Win a Dead Justice box set - pro-painted?

So, I have not been using Facebook lately. At all. I found that about 6 months ago I just grew tired of all the changes and what-nots with Facebook so stopped logging in. My wife checks it regularly (semi-regularly) for me, but thats about all it amounts to.

Well, that and I still get the odd email for direct messages or to alert me about updates to pages I subscribed to (or liked....). One of those pages are my friends at the Eternal Warriors podcast. These are a great group of guys who release on a fairly regular weekly/bi-weekly schedule. The podcast is a lot of fun to listen to, and thankfully they have begun to migrate from GW games to better games like Malifaux.

With that said, recently there was a post to thier Facebook page that caught my attention. Here is the post:

Hey kids!

I want to hear your gamer stories. Happy or sad, tragic or hilarious, send them our way. You can post them on the forum, throw them on the facebooks, or email them to thebaron@theeternalwarriors.com . Though I have to say I'd prefer the forum or the email, just because they'll be easier to keep track of. Why should you go through the trouble?

Because it can win you a full Dead Justice box set painted by Chris West of 2 Ton Studios! These models were lovingly and painstakingly painted, then placed on Secret Weapon's new "corpse field" bases for that added boost. If you are interested in starting malifaux or just want a new crew, this is your chance to get one for free!

I'll have some pictures in the next day or so, otherwise you can check Chris's blog at http://2tonstudios.blogspot.com/2012/05/malifaux-dead-justice.html to see some of the pictures he took. They seriously don't do the models justice. Dead Justice.

Well, good luck!

So, there is a contest for a pro-painted Dead Justice box set. That's the set that is featured in the picture at the start of this post.  So for all you cool kids who are on Facebook, post them up, heres the link to the Eternal Warriors facebook site. For those who are not cool facebook kids (like me), email the Baron at the address he provides.

King of NOVA - Round 4

So I have stretched out the reports of my games to 4 days now, I hope your not bored yet. As previously mentioned, I was on the top table for round 4, facing 1st Generation Awesome Mike with the master he possibly knows best in the game. At the same time, I had only gotten 2 games in before this point with Zoraida, and used Collodi a total of 4 times before this game. I did not take much time to look at his side of the table, although I had seen him carrying around aZoraida during the day. I knew he was running with Collodi, and thought that meant Collodi and Zoraida through the day. Mike is another member of my local group who regularly beats me in games. He is a really good player and one of the best Neverborn players I know.With that said, I have won a couple games against Mike, so I was a bit more confident than I was facing Dan. On top of that, maybe this was my day, I had just beaten Dan pretty badly so I was feeling good. Then I remembered I did not know how to play the crew I had chosen to bring to the table.

Mike and I drew a dungeon board with some bridges and columns. We understood that the open spaces between tiles were solid walls that blocked LOS and were impassable.

I had the closer side (to the left) while Mike had the far side of the board. Mike flipped Line in the Sand and I flipped Slaughter. I contemplated dropping a stone to reflip, but decided against it. (Mistake number 1). Mike set out his crew and I was surprised to see Collodi leading the crew. It ended up being Collodi, 4 Marionettes, 3 Stitched Together, Carrion Effigy, and Brutal Effigy. I looked through my remaining schemes (schemes were unique for the tournament) and did not have much left. Eye for and Eye was out as my plan was to kill off Collodi and remove a bulk of Marionettes to reduce his crew size. Frame was not a good strategy, and Steal Relic was not something I felt I could reliably pull off. I ended up grabbing Bodyguard on Zoraida and Exterminate Dolls. It was a long shot as I was aiming to wipe him off the board, but I figured what the hell. (mistake #2?).

Turn 1 was very little shuffling around as Mike did a great job of staying out of LOS from Zoraida. I summoned up a Voodoo doll and put it on Collodi, killing it off for the scrap shortly afterwards. I made the mistake of giving all my dolls fast on turn 1 instead of creating the new marionette and giving them fast at the start of round 2. Bleh. Mike ended with his Stitched moved forward under clouds of smoke, and one of the dynamites flipped on turn 1. I had not moved from my initial deployment in a ball, waiting and priming my crew for round 2.

On round 2 Mike did some more moving around but I got aggressive. (Mistake #3). I gave my dolls fast, told a wicked doll to go after me, gave the wicked doll and 2 marionettes melee expert, and launched up the board to the bridge to start killing off his dolls. I got some positioning out there and took out one of his marionettes before learning my big mistake. Gamble your Life is not a strike or spell so cannot be shifted by Collodi onto his marionettes. Crap. By the end of the second turn Collodi had died to an onslaught of GYL, and I was severely down on the game. Over the next several turns I tried to recover with my stitched and Zoraida, but was unsuccessful. Overall I was just too damn aggressive and should have held back. The game ended in an 8/0 loss.

