Warning - explicit language
Hello all,
Hope all of you are doing well, and have had plenty of time
to hobby away in your various games and projects. I certainly have had a good influx of hobby
time come in as of late. I have had
plenty of time to work on all things Malifaux, and think about all things
Malifaux it seems. In my case, that
means that I have ordered entirely too much to put together and paint – and I
have had way too much time to come up with fun lists and lists of thing that I
want to buy. Never a good combination,
but it is the desire we all have for a new shiny to play with.
With this continuing wave of Malifaux excitement, I have
really started to get into the nitty gritty of the game. While games will always be beer and pretzel
games to me, I have decided that I would really like to get into the
competitive scene of Malifaux. Even if
it is just to experiment with playing a good amount of games within a very
short time frame. To these ends, I have
really buckled down and decided that I want to get good with my chosen masters: Fated Collodi, Propped Collodi, and
Zoraida. So far all I have play tested
is Collodi with this new mindset. My
preliminary thoughts on Collodi were to always use fated, no matter what was in
the scheme pool or what the strategy was.
However, bag of props is now my go to for most games. The practical stacking of the deck with the
amount of focus Collodi can pull from his puppets and minions is a no
brainer. Plus, it allows me to spread
out my crew a little more and make it less of a target rich environment for
blast masters like Criid and Raspy.
Plus, Collodi can beat the shit out of some people with his triggers if
you get everything you need to go off.
 |
| A blast master in action against Collodi and Widow Weaver - circa 2 weeks ago |
SIDE TANGENT – I hear on
podcasts and in stores people mispronouncing my master of choice’s name – it is
kuh – lOH – dee. Not Key
– lAh – dee or kuh – lAh – dee. Listen for yourself if you prefer.
This has been an informational session.
Collodi is a great master.
I am comfortable running him in most schemes and strategies – with a few
exceptions being missions where he really has to put the beat down on
enemies. It could be my play style, but
I am just not comfortable really throwing myself into the fray with my puppets
that are low WD but high defense and armor.
Sure they can be awesome, but man – if I can avoid throwing them into a
meat grinder, that would be the best option for me. With one exception.
Collodi the Blender
Master
I had an excellent game against Von Schill. I had the following list:
Collodi
-
Bag of props
-
Strum the Threads
Teddy
Ama No Zako
(4)
Marionettes
(2)
Beckoners
Brutal
Effigy
This list might seem like a little bit of a hodgepodge, but
it ended up being an excellent list for the schemes and the crew that my
opponent brought to the table. He had
Von Schill, Hans, Trapper, Student, Lazarus, Hannah, and a Librarian on the
table. We were playing reckoning – one
that I am not the biggest fan of – LitS, Breakthrough, Assassinate, Take
Prisoner, and Spring the Trap. I took
Spring the Trap and Breakthrough revealed.
My opponent took Assassinate and Breakthrough revealed. The terrain ended up being set up perfectly
where, if I set up second, I could minimalize the amount of pain Hans and the
Trapper would bring to the party. We
flip, and Von Schill has to set up first.
I manage to make a very nice hard cover choke point near the left side
of my deployment and force him to come to me – perfect set up to our game for
Collodi.
Game progresses in what feels like an unstoppable wave for
Collodi. I manage to pull Lazarus
completely across the table with the Beckoners and then slap him for slow with
Collodi and put a good amount of damage on him.
However, I positioned Teddy poorly, and he didn’t have a line to get
through to really put the hurt on Lazarus.
Hannah marched into the grinder as well, and Ama No Zako darted around a
building with her flying, trying to cause as much pain as she could. Eventually, Teddy got into it and demolished
Lazarus, and then got into a tickle fight with Hannah for the next 3
turns. I managed to lure Von Schill into
the gap filled with rotten entrails and cotton balls from Teddy, and spring the
trap on him. I had less models on the
table at that point, so I managed to snag 2 points. A few turns later, Hannah stood unopposed in
the gap, Ama No Zako was slain, and Collodi was facing down the might of a very
angry Von Schill. The madness started
here. Collodi turned around, took over
the Trapper, one shot the student of conflict, tore the Trapper to pieces with
a second Pull the Strings and then
pushed a Beckoner around the corner of the building to protect it. At this point, Von Schill eviscerated Collodi
in a shower of splinters and torn string.
However, all was not lost – even after assassinate was scored on turn 5. A Beckoner made a break for it, launching
herself across the table and making it to within Breakthrough distance,
throwing a marker down. My opponent had
only killed one model this turn, so he turned Hannah and Hans on the lone
beckoner out in the open by the scheme marker.
All attacked whiffed and the game was called. Tie
6-6. An excellent hand and amazing
top decking managed to save the day from loss with the monsterous destruction
of the Trapper and Student of Conflict, and then the failure to kill the
Beckoner tied me the game. Absolutely
one of the best games I have played in a long time.
 |
| Collodi and friends get destroyed in an earlier game against Lady J |
What would I Change?
