Episode 1.5 - The First Game

Well here is the belated musings on my first game with Jack against my local club mate Pete Wright. We showed up and flipped for strats and guess what the strategy for the league game was, yup, Reckoning (as provided by that ever thoughtful @malifauxschemes)

After getting my crew out, realizing I didn't have the cards with me, putting out a shout of twitter for a link to the cards, putting my crew away and selecting a Tara crew, getting a reply on Twitter with a link to the cards and finally getting crews in and out again I was ready to go!

The strategy was Reckoning, the schemes were Line in the sand, Distract, Breakthrough, Vendetta and Power Ritual.

My crew was Jack with all his upgrades bar Guillotine Injustice, Ligeia,  Montressor with both upgrades, 3 Guilty and 3 Wretches .

Pete’s crew was Ramos, Joss, Rail Golem, Howard, Electrical Creation and Brass Arachnid.

I sort of had a feeling that I wasn't going to get a lot from the strategy and would probably lose net of 2-3 VP on this and so decided to pick some unfamiliar schemes so I get a bit of practice. Normally I think I would have takes Distract and Breakthrough, instead I took Line in the Sand and Power Ritual.

I won’t bore you with the move by move analysis but suffice to say it didn't end too well. Instead I will have a look at how each model performed.

Jack – Mr Daw got stuck in early. I tried the movement up the table trick using the push from Montressor to get him up the table a bit. Unfortunately this went a little wrong and Jack suffered moderate damage despite a quad negative flip and I burned a stone to prevent 2 of this damage. Jack then had to burn a stone to get the crow for the place into base with Ramos as Ramos can strip the suits from casting but he did a couple of damage to Ramos and gave him a cursed upgrade, gave Joss a cursed upgrade and Obeyed Joss to hit Howard. I had moved Legia up previously to prevent the cheat. It went a little pear shaped turn 2 when I decided to move Legia away as she was being threatened by the Rail Golem and Jack was flurried by Howard. Not realizing that Ramos gave Howard a positive this allowed Big H to be on straight flips and Pete cheated in three (count em, that’s three) very high rams for three consecutive decapitate triggers, the last of which got through and killed poor old Jack stone dead, on turn 2! His cursed upgrades did a great job, causing Ramos some damage and forcing Joss to take a penance.

Legiea – I was possibly a little too careful with Ligea. She was fine in support of Jack and prevented Ramos cheating but with a crap hand on T2 I moved her out of harm’s way (the push from Jack was great to move her out of engagement) but I didn’t really have a plan of where to move her to. She ended up going back to try and support Montressor but was caught at the beginning of turn 3 by Ramos and was fried with electrical fire.

Montressor – I wasn't sure what to do with him in this strategy. After losing Jack and Ligeia I thought that Montressor would be the next target so I hang him back a bit. Performance wise he had trouble with the push into base contact from Toss the Noose as anything that was a key resist (at least one from Joss and one from the Rail Golem) Pete countered by dropping 2 cards. He got some damage off from The Choking Death and managed to hit Ramos for a cheatable flip which was cheated up to a severe and finished Ramos off. He was taken out on Turn 6 so lasted quite well. I mis-timed a lot of his actions and as he didn't have any kind of support from the beginning of T3 he was isolated and I was very indecisive with him. I used him to move a distracted model once allowing me to prevent one point from Distract, but it didn't matter as Pete got this back on T6.

The Guilty – They were, shall I say, average. They lasted quite well but I think this was because they were both distracted so Pete didn't want to kill them. One managed to kill off a spider but this was a chore due to min damage 2. I don’t think I got share guilt off once on an enemy model as it was resisted each time. One did exactly as it was supposed to in targeting Ramos (whom Jack had made Tormented) for the push and then hitting him. It would have been slightly more effective if Ramos hadn’t got his repulsion trigger and pushed him back where he came from. They aren't a bad model, but on choice I would only take probably one in most lists.

Void Wretches – The fact of the matter is that after losing Jack and Ligeia early doors I got confused by what to do with the Void Wretches. They had a specific job at the beginning of the game, Line in the Sand and Power Ritual. This didn't start well when I forgot to drop a marker for Power Ritual on turn one and moved the Wretch to the middle of the board. 2 dropped markers for LIS and one protected them while the other went and succeeded in dropping the far marker for Power Ritual. I didn't think the left flanking Wretch would fare too well when Pete deployed the Rail Golem opposite it, at it didn't. Come turn 3 I was in a quandary and I was torn between trying to use the Wretches offensively to bury Joss, which I nearly but not quite succeeded in. I then also wanted them to bury my distracted models to remove them from play but I either forgot or the positioning was just plain wrong. They did drop markers for Line in the Sand but like an idiot I didn't realize you needed 4 markers and not 3. Overall, for a 4 stone minion, they did fine.

