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!
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