Well, for starters I think I would drop one of the
Beckoners. Two are great – but they are
expensive and a one trick pony is all you get for 7SS. That could be spent, along with the one SS
left over, to grab Widow Weaver, or drop Strum the Threads (which is good about
half of the time), and get Vasilisa – who is just Collodi’s mean half with
nasty triggers. I have a few ideas
involving Depleted in the list as tar pits for the enemy as well. That list would feature the Marionettes and
Ama No Zako being the primary scheme runners, and possibly a stitched or
two. The list is as follows:
Collodi
- Bag of Props
-
Strum the Threads
(3)
Marionettes
Ama No Zako
Brutal
Effigy
(2) Stitched
Together
(3) Depleted
Now, the main issue in this is that I don’t have nearly the
same amount of quality beaters, or the best access to models that can be used
to prop Collodi. Depleted would like to
run up and keep someone stuck in, unable to do anything significant. Collodi could run up with them and then use
them to leech off focus, but that does get him close to the front of the
action. I could drop a Depleted and a
Stitched Together to have enough points to take Vasilia as another scheme
runner/beat stick ish model. Or, drop a
Depleted, a Stitched, and Strum the Threads, and take a Teddy to walk with
Collodi up into the face of the action.
There is nothing more terrifying than Teddy and Collodi waltzing up the
board to the sound of Collodi’s music.
Plans Moving Forward
I mentioned that I have purchased things of late, and I am
happy to say that my Neverborn continue to gain momentum and bodies. As listed above, I have (finally) acquired a
Teddy, which I am very proud to say has managed to mangle a good amount of meat
in the resulting games already played with him.
I have also picked up Ama No Zako, Beckoners, Iggy, and Depleted. I have some 40mm bases inbound as well to
help me proxy a pair of Coryphee and sculpt 3 bases of Gupps. My main idea for all of this is to make as
many options open to Collodi for Fated or Props, and then to have a good amount
of alternate options available for taking Zoraida to throw my opponents into
disarray as I throw down Bad Juju, Silurids, Gupps, and Iggy to stoke the fires
on the Voodoo doll. Everything burns
with Iggy and Zoraida plucking on the Voodoo doll. I breakdown my personal preference on hiring
pools as follows:
Collodi’s Pool
|
Both
|
Zoraida’s Pool
|
Vasilisa
|
Widow Weaver
|
Bad Juju
|
Marionettes
|
Wicked Dolls
|
Silurids
|
Teddy
|
Mr. Tannen
|
Gupps
|
Effigies
|
Mr. Graves
|
Iggy
|
Beckoners
|
Depleted
|
Spawn Mother
|
Coryphee
|
Stitched Together
|
McTavish
|
Lazarus
|
Waldgeists
|
Need to Purchase*
It is actually pretty humorous how well I stick to these
personal limitations – I really like the themed crews of Masters, and therefore
I tend to stick with what I can play in the crew with the themed lists. The only weirdness that I can take in both
lists are Beckoners and Teddy for Collodi, as he has less synergy with them
than other choices – Iggy is an obvious choice for Zoraida most of the time I
think, but from a fluff sense of the game it makes little sense. However, the idea of Iggy lighting a doll on
fire and causing someone else to spontaneously combust is too good not to pass
up. Graves and Tannen are two very hard
miniatures to use in game from my limited playing with them. It is very likely that this is player error
on how to use them, but I just don’t seem to get how they are used. I want them to really work with Zoraida for
some reason, but I don’t think the synergy is there to use.
My next plans moving forward – after getting all of my
remaining models that I use often painted up and ready to go – is to try and
play catch up with the models that don’t get a lot of play time – Bishop, Sue,
and several other mercenary models come to mind. Then?
I have a Viktorias crew that needs to be painted, Tara that needs to be
built and painted, and several other projects for Malifaux that I would like to
start – terrain mostly. However, I may
have to cave and pick up one of the following (most likely both at some
point): Jacob Lynch’s crew box or
Lucius’ crew box. I really like the idea
of the Lucius box and all of the unique synergies I could pull off with some of
his abilities. However, I seem to have
accidentally collected almost all of the models from the theme of Jacob Lynch,
so it wouldn’t be a stretch for me to make the jump and collect him so that I
can whip him out with all of the addicts and gals that he likes to hang out
with.
My eventual long term goal at this point in time is the
following:
Neverborn
|
Outcasts
|
Collodi
|
Viktorias
|
Zoraida
|
Tara
|
Lucius
|
Misaki
|
Jacob Lynch
|
Yan Lo/Wong/Hoffman
|
These are my one
off selections for different factions that would be random plays.