Overall it was a bit of a mess and finished 9 – 4 with me getting 1 from Reckoning, 2 from Power Ritual and 1 from Line in the Sand, and to be honest I cost myself an extra 2 from LIS and 1 from PR due to being an idiot so it perhaps should have been 9-7.

Jack died due to a bit of over extension and nervous play with Ligeia but he died due to a freak set of decapitate cards and he did manage to cause a bit of trouble dishing his upgrades out before he went, even though he only lasted 2 activation's. I was pleased with the Twist and Turn upgrade.

I like to have jobs for all my models and in Reckoning, against that list with the schemes I chose I had no idea what Montressors job was, but he caused some problems and made a nuisance of himself.

One of the main issues was that, against Ramos, I struggled with the armor and as far as I can see in his thematic models there is nothing to counter that so it’s something I’ll need to bear in mind.

Hopefully over the next week or so I will be able to get in a few more games and I will have a clearer idea of how everyone is doing after these games.

ToMB Episode 1.4 - The Choice Is...

The choice is made

After the box set I had $20 left over, which would be enough to buy 1 box/blister. To play straight off the bat at 50ss I needed something that came to at least 12ss, so my initial decisions were between a blister of hanged ($14), a box of void wretches ($15, same as Ice Gamin) or Ama No Zako ($18) and it was a tough choice. The Hanged would either be this month or next at the worst, Ama is going to be soon too but in the end I went for the Void Wretches to give me some objective running and a bit of activation control / support. It’s a model I have used with Tara but not a lot as I used to run Tara as a Resser.

Void Wretch – Outcast, Minion, 4ss

They clock in at 4WD incorporeal and DF 8 but lose 1 DF for each card in your hand due to Pure Nothingness,  which means if they get hit first activation they are usually toast, but there is quite often something more tempting to hit in the first activation. They are pretty speedy at WK5 but their attack is a weak ML4 2/3/4 damage.

The attack (Siphon Existence) has the Glimpse the Void trigger on a tome which forces the target to win a WP13 duel or become buried but the tome isn’t built in.

They have a (2) attack, Void Maw, which targets buried models and I can’t see this being used very much out of a Tara crew and finally they have a range 4 (0) attack The Hectic Glow which can give an enemy model either slow of fast.

Their Tactical Action (A (2) action, Satiating Void) can remove conditions and heal a buried model.

So, what they gonna do then?

 Well objective running is a job they can do, being walk 5 and incorporeal. If you use a Guilty to make them Tormented they can also get a 3” push from Jack when they activate.

Their Siphon Existence attack may be useful when in proximity of Ligeia if you have a tome to hand. This will mean that the enemy will not be able to cheat either their DF or the WP resist for the trigger, thus giving a higher chance of the target becoming buried.

Finally the last little trick is the bury / heal and a friendly model which is achieved by hitting you own model (remember the min damage is 2) hitting the Glimpse the Void trigger and then using the other Void Wretches to heal said model (It pops back out when something is killed).

So as a general support model they look great, but they are going to die.

So next up is my league game against Pete Wright, (who’s a pretty reasonable Arcanist player) so as long as I don’t draw reckoning I might just about be OK with this selection…

ToMB Episode 1.3 - I Pronounce You...

The Guilty – Outcast – Minion – 5ss

The last of the box set and another unreleased model. The name would suggest they are criminals of some kind, death row inmates perhaps? For the proxy models I have used Dust Tactics Zombies painting their boiler suits in orange similar to a convict and instead of using undead flesh tones I have used normal.

At 5ss they should be the bread and butter of your crew. DF6, WP 4 is fine for this type of model they have 6 wounds and Hard to Kill but they are also slow at WK4 so they aren’t really objective runners unless your going to use other crew members to move them around (or their Follow Pain tactical action)

Sympathy of the Dammed allows tormented models shooting into combat to not flip a card for them when targeting, which is OK but not a game changer and they have a DF trigger on a mask; Accusation which forces the attacker to take one damage after damaging this model if it has the Tormented characteristic, so you will need to make the enemy tormented to make use of this.

Their Attacks consist of a 1” melee Murder Weapons (ML5) which does 2/3/5 damage and the Lingering Echoes trigger on a double crow (one built it) basically forces card discard (which is a bit of a theme through the crew), this is a pretty fair attack for a 5ss model.

