some!
- Nicodem's decay spell is lethal on drowned and against bunched up spirits in general. I need to find a way to combat or avoid long range magical blast damage.
Final Thoughts
Well Cancon was certainly an experience and a good one at that. It was a fantastic learning curve and a great opportunity to play against some of the best in Australia. I still have a long way to go before I'm of that caliber.
Would I do it again? Well in short, if tickets went on sale tomorrow, I'd be there front and centre, absolutely no doubt about it. Playing in an exhibition environment, rather than a dedicated tourney gave me an opportunity to catchup with friends, make some new ones, get some ideas for new boards and of course make some arbitrary purchases at the great many stands available.
It's also a slice of a life I think some gamers can take for granted. The great distances mean I'm rarely if ever going to be able to attend a GenCon, but Cancon at least gives me a flavour of what such an event must be like, and it feels good to be supporting something that will continue to grow and show off the best that Australia has to offer the gaming scene.
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