EVS at Haul of Eggs 9

Hello again! Graeme here, back after Simon’s brief dalliance with all things involving mud and bacon.

As I promised in my last blog, I did indeed attend Haul of Eggs 9 with Explorers. I managed to sneak in precisely two practise games and turned up with my standard goal for any event: don’t win the wooden spoon.

Now something I picked up while playing M2E is that my crews work far better in general when I have a core that rarely changes, and the last model or two are flexed around schemes.

My initial plan, therefore, was to start with the following:

Maxine/Orville

Beau Fishbocker - his heal and pushes are amazing, and under Maxine 1 he generally cheats 1 card and draws me 2

Harata - 2” melee, the Ngeri Haka and Distraction means he’s almost always in Intrepid Emissary - another 2” melee and adds a suite of defensive tech into the list 

Dr Beebe and Calypso - these two get work done, especially when you accidentally cheat with them (oops)

Leaving me with 14 stones. For my flex choices, I had:

Vernon and Welles - if I need to scheme more 

Harpooner (maybe with an upgrade) - I hadn’t tried this, but the Tidecaller had disappointed me in the practise games so I wanted to branch out

Machinists - if someone declared Pandora, for the protection of their Eye of the Hurricane

Kiya Manimi - likely taking Harata’s spot, if I needed her Ruthless ability

Two final notes. The first was me keeping an eye out for Lady Justice and Tara. If either of those appeared, I was immediately dropping Dr Beebe and Calypso from the list, or Dr Beebe just dies real fast.

Second, I started each game with an apology to my opponent and an explanation that I’m newly returned from M2E - if I get a rule wrong, call me out straight away.


Game 1
Covert Operation vs Troy Ashdown’s Asami 1
Fate is a funny thing. Troy is one of the few players I knew from five/six years ago when I played before, so naturally enough I get drawn against him. We had a good catch up about life (congrats again on the incoming arrival) and his beard (self-proclaimed as the best in Malifaux, I believe), then set about the game.

Schemes were Breakthrough, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Public Demo and Secret Meetup. I picked Breakthough and Hidden Martyrs.

I ran my core list with a Harpooner with Treasure Map to work against any scheming he’d try to run into my backfield.

This game went my way pretty quickly, with Dr Beebe, Harata and Maxine making short work of his hired Jorogomo turn 1, then applying solid pressure to Asami from turn 2. I was really helped by Troy sending his Amo No Zako down a flank after Orville (a hidden Martyr), only for me lock her down with the Emissary/Harpooner while Dr Beebe, Maxine and Harata took control elsewhere.

Asami dropped turn 3 (I think), Amo in turn 4 and my Harpooner was able to harass his Yokai enough to prevent the end game breakthrough scoring. Biggest mistake I made was protecting my Hidden Martyrs (Orville and the Harpooner), as I lost neither so was left scoring 0 for that scheme. The game ended 6-3 me.

Goal won! No spoon for me!


Game 2
Carve a Path vs Gabriele Sosso’s Zoraida
Vendetta, Spread Them Out, Load ‘Em Up, Set the Trap, In your Face

Confession time here, I missed a nuance for one of my models throughout this game that would’ve been a complete game changer. It was only caught after the event, and would’ve completely changed how the game played out. That rule is that Calypso does NOT drop scrap markers when killed, so I should not have been able to then activate Dr Beebe and summon it back. I have apologised to my opponent, who responded with complete grace (as he did throughout our game).

For any prospective EVS players out that, I should’ve spent an action using Bleeps and Sweeps while Beebe was piloting Calypso, then any 9 of Tomes or better would drop a marker and pulse out injured 1 (Tomes is Dr Beebe’s reconfigure suit, so any tome will do when he’s on board, or a 10 or better on his own).

With that said, what a game this was! Mama Z obeying Hinamatsu to charge, me finding out just how many attacks Hinamatsu can take. All the interact shenanigans (I took Vernon and Welles as my flex), on a board filled with three large, severe swamps.

Gabriele played the strat brilliantly, netting a full 3 vp to my 1, but I was able to deny him his schemes completely. I was able to score both parts of Vendetta (Dr Beebe picked the Adze - see how the game would be different?), leaving us on a tough fought 3 all draw.

