Thursday 28 February 2013

February 2013 - My Malifaux Roundup

Another month done already - surely not! It's been another frantic month on the hobby front, despite promises to slow it down, when you get inspired, you just have to jump on it. So how well did I do in my goal setting this month, well lets see:

Achievement - Unlocked - The ultimate beginners board experiment
Inspiration, or a compulsive madness overtook me in the middle of the month, when a combination of a tournament board i'd seen and idle hands lead to me designing, at least on paper, the ultimate Malifaux beginners board. I promptly got stuck in, dusting off some of my hoardings and buying some truly nerdy airfix kits from Ebay, with the intention of building the ultimate beginners board. Although I have until July to finish these boards, I'm hoping for continued progress next month.




Achievement - Locked - Paint up Izamu
I set myself the goal of painting up my first Malifaux model this month, Izamu. As I start to head into the zombie and undead side of the faction, where skin tones and outfits are less filigree and more dirty and bloodstained, I'm starting to feel a bit more comfortable that I could paint these minis.

So how did I do? Well Izamu sits undercoated on my paint station, so not very well would be the answer there...




Achievement - Unlocked - Gaining Grounds 2013 experience
I wanted to get some exposure to gaining grounds 2013, so I could consider if it was going to have any affect on the tournament I'm planning to run later in the year. I also wanted to know if there were any real changes for my ultimate beginners board.

I tried desperately to find a time to meet up with our local henchman, but our calendars and real life were destined to get in the way. In the end, Wyrd beat me to it, releasing the updated PDF toward the end of the month. I set about trying out different combos both at my local gaming club and using vassal. the result was an article I published recently, with the changes I'd found in how gaining grounds plays. All up I'm very happy with the changes, although some of my combos need a little revision I think the changes will make for much more balanced tournaments.



Achievement - Unlocked - More experiences with Kirai
My first game with Kirai in our summer league and just my luck I get put up against my regular opponent, Mr Neverborn and team Jacob.

I'm still learning what Kirai is capable of, and that game was no exception, teaching me a thing or two about how to use Kirai and Datsu Ba when trying to claim objectives. I seriously considered using Kirai's reactivate on Datsu to get the APs she needed, but when I got distracted it fell to Datsu and I needed to move 6" and have two APs to interact with an evidence counter. My usual tactic of "no escaping" her into contact with one of my crew, just wasn't going to do it, but then I saw guide spirits and it occurred to me to cast it on Datsu, effectively giving her a free walk action for the turn. She hightailed it over to the evidence and immediately destroyed it, not that it won me the game, but it taught me something. I had similar experiences with my night terrors and my Shikome in that, and subsequent games, and I'm starting to better understand what each is capable of.

I also had one of my best games against Mr Arcanist, who just to confuse things, decided to play Guild and Sonnia no less. I went into the game sure of defeat, having heard how hard a matchup against Sonnia can be for Kirai. I did really well and was very pleased at how close the game was until, rereading my cards the next day, I realised I'd been summoning Shikome incorrectly. Undoubtedly the game would have been a lot harder for me if I'd been sacrificing two spirits, instead of one, for each Shikome I'd been summoning. Nonetheless it was an incredibly tight game and will standout as one of my favourites of all time.



Achievement - Locked - Photoshopping Kirai and Crew
I wanted to get my Kirai cards photoshopped with the colours of my painted crew but sadly it wasn't to be. My beginners board won hands down in the priority stakes this month.



And what of the usual surprises that a month of Malifaux brings? Well my good friend Mr Fantasy gave me a gift voucher for my birthday last month that I finally got round to cashing in. I thought seriously about buying a McMorning, but I really despise the sculpt and I'm not as smitten with his play style as other Resser masters. In the end I took a look at ten thunders and looked for compatible models for my Yan Lo boxed set. I settled on some Oiran, but there was still $10 left so I bought the ten thunders boxed set, some archers and granny thunders (name escapes me), which even using the ridiculously high exchange rates we have at the moment, still comes to over $10...... Plus shipping.... But whilst you know that, and I know that, lets not tell the misses that please....

So as my pile of shame threatens to become my room of shame, And with pva, wall paper and use of power tools calling, what will March be like for this Malifaux addict?



Well I have a one day achievement league/tourney I'll be participating in, along with a lot of the other boys from KRAGS. I also have my beginners board, that'll keep me busy, and between all these Mercs and Ten Thunders I have a hell of a lot of painting and assembly to be getting on with.

So another quiet month apparently!

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