Their second attack action is where your crew synergy comes into play. Share Guilt is a Rg 12 attack casting on a 6 and if successful it gives the target the tormented characteristic (not condition, so it cant be removed) until this model takes the action again, add in a tome to the built in crow and you can even draw a card after succeeding.

As seen both Jack, Guilty and Montressor have some abilities that prefer the target to be tormented but if you have a non tormented model in your crew and want it to synergise better then this is the way to do it.

Their only tactical action is the (0) Follow pain which requires a 7 to cast and allows you to push 6” toward the target tormented model, so once again we are seeing movement with the crew.

All in all a nice solid little 5ss model with a couple of tricks. Outside of a Jack crew I don’t think you will see them but in this crew then yes, I’m pretty sure I would be running at least one in most lists just to pass around the tormented if nothing else.

Right then. The box set with all upgrades weight in at 34ss so before deciding on what to add to it lets have a look at what it can do.

Jack is movement, placing into base contact, pushing tormented. He can objective grab and can lock down (and take down) isolated models. He can harass and use his abilities to force scheme marker dropping. Passing round his upgrades could act as a tar-pit.

Ligeia is pure support and will either be supporting Jack or Montressor, more likely Montressor. But with the big guy sucking people in and no one being able to cheat it will leave your opponent with a lot of high cards in their hand for models outside of the aura.

Montressor is in many way the lynch pin. He can move models into and out of position. He can tar-pit models and can, under the right circumstances, put out the damage but he is fragile.

The Guilty are support pieces. The can move a bit but mainly to harass, they could be objective runners but this would require careful positioning and crew support.

So what do I need to add to it? Well as far as I can see there needs to be two additions to make the crew effective. The first is a second hitter to work alongside Montressor, something that has a bit more survivability but it also needs objective runners as at the minute it only has Jack that can do this without support. The objective running could arguably be done by using Jack / Montressor to move things and leaving the Guilty to do it but I wouldn't like to count on that working all the time.

What does it need more? With most of the schemes / starts being based around objective runners I would say these are key, but, if you draw reckoning and some Killy schemes the box set wouldn't be up to the task. Choices, choices.

ToMB Episode 1.2 - The Full Monty

Montressor – Outcast – Henchman – 9ss

Next up is the next ‘mystery’ model expected to be in the Jack Daw box set which is again named after a character from an Edgar Allen Poe story, Montressor. As discussed previously the rules would indicate he is a hangman of some kind, and being on a 50mm base he can officially be proxied by the Nightmare Hanged, which is what I am using for him (and painted by my own fair hand).

Weighing in at 9ss and having henchman status (cache 4) Montressor should be the ‘heavy hitter’ of the crew. Is he? Well let’s have a look.

DF is pretty solid at 6 and WP is poor at 4, 8 wounds and not incorporeal so nothing special there, and in fact looks a little fragile if anything. He is slow with WK 4 and is HT 3 which has its advantages and disadvantages.

So far, so underwhelming then.

The first thing of note is that he is nimble, giving him a free walk action and sticking with the theme of the crew being quite fast and maneuverable. He is also terrifying 12 to Living, which while not to be sniffed at isn’t fantastic.

Mocking Laughter is a 5” aura which puts enemy models at -1 WP (Jacks Suppressed Memories & Driven by Injustice are resisted with WP, Montressors attacks aren’t) ) and he also has The Choking Death which means all enemy models in base contact at the end of the turn must pass a DF14 duel or suffer 2 damage. Place Ligeia near him and an uncheatable DF 14 duel could be quite tough.

Attacks – String ‘em Up provides him with a nice meaty 3” range ML6 attack with 1/4/7 damage, Pull ‘em Tight triggers on the built in crow and pushes the target into base contact after damaging unless they discard two cards while if you add in another crow for Tangle it paralyses a model in base contact after damaging. Combine these triggers with The Choking Death and you are really seeing that Montressor want to be in base contact with as much as possible.

Toss the Noose is basically an identical version of String ‘em Up but with range 10 and without the Tangle trigger.

I’m always a bit dubious about models with a very high severe damage and a very low weak damage as in my experience you will be hitting weak more than severe. Unless, for example, you have a couple of high cards in your hand and something to stop the opponent cheating fate. The other upside of the low weak damage is the push, which means you can target your own models, cheat down to get weak and move them around, I always find this can be a little card intensive though.

His only Tactical Action is a (1) action Comfort in Fear, any model within 5” aura which succeeds on a horror duel suffers 2 damage. Stick him in proximity on things that are targeting hanged and this could be awesome, if there isn’t much terrifying on the table it’s probably not worth the (1) AP, if only it was a (0).

Upgrades

Montressor gets his own upgrade, Fearful Whispers (1ss) , and the other he can make use of is restricted to tormented models, The Creeping Terror (1ss) and to my mind both are going onto Montressor as auto includes, effectively bringing his cost up to 11ss (for an 8 WD model, I may reconsider this after a couple of games!)

Fearful Whisper adds a (0) action to his arsenal and forces all models within 5” pulse to pass a TN14 WP duel or be pushed into base contact, Tormented models are -2WP for this and enemy are also -1WP due to Mocking Laughter. It will be important to make sure you order the pushes correctly with this or there could be a bit of a traffic jam getting to him!

The Creeping Terror is great and I am so glad it isn’t restricted to Montressor. It adds the ability 'The Crawling Chaos' to a model which means that all friendly models within LOS increase the range of Auras and Pulses by 1”. Jack uses auras, Ligeia uses auras, so does Montressor, Jaakina, Ama and more. Putting this on Montressor at HT3 means you are more likely to be in LOS and that no cheat aura from Ligeia has just become 4” and not 3”

So my overall impressions of him aren’t great, but saying that I had a beta game with him a while ago and on the table he was awesome! I would definitely say he needs support from Ligeia, her no cheat aura could be the thing that keeps him alive because at DF6, WP4 and 8 wounds he looks pretty fragile. Ligeia will also help with The Choking Death DF duels.

I think to get the most out of him you will also need to run him with a Hanged in close proximity cause 2 damage from Comfort in Fear if anyone wants to target it. When I played my beta game I also ran Jaakuna alongside him and those little slices of 2 damage soon add up. However a block of Monressor, Ligeia, Hanged and Jaakuna adds up to 28 points!

What he can do well, continuing the theme, is move models. Toss the Noose with its range of 10” and built in push to base contact trigger could be great for moving models out of the way (or your crew towards you with the minimum damage being 1) and if you can get him to within 5” of a crowd he can use Fearful Whisper to suck them all into base.

But he looks fragile, very fragile and you need him exposed to make the use of a lot of his abilities. I’m simply not sure about him and it will require some table time to find out.

ToMB Episode 1.1- M’Lady

Ok so today we are looking at the mysterious Lady Ligeia. Its unsure whether Lady Ligeia is a real Lady or a Pseudo Lady in the vein of Lady Gaga, or even if she just stole her name from an Edgar Allen Poe story like Montressor seems to have done. Anyway one thing we do know for sure is that’s she’s Jack Daw’s totem and wherever he goes, she goes (unless you decide to spend 4ss on something else)

The model, provided and painted by Dawn McCormack as part of the holiday miniature exchange is half of the Alt Bette Noire sculpt (obviously the Bette part, just without the knives) and works a treat.

Lady Ligeia – Outcast – Totem (Jack Daw) – Peon – 4ss

 

Let’s have a look at the scores on the Daw’s then. DF6, WP 4 – not bad. 3 wounds is pretty poor but she is incorporeal, however to be honest that’s still not great, she’s very fragile. Walk 6 is massive, especially as she will be ignoring terrain. And she is, of course, insignificant.

 Attacks – Well there’s bash on a ML3 so let’s ignore that and she has a ranged attack (Wail) which is range 8, SH5 doing 1/2/3-1 Blast damage, it also has the Repression trigger on a tome forcing a card discard.  Nothing special there either.

Right, she better have something else in her locker then ‘cos so far she’s making Karina look like a good totem.

Well first of all there is her last attack action ‘There is no Forgiveness’ which casts on a mighty CA7 and is resisted with WP with a range of 8. It doesn’t do any damage but it gives the target the Tormented characteristic until the end of its next activation. Not to be sniffed at for sure but still doesn’t make her worthwhile for 4ss.

Well it’s a good job she has her piece de resistance….

Its an always up 3” aura called Betrayal – Enemy models within 3” aura cannot cheat fate! Now we are talking.

In 1.5 Jack had an ability where any model within 6” (as I remember) couldn’t cheat fate, and although I never used him in 1.5 I hear it was pretty nasty. Sure the range of this is reduced for Ligeia but it now only affects enemy models, this could be massive.

Link this into some of Jack’s abilities (such as his terrifying, or twist and turn) and it could become a real pain. Stick her next to Montressor and she becomes downright nasty.

So that’s what she does. As far as I can see everything else is just window dressing. She’s going to be pretty hard to hit in melee if you can keep a high card as the opponent can’t cheat fate and you can. She’s going to be very susceptible to ranged attacks, particularly ranged magic attacks but with walk 6 and incorporeal it should be possible to keep her hidden and then move her into position when needed.

 

TTFN

ToMB Episode 1 - I'd Rather Jack!

Well here it is, the blog that you’ve all been waiting for, Episode 1 of ToMB proper, may I introduce……wait, whadd’ya mean your just going to read the cards yourself? no, wait, keep reading, its good, honest, its, ah shit you’ve gone. Nevermind I’ll write about it anyway. Up first is the main man from the boxed set, which I’m pricing at $40 and saying contains Jack, Ligeia, Montressor & 3 Guilty.

Jack Daw – Outcast – Master

OK so lets have a look at Mr Daw starting with any stats that stand out. DF4, WP7 – oh dear Jacks gonna get hit quite a bit, he’s hardly a tank of a model. This however is balanced with high wounds (13) and the ‘Oldest Magic’ ability which put hit and damage flips against him on negative (and allows him to ignore terrain when moving) but this would indicate that he’s not a beatstick! Walk 5 and charge 7 aren’t too shabby and he’s off the bat with a low cache of 2 which doesn’t bother me as stones are nowhere near as important as in 1.5

Master of Torment allows him to hire Tormented models from any faction and then we come to one of his more interesting mechanics, Daw’s Luck and Sin Eater.

Daw’s Luck allow Jack to attach 2 ‘Cursed’ Upgrades that don’t count toward his upgrade allowance at the beginning of the game, there are currently 3 to chose from which I will look at later. Jack has triggers on his attacks that attach these upgrades to the target after damaging providing some pretty nifty de-buffs. Luckily these upgrades don’t affect Jack when they are attached to him. All the upgrades have the ability for anyone suffering from them to basically use a 2 action to nullify the effects of them so Sin Eater allows Jack to take the upgrades back to dish out again at the cost of discarding a card. Sounds fun to me but I’ll look at this in more detail when I cover the upgrades.

Attacks – His attacks output a poor damage spread, both are CA attacks and have a CA of 7 which means they will be hitting quite effectively. They are all resisted with WP.

Suppressed Memories is range 8,  1/3/4 damage and has a trigger for every occasion! A Tome (Repression) forces a card discard after damaging which is handy to have but nothing special. A Mask (The Ghost of Malifaux) allows you to place Jack in base contact after damaging which sounds awesome to me, Jack just became very fast! And this is a place, not a push, so no restrictions on movement etc. Finally there is a built in crow (Final Fate) which allows you to attach a ‘cursed’ upgrade to the target after succeeding (not after damaging) so with a CA of 7 that should be pretty easy to do.

His close combat attack (Noose) has a range of 2”, which is always nice, and a 2/3/4 damage spread. It also has the crow built in for the Final Fate trigger which allows you to attach the cursed upgrade just as Suppressed Memories does and the second trigger is on a double crow (Remember Injustice) which allows you to do 2 extra damage to a model with a cursed upgrade, remove that upgrade and reattach it to Jack.

He also has a 0 attack action ‘Driven by Injustice’. This also casts with a 7CA and requires a 6 to meet the TN of 13, it does no damage but has a whopping range of 16” and allows all Tormented models within 8” pulse to be pushed 4” toward the target. I have visions of a poor flanking model being menaced by the entire crew suddenly pushing towards him!

So, he’s definitely no beastick then. He will hit often, but with little damage, and this will allow you to access his core mechanic by attaching the cursed upgrades to them. The ‘Ghost of Malifaux’ mask trigger on suppressed memories which allows the place into base contact could be mega useful and my first thoughts are this is the only trigger that it would be worth burning a stone for. But, with DF 4, I would be careful about over extending him.

Driven by injustice could be a great way to move you crew up quickly, move your crew toward or away from threats & scheme markers, it could also be used to move your models out of melee so they can get rid of cursed object and the like. It can also move enemy models that you have made tormented (there are numerous ways of doing this) away from key points. All in all I like it, a lot.

So what are Jacks’ attacks about? Quite simply I see them being about accessing his core mechanic of upgrade transfer and movement, lots of movement. Which is nice. I like movement.

Finally Jack has one tactical action, Last Whisper, which is a 0 action that allows you to place a scheme marker in base contact when a non-peon model within 6” aura when it is killed. Not an enemy model, any model and 6” can cover quite an area. It’s not an interact action so you can drop them next to other markers. Line in the sand anyone?