Yan Lo would be my one master that I would buy the crew more to
paint than to play in all honesty.
These are crews that are going to be picked up for sure eventually
|
|
This would be the perfect pool for me, and – seeing as this
isn’t the whole faction – I would still have room to add on if I really and
truly wanted to. I am not a fan of
Lilith or her play style at all. Pandora
is interesting, but not my cup of tea at all, and The Dreamer is one of those
masters that I would have played in a heartbeat had I not found Collodi at
first – but now I want nothing to do with him.
On the Outcasts side, the same thing happened with Leveticus, one of my
favorite masters from a fluff standpoint.
Hamelin needs to turn into something that doesn’t take 30 minutes to
play a turn for me to be interested in.
Jack Daw has been described to me as one of, if not the, most difficult
master in the game to play. While I love
a good challenge, that sounds brutal to play.
Plus, his plastic isn’t out and his themed models aren’t all that
exciting to me personally. Von Schill
goes back and forth between being a model that I really want to have, to a crew
that doesn’t seem like he would be that exciting to play.
All in all, Misaki would add a crazy finesse master to my
entourage of crews, Tara is a weird support piece, Vikis are my flavor of
brutal combat that I prefer over Lilith, Lynch has cool looking models and a
neat theme mechanic, Lucius is THE bad guy in all of Malifaux – more so than
any of the Tyrants in my opinion, which makes him the cool master to play. Zoraida has a special place in my heart as
the voodoo queen of Malifaux, being that voodoo magic and scary spooky New
Orleans witch doctor stuff is fascinating to me. Collodi is my go to master and my first
love. What is better than a freaky man
sized puppet that goes around and steals children TO TURN INTO MORE PUPPETS?!
The other crews listed – Yan Lo, Wong, and Hoffman – all
tickle the places that the other crews don’t quite make it to. Yan Lo is just a very cool looking and unique
crew box. I am a fan of Japanese art and
history, so the models are all really cool in the fact that they combine the
best elements of their culture and style with a bunch of gross undead. Wong is absolutely and positively the most
hilarious character in all of Malifaux.
The sole reason I would play him is to be able to giggle with glee as I
blow up literally every-fucking-thing.
Finally, Hoffman. I was not a
huge fan of Hoffman at first, but his fluff really turned me into a fan. His really tragic story of walking the line
between Guild and Arcanists is quite compelling I think. He is reluctant to really commit to anything,
but when he does act he acts with such singular purpose that he is almost
unstoppable. Plus, the steampunk vibe is
strongest with him, and steampunk does tend to stoke my boilers (see what I did
there? Just lost 95% of my followers
with that one).
 |
| Against a different Steampunk crew - Mei Fang - Collodi and Bishop duke it out |
Magnificent Malifaux
All in all, if you haven’t guessed by now, Malifaux is one
of my favorite games that I have played.
If I could only play one game for the rest of my days, it would probably
be Malifaux. The sheer amount of variety
and balance in the game – minus Leveticus and his attacks that literally erase
models (and his immunity to death if he has models to take over – no biggie) –
makes this game the best I have played.
Which makes me want to get good at this game and go play as
many games as I can squish into my free time as possible. Which leads me to the logical conclusion that
I should play in tournaments. Not really
with the end goal of winning the tournament, but with a reasonable goal of
winning atleast half of my games and having a good time playing a shit ton of
Malifaux over the course of a day or two.
That is the goal for all of this scheming and playing and talk of
models. I want to get as many games in,
and the best option that I can see is tournaments, as we only get in 1-2 games
on game night once a week. I want to clock
in my Malifaux at atleast 10-12 games a month, which works out to a weekly game
night with 2 games, and then a tournament with 3 games. Or, playing some extra games during the week
if there isn’t a tournament this month.
My first attempt at completing this goal started this Wednesday,
with a pair of games – one of which you already read about (see Von Schill game
above). The other was against my typical
opponent who was running a new crew – Lady J.
I was running a bunch of new models, and didn’t take advantage of the
terrain at all. We won’t talk about how
that game ended, or how quickly it was over.
If I didn’t live in Atlanta, I would attempt to make it over to
Giga-Bites on the other side of town on Friday’s, but that would go from a 45
minute drive to a 1 and a half to 2 hour drive in traffic. There is a tournament coming up soon on May
16th that I am going to try to make.
If you are in the Atlanta area, shoot me a message in the comments if
you are interested in trying to make that tournament, or the following GIGACON MALIFAUX WEEKENDER tournament
next month – June 6-7. Both of those are
at Giga-Bites in Marietta, GA. Comment
if you would like the information.
 |
| The rivalry between Collodi and the bitch Colette continues - circa about a month ago |
I think with that little information drop, I will go ahead
and call this post done. Sorry for the
lack of anything super pretty, but I always try to engage in games to get them
done quickly so I can have more games in one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment