T.O you T.O me.

I'd like to write a short post about T.Oing events.

Now I'm far from an expert at Tournament Organising but if I can bumble my way through it anyone can. So I thought I'd write a sort of idiots guide to running a tournament for any of you who fancied trying it yourself.

First things first. As with all things have a plan and stick to it but don't be afraid to adapt it as things change. So if you have want a big mega competitive tournament but only a handful of people sign up think about relaxing things or if no one can make it on time think about pushing back the start time. Simply put don't try and fit a square peg in a round hole and thing will go a lot smoother for you.

List Building at Dark Faux

As my full-sized report on Dark Faux is dragging along and still not ready to be published I thought I would post some more specific musings that wouldn't be covered in the main tournament report. Namely, I want to talk about list building. List building in a very short period of time is one of the most underrated skills in Malifaux. You have to have some idea of what all your models do, when to take them, and when not to. Also you have to be able to consider the strategy, schemes, terrain and scenario. Obviously knowing the strategy in advance you can think of some combinations that would be useful but until you have all the need information you can't make any final decision (or at least you shouldn't). This is also why pre-releasing schemes and pre choosing lists is problematic as you are still lacking in intel, not knowing your opponent or the board itself.

Due to the importance of list building and the fact that I have been talking about it a lot recently with other Abnormalifaux members, I thought I would go through my thought process on the lists I built for a couple of the games at Dark Faux. This will not be completely in-depth but will touch upon the main considerations I made. Also keep in mind that Dark Faux was a fixed master event so it is slightly different from games where you won't know the opponents master when building your crew.

Game 1: Squatters Rights (Corner) vs Maria

LITS
Assassinate
Distract

Plant Explosives

Vendetta

Beg, borrow and deal. The art of buying Malifaux.

Once again I'm going to have a bit of a rant. Buying Mali-crack is something we all do. (I'm assuming you do other wise you're just reading this for my charm and wit). So if you buy it then you've at some point had a decision to make as to where to buy you're faux.

Now I'll say again this isn't a guide it is a sad angry man having a rant so don't base any major life decisions on what I say.

The choices for buying new toys is greater than ever. You have the official store, various online stores, eBay, Facebook groups, friends who aren't as big of mini hoarders as you and of course if you are lucky you have a friendly neighbourhood game store.

So how do you decide where to buy and why are you wrong?

New Years Resolutions: 6 Months In

Well, here we are. The first 6 months of 2015 are over and gone and I thought it would be a good time to see how I was doing on my resolutions I posted back in January when the blog was still in it's infancy. I have put the original text from that article in purple and my commentary in the usual black font to keep it obvious what is what.

1) End the year in the UK top 50 (Malifaux Rankings). People needed 4 solid showings to make the top 50 this year. Think it will be even harder for 2015 so will probably need to end in the top 3rd of 4 events (just a guess, hard to say in advance). Also now that their are faction rankings up I would also like to end up in the Neverborn top 10.
Well it turns out I am stronger player than I thought I would be when I wrote this (having only done two tiny events in 2014). I had this goal locked up by the end of February which is pretty cool. Currently ranked 14th overall and 3rd in Neverborn. The current goal on this front is to qualify for Masters, which means I need to finish in the top 15 at the end of the year. I think I've probably got 4 or 5 more events this year I will attend and I likely need two strong finishes to qualify.

What's the story McMouning glory?

A brief post about Malifaux not as a game but as a story.

Once upon a time, on a train ride far far away.

Now for a lot of people the story or fluff if you're that way inclined, is as 

much a part of the game as the models or the rules. For some people the story is just an excuse to have a heavier rule book.

There's plenty to enjoy in the story of Malifaux, the existence of Though the Breach RPG is proof of that.

We all know the basic story, a group of Paul Daniels wannabes open a steampunk stargate to a strange and dangerous world full of beasts, monsters and gremlins ( no not Australia, it's not that bad).

Cricket or Gladiators in the Arena

A flurry of recent Facebook posts has really struck a cord with me.

The first was a post about how the lack of a competitive scene was harming the Malifaux community and stopping it growing. The second was from a player who was irritated that a tournament had limited summoners to models in a list of a 100ss models for the day in line with other crews.  He felt that he was being punished for being an experienced competitive player.

As always in Malifaux, the posts and discussions were well thought out and the debate remained civil. At one point it was suggested that the 100ss model pool kept things fair for beginners. One poster opinioned that if beginners wanted that kind of thing, perhaps they should go to a beginners tournament. He had paid for his collection, spent time building and painting it, and should therefore be able to actually rock up and use it in a legal crew if he wanted.

I found it a little depressing. I don’t know if community would grow if it was “more” competitive or not, or whether the model limit is a good idea or not. What really struck me was that there is a upcoming challenge for us as Malifaux players. That challenge is the growth of the game and how to steer a course between ultra competitive and too laid back.

Hardcore fun.

So we recently had the first of the bi-monthly hardcore henchman nights at Dark Sphere and I thought I'd do a quick right up of how it went.

First off for those that don't know henchman hardcore is a mini version of Malifaux, there are a few different tweaks to the rules played but the basic is 20-30min games 20ss henchman led and four models per crew. The strategy is usually turf war (I went for extraction instead but I'll get to that later) and the only scheme is assassinate and finally its close deployment. That gives you the idea, the rules I use are here.


So I went for extraction over turf war as this meant the game wouldn't just stick to a single point. In such a quick game it wouldn't make a huge difference but in third or if quick fourth turn it the marker moving 3 inches could mean someone has to decided weather to go with it or maybe hold their ground and fight.

A sea of grey and black

This post is kind of a personal ramble. I’ve had a really good look at my collection and decided I have a hobby problem. Finally all the years of plastic crack has drained my bank a/c, filled every nook and cranny in the garage and left me with a mountain of painting. 

I had a long weekend so it was time to take stock. Deep breath, I can’t really buy more Malifaux until I’ve cleared out some stuff, assembled all my boxed Malifaux models and done a lot more painting. I also need to sell off my old Warhammer Fantasy and 40 Stuff. I can’t see when I’ll need a Grey Knight army any more, or 6 Inquisitorial Chimeras with Forge World decals. I won’t ever dust off the Sisters of Battle or the Chaos “Naughty Marines.” I don’t know if Wood Elves will even exist in the latest Warhammer Fantasy Reboot. 

Summer Showdown Tournament Report

Well after almost 3 months since my last event (name it) I finally was back in a tournament. This was also the first tournament I had done since finishing painting Zoraida and Pandora so for the first time I was going into the event with more than just one master (Dreamer) to choose from. Was really looking forward to the added tactical choices this entailed. Also since the strategies weren’t pre-announced I would have to be making quick choices. My goal for the day was to use at least two different masters and get four good games in. After not being in a proper event in a while I was too rusty to worried about placing (although obviously I was hoping to do well)

Game 1: Reckoning (Standard) vs Lee Walstow

LITS
Bodyguard

Breakthrough

Plant Evidence

Deliver the Message

Deployment

My List:

Pandora with On Wings of Darkness, Fugue State, Box Opens

Primordial Magic

Nekima with Fears Given Form

Coppelius with On Dreaming Wings

Doppelganger

Silurid

7 Stones