Upgrades

First let’s see what Mr Daw gains from his upgrades, of which there are three specific to him (which I will cover here), one of these, Twist and Turn, is limited.

Betrayer – 1ss. Makes Jack terrifying 13 to Tormented models. Quite handy for 1ss but you need to make the enemy tormented to get use from it. And what I don’t quite understand is the Hanged are the most terrifying models in the game requiring a terrifying test when you even think about targeting them and yet Jack Daw, mega hanged, boss of the hanged, has to have an upgrade to make him mildly terrifying to models that are tormented! Well I suppose balanced rules override the fluff.

Writhing Torment – 2ss. Allows Jack to push 3” when another Tormented model within aura 6” activates and makes Jack immune to paralyse.  More movement, an auto include for me I think.

Twist and Turn – 2ss. Gives Jack 2 extra attack actions both with CA8 and a TN of 14/15 respectively and have range 8. Feel their Torment allows Jack to take a (1) action with target  tormented model, no triggers etc while Twist and Turn does the same thing to a non leader model but doesn’t require the model to have the Tormented characteristic. I’ve not played a lot with crews that use obey so I will need to test this one out, there are some synergies with the Cursed upgrades.

Cursed Upgrades – Jack can chose two out of the three available to start with, they all have a 0ss cost and start attached to Jack, flipped face down. When attached face down these upgrades have no effect but when Jack attaches them to other models they all attach face up. When attached face up they all give the model they are attached to the Tormented characteristic and they all give the model a (2) action Penance, discard a card to attach this upgrade face down, basically negating the effects of the upgrade. A pseudo paralysed if you like. I can see no reason why one model cant have more than one cursed upgrade attached to it, nasty! Still with me? Let’s have a look at what they do.

Firing Squad Injustice. The model suffers 2 damage if it declares an attack action and suffers 1 extra damage from an attack.

 Drowning Injustice. The model suffers 2 damage when it declares a tactical action (other than penance) including walk, charge etc. Also suffers 2 damage when it fails a simple duel. Simply awesome!

Guillotine Injustice. When the model activates if it is a minion or peon it must discard 2 cards or be killed. Will be coming with me against swarm crews for sure!

So, if you’ve made it this far I bet your thinking thank fuck he didn’t go through the entire crew! It ended up being a bit longer than I expected but it’s a useful exercise, writing about the models has given me a greater understanding of them than I could have achieved from reading the cards.

All in all, what is Jack? Well he’s a fast moving buffer / de-buffer. If he is able to single a model out I think he is able to cause it serious problems, no matter what that model is and yet he gains a lot of benefit from being quite close to his crew. He’s no tank but can probably last a couple of turns if isolated and he’s an objective grabbing machine if needed. He also adds movement to the rest of his crew which will give them a great help in achieving strats and schemes. Theoretically he could be in the opponent’s deployment zone in trun 1 (yeah damn right I’m gonna try it and see what happens) but if he gets swamped he’s going down.

Tomorrow’s post, which will be a lot shorter I assure you, will have a look at what his Totem, Lady Ligeia, brings to the table.

TTFN

ToMB Episode 0.1

Hello and Welcome to the next instalment of my ToMB Blog, episode 0.1 if you like. So the official stat cards have been released and we now have a week before the first blog is due (for those of us participating in this madness) which means I can either wait a week and release a monster sized blog going through my first $60 worth of spend, or I can drip feed it out over a week and thus save anyone reading a large headache trying to decipher my ramblings in one go. I selected the latter!

Well, we’ve determined that I’m using Mr Jack Daw and had a look at his fluff so over this coming week I will be looking at the models I’ve selected, what they do, which models I’m using for Proxies (being as the box set isn’t released yet) and any plans for modeling. I say modeling because I have to admit….

 

I Ain’t Painting Jack!

Or any Hanged, or my Ligeia proxy. This is because I received them from Malifaux internet celebrity Dawn McCormack (AKA @Sassylady1970) through the holiday miniature exchange which is organised each year by John Andrews (@Rameses73). Basically how it works is you sign up and get a random person to send a gift of Mini’s to, you then receive a nice little box from someone else in return. I was lucky enough to draw Dawn and she was more than generous and painted me a Jack, 2 Hanged and a Ligeia proxy before she sent them. Sweet.

Most of the other crew members I have are also painted as I was planning to start Jack before I knew about ToMB. Some aren’t but honestly, if you’re waiting to see my painting skills, then it won’t be worth the wait! I have had some thoughts about modeling scheme markers for the crew and some of them might be re-based but we shall wait and see.

