Wax Lyrical - Oxfordian Mages

So in keeping with my desire to give me as many excuses to write as possible, here’s a new thing. Extolling the virtues of models I feel are worth another look. This isn’t a ‘here’s the card, here’s a walkthrough of everything on it’ style of rundown, more of a commentary on strengths, compensating for weaknesses and good uses.

The first subjects under the spotlight are the Oxfordian Mages for Arcanists. Wyrd have given these guys two different sets of 0-cost upgrades that they can carry in an attempt to boost them up, but to be honest I’m not entirely sure they needed them.

 

 

Anyway.

So what do you get when you hire these guys and girls? Well, for starters, these are one of the few models that you really should hire all 3 models from that boxed set. With the Temporary Shielding upgrade they gained, if you hire all 3 you get a discount, bringing their cost down from 6SS to 5SS. You can have 2 for 12SS or 3 for 15SS – for me personally that’s really a no-brainer.

 

Another compelling reason to hire multiples is how they work. Thanks to their front of card abilities, they gain an extra Tome for each other Academic within aura 3, a keyword that they have themselves, up to 2 extra Tomes. And boy can they make use of those Tomes.

Their main cast action, Elemental Bolt, is a fairly lacklustre Ca6 2/3/4 damage. But it has 4 triggers, each of which require a single Tome and so become built-in with 1 other nearby Mage. They are; ignore Armour, hand out Burning +1, hand out Slow, Push target model 2” in any direction for each Tome in the final total. 

 

And that’s what you take them for. The Mages are range 10 and can Furious Cast, so you can access that toolbox an awful lot of times in a given turn and from a healthy distance away. It means that they become control pieces as well as raw damage dealers. Models that rely on their Armour won’t want to risk it. A model in cover can find themselves pushed out of cover by one Mage with Focus so their friends can Furious Cast a target that thought it was safe. They can sap AP by handing out Slow with reckless abandon, making them an even more irritating proposition in strategies like Stake a Claim and Squatter’s Rights. The Push (which comes after succeeding, not after damaging) can really mess with positioning. And Hard to Kill can be neatly circumvented with a timely Burning +1 finishing the model off at the end of the turn.

That versatility is another good reason to take them – they’re a good pick pretty much regardless of the Master you take, with strong synergies with 3 in particular.

 

Sandeep loves him some Oxfordian Mages, and they love Sandeep. As Academics they can copy his actions, including the 0 actions to Place and Interact. Sandeep can, via an upgrade, take a 1 action that means Academics within aura don’t randomise when casting into combat. And he can drop a Gamin in next to them that gives them positive flips when they attack. That will really hurt your opponent.

That ability to drop Burning, and the fact that they’re fairly self-sufficient, makes them a very strong pick with Kaeris. They don’t need her to be nearby, leaving her free to exploit her speed and manoeuvrability, whilst you can set models up for a going-over from Immolate or Truth in Flame.

 

The M&SU keyword also chains nicely with Ironsides and Ramos – Oxfordian Mages get a positive flip to WP duels if in line of an M&SU Master or Henchman. Situationally that can be really useful, and means they’re a lot less bothered by Terrifying models than other models might be.

Ironsides also benefits due to Warding Runes, as the only Master who can take it. As well as giving Counterspell, this upgrade keys off a set of 0 upgrades the Oxfordian Mages can take; Blood Ward, Doom Ward and Nemesis Ward. Each of these grants the carrying Mage a benefit, but also confers a benefit to the Warding Runes carrier. If Ironsides is within aura 10 of the Mages, and that’s a big aura, the benefits stack up – immunity to conditions and pulse damage, Regeneration +1, and positive flips to all defence duels caused by the enemy Master. For a Master who wants to be in the middle of the enemy, one of those is useful. All of them vastly increases Ironsides’ survivability.

 

Warding Runes can also be taken by any Henchman. I can tell you from experience, if you think Joss or Dr Sokolov is tanky off his base card, try adding all of those benefits to him as well. Ditto for the Great Carlos Vasquez.

Now look at all of the above and tell me you think the Oxfordian Mage is overcosted at 6SS, never mind the 5SS you’ll likely pay.

Don’t get me wrong, there are weaknesses, some of them quite glaring. But they’re not insurmountable problems.

The first one is that 5 Wounds. Most big hitters will just need a moderate damage to one-shot-kill a Mage. With that said, they do have Arcane Shield; as long as they haven’t activated, they reduce incoming damage by 1, and this can reduce to 0.

He’ll kill me but I have to tell this story – the first time I got a win over Joel Henry, in 3 years of trying, Pandora pelted into the middle of my Mage battery and went Inflict-Inflict-Inflict. That forces models within a pulse to take a WP duel or take 1 damage, then an additional 1 damage for failing the duel near Pandora. The Mages hadn’t activated yet and therefore ignored all the damage thanks to Arcane Shield. I found this really quite amusing. Joel did not.

