Wave 3 Leveticus

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the weekend off. As such, I was able to head down to Hobby Quest in Longmont to get in some more Malifaux. I had to be out early to get my kids, and nobody showed up to play until after one, so I wasn't able to get in a full game, but I did get in a few turns against David's new Von Schill crew.

Leveticus got a midweek revamp, reaffirming my belief that Leveticus is well on his way to being the only master in all three Beta tests. The changes, model wise, are only to the Waife and Leveticus himself, but upgrade wise, they are all of them. Unmaking got a rewrite, with Unnatural Wasting becoming a trigger that negates what Unmaking does and does Unnatural Wasting instead(?). The Pariahs are back to Iron and Bone and only allow that type of hires. His summon is now its own card, but only works on scrap. Both he and Rusty got a ranged attack summoning ability for Abominations when the target model dies, but it needs two suits which Rusty doesn't have built in, meaning it costs a stone per Abom(I can probably live with that). He resummon has been moved to 6ss models from henchmen/enforcers(Hello, Ronin!). He now feels clogged for upgrades, but beyond that I don't really feel one way or the other about the whole thing. Beyond the whole complete rewrite two weeks before Beta end, AGAIN, thing.
Anyway, on to the game. He double shot Risty with Focussed Trappers, feeding her some hurt. I sent Ashes and Dust up the right to were he had denied flank me after my deployment. Ashes and Dust stayed there for the rest of the game, reviving once. It is probably the only time he has actually worked for me. It wasn't that he DID anything, its that he BLOCKED everything. He was an impenetrable wall of me getting Reconnoiter. David put Hannah up there to block his summon, Von Schill into him, he charged the Trapper to get there, and the Librarian was stuck there to heal Von Schill from A&D and Leveticus's poundings. The Strong Arm kinda came up the middel, but never crossed center, or stepped outside the 6" zone. Johan and the Abomination killed the Trapper on the left and then split to claim the left two quarters. Had the game continued, they would likely have also snagged me A Line in the Sand. Rusty got a beating pretty much all game, likely due to me announcing her Vendetta against Hannah, which was just a fun Hench vs Hench thing for me anyway. He dropped a marker behind his stuck models for Protect Territory, but that was about it. With him unable to get out of his zone, I took an early lead.

In a "I know the game is ending due to time" move, I had the Dust Storm drop a scheme, as well as the Abomination, giving me two Sand markers, netting me a point, plus my two Recons, giving me three to his one. I do think I could have gotten full Recon and A Line in the Sand points, but I was pretty sure Rusty was going to die before she ever got near Hannah. For his part, I felt my wall was cracking and would soon break. I don't think the left side of the board was in danger, but he may have been able to flood the right. Protect Territory would be pretty easy then, and it would be a matter what he could do for A Line in the Sand. As it was, I was likely going to max at 7vp, while he had a chance for 8. If I could hold his Recon for one more turn, and manage to get all of mine, the likely worst I could plan for was a draw. At the time, though, I wasn't feeling so strong, with me dishing damage that was gone at the end of the turn, and my own models taking far more punishment, I was feeling my lead slipping.

I think David has a similar problem to my own issue with Reckoning. We play a particular mission often, but can't seem to get ahead with it. I am able to hold my opponents back on they own Reckoning points, which gives me a fighting chance. He, however, focuses more on killing, and so doesn't get the Reconnoiter points, or is he able to hold his opponent back. His Von Schill crew does have far more minion models than I have seen him field previously, so maybe that will help him in the future. The Next time we play Recon, I am going to definitely have to see if I can give him some pointers.

Well, all in all a pretty good weekend, though my record was less than stellar. I already have some ideas for my Night Lords to test against a force like Troys, and while I am not sure I will play with Molly often, it did give me a couple thoughts for both Tara and Leveticus. Leveticus is going to take some getting used to, but I'm not sure I will be taking the Pariahs as much. Though, I do think its required for summoning Leveticus, so he can get Joss and/or a Large Arachnid to get the scrap counters on the board. Then again, I could just wait until the next beta....

CW out.