So why the Hell should I bother reading all this crap then? Well to be honest I’m not sure you should, but if you really want to I’ll be blogging about crew selection and tactics and as far as I know I’m the only ToMB blogger that is planning to run the $60 selection competitively from month 1, starting with a league game at my local club next week and followed by a ranked tournament in March!

Anyway enough for now, tomorrow I’ll introduce the main man and have a look what he is capable of… (and it's gonna be a long un, ooh-er missus)

 

TTFN

ToMB - Episode 0

So, this is the first post for the Tale of Malifaux Bloggers, details of which and link to other bloggers sites can be found here  http://taleofmalifauxbloggers.blogspot.co.uk/?view=classic

I’m sure you’ve just been and read that and now know the rules. There is a blog due on progress each month but I’ll be trying to write one each week detailing any progress, thoughts or other stuff.

In this blog (imaginatively titled Episode 0) I introduce my choice of master, Mr Jack Daw.

Some people chose a master because they like the model, some because they like the fluff. For some it’s the playstyle and others because of recommendations.

I have chosen Jack for one simple reason, the amount of puns it will provide (Don’t know Jack, scores on the Daw’s, Jack off). But seriously the reason I’ve chosen Jack is the fluff the fact that it is one of the most thematic crews in the game so before I reveal my starting $60 worth of models let’s have a look at what’s available.

Jack Daw – Master / Outcast

One of the most iconic images in Malifaux is the body of Jack Daw strung from the Hanging Tree. Jack has hung from the Tree for as long as the citizens of Malifaux can remember, certainly before the breach re-opened. For an age Jacks spirit has been trapped in this body, watching and learning about the comings and goings in Malifaux before the events at Kytheria and the coming of the Grave Spirit freed Jack’s tormented soul from his body to scour Malifaux searching for revenge. One of Jack’s more interesting aspects is the fact that he seems to draw other tormented souls to him to fight for his cause which gives him access to hire any model with the Tormented characteristic.

Tormented Models

Lady Ligeila – Totem / Outcast

Jack’s totem, and a new character for M2E. As yet the model is unreleased so there is no known back-story, but she’s a spirit. Could be one of Jack’s exes who is stalking him. Will be in the box set.

Montressor – Henchman / Outcast

Another yet unreleased model but the rules would suggest he is some sort of Uber hanged, he has attacked that involve flinging nooses at people and can be officially proxied with the Nightmare Hanged so I expect he is either a hulking great hangman, or a bloody big tree. Will be in the box set.

The Guilty – Minion / Outcast

The last of the models that will be included in the box set (I suspect) will be the guilty, again no fluff has yet been released but I expect them to be something along the lines of Death Row prisoners and committers of the most heinous crimes, drawn to Jack to carry on their bloody work.

The Hanged – Minion / Resurrectionist

Jack’s most thematic tormented minion, the hanged are the souls of those hung for their crimes. Usually found within a Resurrectionist crew the Hanged are drawn to Jack as a kindred spirit, and if they try and tell you their secrets don't listen

The Drowned – Minion / Resurrectionist

Again another tormented soul (are you sensing a theme here) the drowned are those who have, well, been drowned. When you’re dead, dripping wet and out for revenge who better to hang around with than Mr Daw?

Crooked Men – Minion / Resurrectionist

They used to work in the Soulstone mines, they got crushed and now they are pissed off. They've got a job to finish and Jack can help them do it.

Jaakuna Umbume – Enforcer / Resurrectionist

Usually found knocking around with Kirai this spirit is known to lure travellers to their death by convincing them to help her save her children before trapping and drowning them where their souls spend eternity playing with the Children they were trying to save. And who cant resist helping a crying woman who seems to be standing in a nasty bit of swamp surrounded by floating bodies? (Its often the excuse I use when I'm late for work)

Nurse –Minion / Resurrectionist

McMourning’s Nurses are obviously a little bit, shall we say, mentally unbalanced. All that plastic surgery carried out with rusty equipment and no anaesthetic is enough to drive a girl mad and when Jack calls out, the nurses slap on their lippy and come a running.

Papa Loco – Minion / Resurrectionist 

After being sprung from the Asylum by his daughter, and then forced into fighting the Neverborn despite wanting to take it easy and enjoy daytrips to the coast at his time of life, Papa Loco is mad, and we are talking proper box of frogs insane. However his torment is soothed by a voice in his head, a voice that convinces him to join the fight, to blow away the torment and as many enemies that are in the area at the same time.

Non Tormented Models

These are other outcast models that I can see fitting into a Jack Daw crew, either thematically or aesthetically.