 

Oxfordian Mages also gain the Temporary Shielding ability off the upgrade of the same name – discard a card and the upgrade to reduce incoming damage by 2. This will combo with Arcane Shield to reduce by 3, and as you choose which order to apply the reduction you can apply the Temporary Shielding first and then the Arcane Shield to reduce 3 damage to 0 if you really need to avoid triggers, for example.

Those abilities are nice and they’ll slow down the opposition, but they don’t help weather a storm. If your opponent wants your Mages dead, they’re going to die. But hopefully they’ll survive long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, or to have achieved their role.

 

The other main weakness you’ll encounter is the traditional bane of casting models – if they’re engaged in melee then they’re nowhere near as effective.

 With the Oxfordian Mages, that’s not entirely true. It certainly isn’t true for whichever Mage is carrying the Blood Ward upgrade, as their Cast gains a claw which means it can be used in melee. There have been a few opponents who have gone in to tie the Mages up only for the Blood Mage to Furious Cast at point blank range and either remove the threat or use all those Tomes to Push it clear.

 

All Mages have a 0 action that they can use in melee. Granted, a Ca6 attack with a 1/2/3 damage spread isn’t all that. But it does get interesting with triggers. 1 Tome means you get a Soulstone back after damaging. 2 Tomes knocks the damage track up to 2/4/5. And 3 Tomes gives you Deathtouch – the target must discard two cards or two Soulstones, or be dead. So they’re no pushovers.

I won’t lie, using Oxfordian Mages properly takes some practice. You want them close together but not in such a clump that one model can neutralise all 3. Their casts are projectiles so you need to be wary of cover and randomisation (unless Sandeep because Sandeep). And they’re not particularly quick. But if you can get the knack of it then you have a little powerhouse in your crew for the princely sum of 15SS.

Got a model that you want to Wax Lyrical about? Drop me a line! If you’re happy to write it I’m happy to post it.

Opening the Box of Worms

So the great Pandora experiment has reached half a dozen games played, and at this point I thought I’d jot some thoughts down to reflect on it.

I went into this knowing full well that it would require some serious play style adaptations. For most of this year I’ve been playing Arcanists who are one of the more forgiving factions. They have ways to score schemes coming out of their proverbial. Practiced Production makes most of them so easy I’ve actually started a thread on the Wyrd forums asking the games developers to look at it. The Arcanists have at least 3 tools for pretty much every occasion and as long as you bring the right tool and don’t play like a complete dickhead (there’s my problem right there…), any of those 3 will probably do the job.

 

That’s not been my experience with Neverborn so far. I’ve made some real clangers. Using a buried Bandersnatch to try and score Accusation for example – the model is buried, so it doesn’t engage anyone. They just remove the condition and carry on, whilst I thump my head against the table. And between Fears Given Form and Misery it is far too easy to accidentally kill a model, either yours or the opponent’s, and cost yourself Frame for Murder or Set Up.

 

There have been some amusing moments courtesy of ‘Panzer tech’, weird ideas I like to use to throw people. Rougarou Pinball was an experiment in Arcanists courtesy of Cojo, but actually works pretty well in Neverborn with Barbaros and Tooth. Using Wisps and Poltergeist to drop 3 Paranormal markers a turn (they project a 3” bubble that requires a TN15 WP duel or gain slow – why would that be bad around Pandora…) was funny, and may actually have a place in certain circumstances.

 

But things are starting to mesh. Pandora has won 2 games, drawn 1 (it was 4-4 after I cost myself both schemes – I’m counting this as a moral win) and lost 3, and I understand now what she does and what she needs. Of herself, on her card, she doesn’t do an awful lot. She needs enemy models to mess with. Use their damage tracks against them. Make them take duels with nasty consequences if they fail. Get those infamous auras in the right place. Joel Henry was spot on right when he said that she’s plutonium – being near her is very bad for your health.

 

Pandora excels at blocking your opponent and clearing out their weaker models. What’s new for me is that I need my crew to deal with opposing heavy hitters as well as having point scoring capability, as opposed to sending Lady Justice, Marcus, Ironsides, Sonnia or Rasputina to remove the threats like I’ve always done. It’s a completely different way of building a crew.

My game last night was a crushing defeat at the hands of Joel but the chat after the game and some emails flying around has given me some new ideas, and I’m looking forward to trying them out at the English GT this weekend down in Essex. I expect to be lower to mid table at best, and my tiny brain will probably implode day 2 with overwork, but I’m gonna give it a go!

 

 

Hot Topic - Chucking Principles in a Box

Good morning, Malifaux world.

A lot has happened since this blog went to sleep. Wave 5 has been confirmed and much of it appeared on an open playtest. There have been many, many events. It turned out that Americans really can play Malifaux and us Europeans were being sniffy. I know, right?

 

Anyway. I’m making resolutions here and now to try and get the blog active again, so without further ado, here we go.

