Almost the end of December...ALMOST!

The end of the year is upon us, and with it, the end of month 3 of TOMB3.

So far this month, I've put more paint on Lucius and his Lawyer friend, started the Puke Snake  Primordial Magic and an Illuminated (who will be subtracted from my remaining total in an upcoming post), and finished the Scion of Black Blood.  I've also done some assembly for models to be painted in January for the TOMB3.

I've also played a few games with Lucius, and haven't figured him out yet.  I'm not losing by a lot, but I definitely need more practice.  In general, I need to play more.  Which leads to....

I've signed up to play in a Shifting Loyalties league, a format that doesn't seem like it'll suit my Lucius crew well.  I'm considering playing a Brilliance-heavy crew (The Honey Pot Expansion Expedition), led by the Hungering Darkness itself.  Math to be done, and I'm contemplating attempting to paint the crew as I go.  A second painting project that will likely have some crossover with the TOMB!  Woot!

Most importantly, I'm done with work for the year,  I plan to paint a bit tonight, and likely more tomorrow and the next day.  That's why this is an almost-end-of-the-month-post;  because the month ain't over yet!

I'll post an end-of-month TOMB3 update in the next day or two, after I'm done painting for the year.  Not just the TOMB3 stuff, but a full update.  With pictures probably.  I'm kinda proud at the amount of painting I've gotten done this year.  Waaay more than previous years.  Will I keep it up, and carry it forward?  You bet!

#TOMB3 - Tournament Report - Lucius vs the world!

I played in a tournament at Paladin Games in Avalon Park, FL on Saturday.  It was a small turnout (3 players), as many holiday season tournaments are, but we played anyways, and everyone got to play each other.  I forgot to take pictures or notes, so here are the outcomes, including my take-aways.

Round 1 vs Guild:  I tried a list containing a large number of minions (4 Corrupted Hounds, 2 Changelings, 2 Terror Tots) along with the Doppelganger, Widow Weaver, Primordial Magic and Lucius.  Opponent played Sonnia, Francisco, Sam Hopkins, 2 Austringers, Friekorps Specialists, Eternal Flame.  I ended up losing 5-8.  It felt close, but it really wasn't as I basically had no shot at getting Take Prisoner.

Lessons from the game:  1. Do not try to Take Prisoner on an Austringer.  I wasn't aware of their push action, and it cost me 3 points and the, well, draw.  2. You need a beater.  I spent 2 turns with 3 models attacking Sonnia (2 Changelings and a Tot) and got her to 11 wounds before she sworded her way back to 7 wounds.  If I had something a bit harder hitting, she'd have been out of there and I'd have had a bit of breathing room.  I also had 3 turns of hounds surrounding Francisco, unable to finish him off.  Same problem.  Needed a harder hitter.  3.  Holy crap does Lucius really need a Lawyer.  I had 3 failed Horror duels in one turn (yes, I should have stopped using the ability...I see that now), which resulted in 2 turns of Francisco whacking dogs unanswered.  Bad player, could have saved it with a some Law.

Round 2 vs Arcanists.  I played Lucius, Dashel, 2 Guard Riflemen, Lawyer, Beckoner, Tuco and 3 Corrupted Hounds against Ramos, Howard, Joss, Brass Arachnid and some spiders.  I got swarmed hard.  I killed Howard but lost Dashel shortly thereafter, and just could keep my shooters clear long enough.  The game ended with probably 6 more spiders having been made throughout the game.  Lucius managed to survive the game, and cost my opponent an unrevealed ALitS by stealing one of his four scheme markers on the center line.  This kept the game as a 6-5 loss for me.  Had I been able to keep a Squat marker one more turn, it would have been a tie.

Lessons from this game:  1.  Don't use 3 crap guys to hold a flank.  Joss tore through my Corrupted Hounds without any trouble, and held down an entire side of the board.  2.  Don't pick a 7 point model for Frame for Murder and get it killed early.  Pick a crappy model and throw it at a henchman.  I got Tuco killed on turn 2 after being obnoxious with the shotgun while standing near Howard.  Also, Howard is not a henchman.  I should have gone after Joss :)  3.  Don't set up a firebase on a flank.  It should be more central, and able to reach out and touch most of the objective points.

That said, I really enjoyed this game.  I got some good synergy rolling, had some killing power, and got to shout "Objection!" far more than any game should allow.  It was fun and light-hearted, as we were both out of the running for first, but holy crap spider summoning!  I couldn't keep them off the table!

The day, as a whole, was good. Played a pair of good games against factions I don't usually see at the home shop, and played them both with Lucius.  This brings my games played with him up to...3.  I need to play more.

