Peace Was Never an Option

  Round 3! This time we’re playing Break the Line, similar to Symbols of Authority in setup but you have to move the markers into the opponent’s table half at 2” a time. If you get them 8” or more over the line they are worth two, and as is common you need more markers than you have scored VPs to score VPs. The schemes (and my initial thoughts) are: Research Mission – This seems okay for marker based crews. Scheme marker, corpse/scrap marker, one of your crew’s markers in the same place and you can score the first point. Three models alive on the enemy table half and within 2” of a different marker type also feels doable, so long as your opponent doesn’t bring a ton of marker removal. Detonate Charges – Two scheme markers within 2” of the same enemy model, that seems like a False Claim dream but keeping Sly alive to the end of the game when they know that’s what you’re going for doesn’t seem likely. Just bringing him at all probably signals he needs to die before he can mak...

  On to the second round! This is Symbols of Authority, a strategy I haven’t played before but seems deceptively simple on paper. Four strategy markers placed outside your deployment zone and 8 inches of each other, concealing and impassable but not blocking line of sight. A model in base-to-base contact can take the interact action to remove it and you score a point if you manage that each round. Discussion on the MWS discord was helpful in pointing out the areas you can stick the markers where a 2” reach model blocks off access completely. I also read the Danger Planet article https://www.goonhammer.com/how-to-gain-grounds-and-influence-people/   on the strategy (which also includes the other two non-GG4 strats in this event, Corrupted Leylines and Break the Line, so that was handy!) and had a think. The schemes (and my initial thoughts) are as follows: Secret Meetup – There is a ton of terrain on the board that could be picked, but predicting where my opponent’s...

  So here it is! My first tournament game of Malifaux. I was matched up against Cadmus Breakfast, a name I’ve seen around the discords for a little while, playing Arcanists. As mentioned, I’m playing Bayou. The strategy was Raid the Vaults (one I’ve played in person, hooray!) on flank deployment and the scheme pool was: Let them Bleed, Take Prisoner, Protected Territory, Ensnare, Information Overload. My pre-game thought process was as follows. I wanted to play Ophelia. She’s my favourite master and if there’s any strategy she can perform on it is Raid the Vaults. She’s probably the sturdiest crew in Bayou and this map is relatively open, lots of good sightlines for the guns. Playing around with Ophelia in advance I found I preferred the title version (Overloaded) to the standard. Ophelia1 is extremely good at putting out a lot of damage in a small area, but the totems become a bit of a liability threatening to give up activation control without much in return. In Ophelia2...