This post was inspired by a tweet from Tobias Dracup about how he felt that his game had hit a glass ceiling lately. There was a lot of advice given, and most of it was very useful. A tip that stuck out for me included getting practice games against better players, something I’ve long been a big believer in. It’s why I make the hour’s drive north to Leicester every Monday for Squigs night. Well, correction. It’s why I started making that drive. Now I do because they’re my best mates and Monday evenings are the highlight of my week. But you also have the UK number 1 and 2 in regular attendance, along with 4 other event winners and our newer members, nearly all of whom are hitting podiums lately as well (sorry Scott, your quest for relevance continues… have you tried playing Gremlins?).

 

Some of the advice Tobias received was from me – look back at your defeats and see if there are any common themes. Any particular strategies. Any particular factions. Are you getting your scheme choices wrong. And so on. Identify problems and work to fix them.

Primarily I am one of those players that plays the game for fun. I do it for relief. I do it because I enjoy it. I do it because I thrive on the social interactions. But, and I think everyone who plays competitive anything will admit this, I do like to win too. And lately I have started to realise there are games I’m losing regularly, so I took my own advice.

It’ll come as no shock when I admit to being an aggressive player. I love the alpha strike. Applied brutality is a beautiful thing when it works, and a top-ranked player has to do a double-take because the erratic loon across the table has just pulled off a Master assassination run top of turn 2. There are other aggressive players on the scene now – Baby Squig Chris Donaldson, the shop-keeping walking rage machine Karl McConnell of Warzone’s Own and the Gonads’ (I know it’s Faux-mads but Snezzley renamed them and I can’t stop myself…) Tim Britton , to name but 3.

That means that players are adapting to deal with aggression and what I’m seeing a lot of is chess-style piece / model exchange. My opponents accept that at some point, something big and powerful that they don’t want to lose is going to disappear, and potentially a couple of its friends as well. So they set up to make extra sure that the counterattack takes my hitters down too, leaving the shells of both crews to score the remaining points in the game.

 

This is where I tend to lose. That tight, technical last couple of turns where things like activation order and finesse are paramount. Your top tier players are ultimately happy to end up in this situation because they back themselves to win these exchanges.

One game still sticks in my mind against the nicest guy in Malifaux, Rich Bream. My Sonnia crew tore into his Pandora crew with such gusto that I was 7-0 up by the end of turn 2. I was then completely outplayed, didn’t score another point and lost 9-7.

So my areas of improvement are painfully obvious. I need to teach myself some measure of finesse and learn the finer points of the game so that I’m not completely outclassed once I’m done smashing things off the table. That means playing a faction and Master that isn’t particularly forgiving of mistakes, rewards good technical play and proper activation order, and will let me get to grips with these things.

This is where it gets slightly murky. After thinking about it I realised there is a Master that meets those criteria. It’s Pandora.

 

Yes, I know. THAT Pandora. The one that induces epic keyboard-smashing rage. I can hear the indignant squeak from Castle Marshall even as I type this. That same Pandora that I published an article for here on this very blog telling people thinking about playing her to go and buy a WhoreMachine rulebook. The Master that I once bought, painted and sold 6 months later having never played.

But think about it for a second.

She is all about auras, and getting her areas of effect to overlap with those of her crew to catch enemy models between them. That means she needs to be in the right place, and the right place for her is up front. Her wounds count is a pathetic 10 and if you get it wrong, her only defence is a stat of 7. Cock it up, and I’ve seen plenty of Pandora players do so, you’ll lose her and you’ll lose her early.

The activation order has to be right in order to get that placement for her. Fears Given Form, the Neverborn upgrade that forces difficult Defence duels on activation with pain if you fail, is a double-edged sword for that reason because it affects both friend and foe. Get your bubble wrong and you could potentially have to take all those tests with your own crew, and Neverborn aren’t renowned for their staying power.

 

That lack of staying power is why, in my view, Neverborn aren’t a very forgiving faction. If you screw up then you can lose models to a single activation from your opponent. But get it right, and have those cogs turning properly, and they are very, very strong.

So I’ve decided to risk the nerd rage and play some Pandora. She ticks the boxes I need to be ticked in order to learn, and her way of coming at your opponent sideways appeals to me.

 

I’m aware of the Negative Play Experience potential and will be doing my best to mitigate it. Paralyse builds don’t appeal to me in the slightest for that very reason. I’ll be more than happy to talk things through with my opponent after the game, assuming they didn’t kick her head in. And I’ll make sure before we get going that they know what to look out for.

Ultimately though I think this experiment will be worth it. I need to learn, and Pandora will teach me. And along the way, through my own thundering incompetence or post-game chats, I hope a lot of the myths about her can be deconstructed and she won’t be so scary for people in the future. And if they prove true, at least I’ll have facts and evidence on my side rather than Internet dogma!