Ama No Zako – Enforcer / Outcast / Mercenary

No one knows when Ama crossed into Malifaux from Earth, but it was an age ago. Since she’s been in Malifaux no one knows what has happened to her (well at least I don’t) but she is now a daemon like creature summoned to kill for her master.

Void Wretch – Minion / Outcast

Being close to the edge of sanity means you are also close to slipping into the void. Since Tara pulled through the Nothing Beast his Void Wretches have been prevalent within Malifaux. Jacks ability to command Torment allow him to lure these beast to do his bidding (and they are a great 4SS minion so that’s my line and I’m sticking to it).

Hodgepodge – Outcast

Little doll creature that seems to roam about without rhyme or reason (there probably is rhyme and reason its just that I cant find my book with the fluff in it at the minute), why wouldn’t it be hanging out with Jack?

Killjoy – enforcer / Outcast

Whenever there is killing Killjoy isn’t far behind. If you can offer the price in blood then this cursed, rather overweight and somewhat bloodthirsty fallen Nephelim will be there.

So there’s a bit of back-story for the models that I consider themed to Jack. The next post will be about my initial selection of models, what they do and why I chose them.

TTFN

Beginnings

So, another miniature gaming blog, just what’s needed to cheer you all up.

Well if you’re looking for someone to blame the head over to Dave / sssk’s Malifaux blog ‘play it like beatdown’ at or listen to Chris King on the Chasing Bacon podcast (on second thoughts don’t listen to it, just skip to the relevant section) and it will become clear that this has been set up to report on ‘The Tale of Malifaux Bloggers’ project that’s going on.

‘The Tale of What, What?’

Yeah, apparently it’s a thing where Malifaux players new and old start up a new master, have a budget to spend on it per month (can’t remember how much) and then post updates on how things are going, what you have been up to and how many hobbies you have crushed with your new toys. Sounds fun to me.

So, you ask....

Who the Hell are you and why should I read this crap?

Well, my name is Scott Porter, I’m 38 years old and I’m a gamer! Well as a point of fact I’m more of a buyer of gaming paraphernalia. I have a little problem with that side of things.

 My earliest memories of anything gaming related I suppose were the good old Fighting Fantasy books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston (man they were great) and this progressed on to Heroquest, the MB / GW board game. Unfortunately the nearest place to where I lived that was worth visiting had a GW store (It used to be on The Moor in Sheffield, probably still there) and after stepping through the doors I strayed into the worlds of Advanced Heroquest, Warhammer Quest and 40k which I stuck with through my early teens until I decided that girls and booze were more fun.

I had a brief foray back into the world of 40K in my 20’s and started collecting Chaos & Imperial Guard armies but never played much and sold up after a year.

In my early 30’s I was working in London and found out a guy I worked with used to play a bit of D&D. We found a local board game shop where we picked up some Magic the Gathering (evil money sucking game, but great) starter decks and played on our lunch break, this followed on to mass games of Twilight’s Zombies!!! That used to see ‘extended’ lunch breaks which took up most of the Friday afternoons.

A few years after I left London and moved to Norwich I was feeling the urge to collect another 40k army and found a local gaming club, Aftermath, which I joined.

Feeling jubilant at finding somewhere to actually play games I bought myself a 40k ‘Nids army, played one game and then discovered that there were other game systems out there, things that I had heard about and never played!

The ‘Nids got sold (and I haven’t touched a GW game since, apart from Blood Bowl) and I discovered the world of gaming beyond GW gaming, and that’s where my problem started...

As far as miniature games go I own armies for Freebooters Fate, Kings of War, Dystopian Wars, Blood Bowl, Dreadball, Deadzone, Dust Tactics, Drake, Infinity, Bolt Action and probably more that I have forgotten and of course Malifaux, which I consider my main game at the minute.

My Malifaux History

I started playing Faux bang on 2 years ago now and am part of the fabled ‘Tractor Massive’. In 1.5 I played a lot of Colette (I’m the one the massive lovingly refer to as NPE) and Sonnia with a bit of McCabe mixed in.

To date I have had 20 games of M2E, 18 of which have been with Resser Tara and I recently won my first tournament at The Isle of Faux in January.

So, enough of this crap, what’s next?

Well the main purpose of this blog is to chart the progress of ‘The Tale of Malifaux Bloggers’ (of which I am now officially one) but I also hope to intersperse this with mindless ramblings, tournament reports and ripping the piss out of Matt Spooner.

I might even learn how to put links to other stuff in, and pictures, and all sorts of other stuff.

Until next time...

Scott

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Twitter - @Barnaberible