I was amused later when Mike said he went into the game thinking he was at a disadvantage vs my crew. Once I threw Collodi forward he felt that he had a strong chance because he realized I had no idea what I was doing. When I followed up by throwing the Stitched into the meat grinder and leaving Zoraida unprotected he was confident the game was his and there was no way he could lose. All of this was true.

So, at the end of the tournament I ended with a record of 9tp/+7diff/22VP to come in 3rd place. I did not get a chance to face Weakland, so that game will need to wait until I get back to NYC. And, at the end of the day I ended up beating a local player who regularly beats me, and lost to a player I regularly lose to, with the master he may be best with. Not a bad showing overall.

King of NOVA - Round 3

So going into round 3, I found myself at the bottom of the list for the 3 undefeated players in the tournament. This had me facing the top of the 2/1 players, 2nd Generation Awesome Dan.

Ouch.

Here's the thing, Dan is good. We have faced each other a handful of times on Tuesday game nights, along with a handful of times at tournaments. He regularly kicks my ass. Probably the only person I play more games who regularly kicks my ass is Mike, who is also really good. With that said, I was expecting my run at the tournament to end with this game. So, I stepped up to the table ready to give my all to make it a fun and challenging loss, and looked at where we would be playing. For three rounds now, Dan had been camping out on the same table.

I took a quick look over the table and flipped strategy. After both Dan and I flipped our strategies (he was playing Resers), we ended up with shared Distract. So, kill the opposing leader or keep them off your half of the board. Basically kill the opposing leader while keeping your alive. I knew Zoraida was survivable, but I also knew Dan plays against Mike's Zoraida a fair amount (or did). I also knew I was not overly familiar with Zoraida, and that Pandora is really good at this strategy. I suspected Dan would be taking Kirai, and I know how to handle Kirai fairly well with Pandora. With that said, I went with my Pandora crew. In a slight surprise (but not overly much if I thought about it) Dan took Nicodem and attached the Avatar. He has been on a roll lately with aNico, and I should have suspected that was up his sleeve.

Which was another knock for me. I have widely claimed that not only do I think Nicodem is a good master, but that in Dan's hands he is simply scary. I was now truly expecting a beat down, but trusted I was good enough with Pandora that I could make it a challenge.

Dan set out Nicodem, 2 dogs, 2 crooked men, Dead Rider, and a grave spirit. Looking over his crew, I went with Kidnap on 2 dogs and the grave spirit, and Assassinate on Nicodem. I knew I would have to deal with the rider, but did not want to bank a scheme on him.

The game got underway and we headed for the middle of the board. It was clear from our early movement that this was where the fight would take place and there was really no reason to try and avoid it. Nicodem needed to be taken down early or he would manifest and be nearly impossible to kill before getting across the board. Dan was helpful in killing off his dogs for me early on, leaving me to focus on Nicodem and the Dead Rider. The game went by very quickly and it was a fairly long day, so only key moments really stick out in my memory.

I was able to get Pandora and Lilitu into range to use some lures to damage and kill off a number of models. Pandora and Nico both burned thier last stones somewhere around the end of turn 3 or start of turn 4 in a battle to force a Rigormortis through onto Pandora. With both of us burning our last SS, the spell was forced through the opposed WP check, then Dan flipped a 4 to cast it and did not have the cheat in hand. This was a rough hit for him. I followed up by activating Pandora and chipping away the last couple points Nico had on him (dropping project emotions on a nearby mindless zombie to overlap onto Nico, then burning off a pacify, a self loathing, and a dementia once he was on negative flips) and killed him. Dan knew the game was over at that point, but eliminated Lelu with the Dead Rider before I could take him out of the game as well. With Dan tabled going into turn 5 and 2 turns left to lure and walk Pandora into the opposing deployment zone, I was able to lock up 8 points to Dan's 2. I was lucky the focus was kept on Lelu and Pandora so Lilitu had enough wounds remaining that she could last through 2 remaining turns.

At the end of the game, my record was now 6tp/+15diff/22vp and I had a surprising win vs Dan. Dan and I talked a bit after the game, both of us suspecting I would be facing Mike in the final round. Throughout the entire tournament I had heard Mike was bringing Collodi, but assumed it was Collodi plus Zoraida. Dan's recomendation was to switch back to Zoraida due to the high WP in the Collodi crew, and I agreed, as Pandora would struggle with the high WP and be vulnerable to her own crew with Zoraida's obeys.