As for the TOMB3, I'll post again soon.  I've got some painting to do, to catch up, but I'm feeling the painting bug getting ready to bite over the holidays!

4 men enter...one man wins!

Quick update, semi-TOMB3 related:

I played in a tournament at Paladin Games in Orlando, FL this weekend with my Neverborn, and fought my way to first place, nightmares blazing and bureaucracy shining!  Did I take pictures like I intended to?  NO!  I SUCK!

In rounds one and two (vs Neverborn/Pandora and Ten Thunders/McCabe), I played The Dreamer with his summoning upgrade and none of my TOMB3 models, so I won't really talk about them in depth.  I won round one by a large margin (8-1 or so), and won round two by a single point and some grace (8-7), which I'll talk about in the end.

In the final round, vs Arcanists (Mei Feng), I decided to play Lucius, whom I had not played yet.  The strategy was Squatter's Rights, and the scheme pool was ALitS, Protect Territory, Distract, Cursed Object, and Spring the Trap.  I chose Spring the Trap and ALitS, figuring that I'd be dropping Scheme markers on the center line, and his master would come up to meet in the middle.

The crew I brought was all minions, except for Lucius and the Primordial Magic.  This meant that I had a whole lot of targets for Lucius to issue commands to, and with a Guild Lawyer in the mix, I don't think I failed a single Horror duel from Lucius.  However, I was lacking in beaters, and by the end of the game, I had only Lucius and the totem left while he had only lost the Emberling and a rail worker.  I had scored a full points Spring the Trap on turn two, with a pair of scheme markers in the center of the board, before Mei Feng could super-kick them away.  I only scored for the strategy twice, but the Primordial Magic did its job to become my fourth LitS marker at the end of the game.  I ended up winning 8-7, as he got 3 from strategy, 3 from Protect Territory and 1 from LitS.  Overall an incredibly close and bloody game.

On Lucius:
I still need to figure out how to play him, but at the basic level (he walks and issues commands) I felt okay.  I forgot about his upgrades pretty regularly, forgot that hidden sniper needs a Ram, and threw away a lot of my crew for early points.  It worked out well this time, but was on the knife's edge from losing.  He needs some minions, but not all minions.  I get that now.  I'm excited to play him some more, and to try different crews out.

On sportsmanship:
I witnessed excellent sportsmanship this weekend, and I wanted to point it out.  First, some backstory:  In playing most mini-war-games, knowing your rules is important, but knowing your opponent's rules is more impactful on the game.  Its also tougher, as there are 7 factions, and they all have lots of models, and all of them have different rules, and lots of gotcha's.  I've gotten into the habit of keeping the "gotcha's" out of my games, typically with reminders and courtesy warnings. I tell my opponents about the Primordial Magic's "become a scheme marker" shenanigans, remind about Terrifying before its provoked, remind about Teddy's Smell Fear when someone is about to fail said Terrifying, and is trying to decide whether to Cheat Fate to pass or let it go, and so on and so on.  I'd rather lose a game with full knowledge out there than pull the rug out from under an opponent.

In my second round of this past weekend's tournament, I played against Josh's Ten Thunders led by Lucas McCabe, in Reckoning.  I have not played or played against McCabe before, and I told Josh about this at the start of the game, more or less to pre-apologize for questioning lots of things.  We both play the game, and like always, I am as forthcoming as possible on what's going on with the game.  I get a bit lazy towards the end of the last turn, as it looks like I've got the full points for Breakthrough and Murder Protege, and he's got full points for Protect Territory and LitS, and we're tied on Reconnoiter points but I have 2 table quarters firmly held, one contested and he's out of models to activate.  I attempt to pass with my remaining models (including the Dreamer), but he stops me, and informs me that at the end of the turn, he'll be able to move McCabe via an upgrade, which would move him into the contested quarter and flip it to his side, which will make the game a draw.  I thank him, and summon a model with the Dreamer and take the quarter, and the win.

I thanked him again afterwards for his honesty, and his response was "I may have lost, but I'd rather lose than win that way when we've been so honest about things the entire game."  Class act.  Would I have been upset about getting "gotcha'd" that way at the end of the game?  Nope, not really.  He'd made that end-of-turn move a few times already, and I had forgotten it.  My fault, and moreso my fault for not pushing to guarantee the win, even if it felt excessive.  But the point remains, Josh was a classy opponent, a kindred spirit in the belief of fairness and I would play him any day of the week

Wow, this quick update went long.

TL,DR:  Won a tournament, played Lucius.  I'm a basic Lucius player who needs to play more to get better with him and do more than just walk.  Josh is a class act, who showed me how to win when I was trying to earn a draw via a lack of model knowledge.