Sending opponents into possessed rage

I managed to blast through three games this past weekend, even with no late gaming. Two of the games were with my Henchman Bash list I am bringing next Sunday. I wasn't sure if it would work, but after two games, I think it can, though it will be heavily card dependent. On to the games!

The Henchman tournament will be a story encounters tournament. We are limited to Henchman leaders, 30SS, only one Henchman allowed, first mercenary doesn't cost a point extra(the Outcast finger), with Fixed lists. I am signed up for Rusty Alyce. Tactically, I think a Taelor list would be better, but a little on the boring side. Instead, I am taking Rusty Alyce with both of her specific upgrades, Desolation Engine, and Ashes and Dust. Pretty straight forward list, run forward, kill stuff, make Abominations, use them to get objectives, reform if needed. Some small movement tricks with Ashes and Alyce's scrap marker, but all in all, nothing profound. So far, it has been working.


Game one was versus Payton's Seamus crew. He is not playing in the tournament, so he just brought a regular 30SS crew. Seamus, Izamu, a Necropunk, and two Belles. His general plan is to suck you in and kill you with Izamu, while Seamus dances around. We had Theft(I grab gems and hold them or bring them home) versus Counterfeit(he drops untouchable markers on my side of the table). I took Deliver a Message and Plant Evidence. I setup in the middle, around terrain. He kind of split, with Izamu and a Belle in the center, Seamus and a Bell on his right, and the Necropunk far to his left. I moved up with the DE, following more slowly with Rusty, while Ashes and Dust circled to my right. He moved up, with Seamus heading way out in front and running into some DE love. Turn two he pulled the DE over to Izamu and a Belle, the DE turned the Belle into a Abomination, while Izamu beat on the DE. Ashes and Dust threatened the Necropunk, but he was able to leap away.

On turn three, he pulled the DE the other direction, back into Seamus and the other Belle. The DE beat on Seamus, who ran, and the Ashes and Dust started nabbing objectives. His Necropunk ran into my zone and dropped some Evidence and placed a Counterfeit marker.
On turn four, the DE one hit killed the second Belle, making another Abomination, and then charged Izamu, also locking up Seamus. I now had two Abominations, the newest was going to move to drop Evidence next turn, the older one would move and grab a gem this turn. Ashes already had a Gem and had dropped evidence and was looking to do more of both this turn. Rusty Alyce turned an shot the Necropunk dead, creating another Abomination, which was off to burn the evidence on the last turn. However, that never happened, as Payton called the game. I had kinda forgotten my Deliver a Message, but was in a position to get it, had I checked. Ashes could have easily gotten it on turn four, but again, if I had checked it before I activated him. In any case, it was pretty much a guaranteed win for me.
The list worked as I wanted it to, but that was no guaranty it would a second time. So, even though I was happy with how it played, I still want more play testing.


But, that was not to happen on Saturday. Instead, I had had Nabors write me up a German SS list, for some entrenched heavy firepower Germans. He gave me a list with two units of 10, with two machine guns, a Sargent with a better rifle, and the rest rifles, a sniper unit, and a command with two rifles and a submachine gun Lt. He had two unit, a mortar, a lone Lt, and a Rocket Launcher squad. He deployed fairly centrally, I placed one squad in a crater in the center, the other in a forest on my left, the Lt's squad behind a hill slightly to my right, and the sniper on my far right, behind a brick wall. The first turn was fairly even on order pulls, but I still took an early lead. This game was all about my machine guns and his pin markers(or whatever they are called). I rolled six after six. My goal was not to kill his guys, which is mostly impossible in this game, but to load hime with penalty markers. And machine guns are really good at that. Eight shots per squad, aiming for sixes, but two markers if I get one, sounds good to me. The game basically went down, he advanced early, then I spent the rest of the game moving forward and pushing him back, until his models fell off the table. He ended up calling it, with half his force dead, including his Lt(I think), and myself only down a couple of guys. I do have to say he was making leadership rolls like a boss most of the game, but with the number I forced, he just had to fail some. I had also relegated his Lt to rallying his remaining unit every turn. Unlike most games, where fire power is removed by finishing the squad, Bolt Action benefits from spreading shots, and making it more difficult for them to act.


Well, with Saturday over, that is the end of gaming. Not this week it isn't. With my 30SS Henchman list in hand, I raced to Longmont after work, before I went to pick up my kids. I played Dave. I know they have other players there, I have seen them, but none of them will play me. He was also running his Henchman list, led by Snowstorm. He also had a Silent One, December Acolyte, and the Mechanical Rider. He had Sabotage, and I had Hold Ground. Pushing opposing crews back is something I am fairly good at, however, we had close deployment. I needed him 16" away from my board edge. Hmmm... trouble. He revealed his Sabotage, so I had that advantage going in, though he had picked a central piece, so that likely hurt him as well. With close deployment I took Breakthrough, since that is Center Line, and Plant Evidence, cause I like it. I then shoved Ashes and DE around the crates he was after, and bottle necked him, while Rusty stood back, ready to pepper anything that was free. He started by smacking the DE around, doing a fairly good job, but if you don't kill it, it will hit you and heal back to full. Which it did. He then targeted Rusty, and took he down below half, and gave me a bit of a scare, burning two stones to prevent damage. He then moved away from her, which I think may have been a mistake, but he had targeted her early in the turn, so I had had cards to stop him, which may have been a factor. He then focused on Ashes, dropping him to one wound. The DE, however, was able to kill the Rider and make an Abomination, the Acolyte looked to be following suit. Snowstorm was also in dire straights and still locked with the DE. I had already gotten points for Hold Ground, and both of my schemes looked fairly easy to accomplish with Rusty alone. I was also hitting his crew hard, which always makes Dave feel like he is on the back foot. So he called it.
I felt the crew had once again performed well. However, both of my opponents are players that take damage to their crew very hard, even though they aren't actually losing, just hurting. Next Sunday, I am likely to face players more my style who can take a beating and still maintain focus on the goal.

After all, in Malifaux, life is cheap.