One win and one draw so far, far better than I’d hoped!

Now before I get on to game 3, I want to point out the one big downside to such a cracking round 2 game, that was compounded by my lack of familiarity with the crew. I now had a killer headache from trying to track so much, and knew I was not going to be able to put up a decent game, especially as I was fairly high up the score board now.


Game 3
Guard the Stash vs Matt Lewin’s Tull, the Artillerist.
Vendetta, Leave your Mark, Sabotage, Catch and Release, Load Em Up.

I’ve played one game before this that I’ve not spoken about. Oz from Rampage Games (look them up if you’re in the UK, excellent stock, great tokens and a charming man) loaned me his Jedza crew to try out and I told him to play anything he wanted, absolutely anything. I was after rules and a feel of the game again before buying in, not playing for the strat/schemes.

So Oz, after much hesitation and me assuring him it was fine, pulled out Tull.

My polite thoughts on the Cavalier keyword are that they are currently at the very peak of the curve (though I hear a Damian is up there too) and in need of some cuddling. That said, they are a legal crew that are out of playtest and we were at a tournament. I had no issue with Matt taking it, just knew that I would struggle into even if I was practiced and wasn’t exhausted.

Anyhoo, this game… yeah, it went badly. Especially as I figured I’d try out Maxine 2 for the very first time. Terrible choice, and Matt graciously took my crew apart for me. I scored 1 vp for Sabotage, after getting Maxine killed so she could use her demise ability to teleport. The game ended 8-1 in Matt’s favour, securing him third place for the event. I came 15th, back in mid-table mediocrity where I tend to loiter :)


Overall thoughts:

I had a blast in all three games.

Maxine 1 is amazingly consistent, drawing a card in almost every friendly activation and half the enemy ones too.

I struggle to see where I want Maxine 2. Best I can see is when an enemy is bunched, so I can through out loads of tentacles. Even then, it’s a tough choice against the consistency Maxine 1 brings

Harpooners are far better than I thought initially, and I used mine poorly

It was great that every opponent reacted with “Oh, Maxine, cool!” when she was announced, and that they’d either not played into her or rarely played into her.

Overall, I love the EVS crew and am glad I picked them up to restart Malifaux with. That must be why I’ve already bought another crew, in another faction but that’s a blog for another day.

Soon May the Welleyman Come

 

Hi there! Another of the Refauxgees here, Simon (although often referred to as Tarquin, Wellyman, or, if I've been particularly busy with the memes, a variety of names unrepeatable in polite company). I live way out in the wild wild east of the UK; not particularly close to any major gaming centres, which certainly limits my opportunities to get in-person gaming in, but at least Tabletop Simulator has made keeping a small portion of my sanity intact possible.

 

I got into wargaming way back in the mid 90s with 2^nd edition 40K in my teens (Ultramarines, but don't hold that against me), then took a hefty break from it as friends and fellow gamers went their various ways in our 20s. I eventually got back into the hobby through a World Of Warcraft friend who nearly snared me with Warmachine, but finally got me to jump back in with Malifaux 2^nd Edition, mostly by telling me I could play as a methomancer who could Gambit his way to some crazy spike damage. I bought in with Jakob Lynch back when he still had the Space Tadpole at his beck and call, and ended up with masters in every faction in the game but most at home out in the Bayou, most successfully with Ophelia but most enjoyably with Ulix.

 

I met the other Refauxgees at various events, attended my first 2-day event, improved my painting ability over and over again, and had several great years of gaming. We grew a little tired of the bloat and cheesecake that seemed to be creeping into the game towards the end of M2E, and eventually made our way on to Guild Ball, Bushido, and, currently, Marvel Crisis Protocol over the next few years (You might have noticed a definite trend away from the big army games of GW and much more in the way of indie skirmish games, which was mostly due to just how god-awful dull it is to paint a hundred walking refrigerators in a uniform scheme). But I always kept half an eye on what was happening out beyond The Breach, and when I saw that Nekima had finally decided that she was a bit chilly and that it was time to put some more clothes on, the pull of soulstone was felt once again.

 

I am yet to play a game of Malifaux Third Edition, although I have eagerly re-downloaded Vassal and pored over the (thankfully) simplified conditions system and other changes in anticipation of getting the reintroduction game in soon. When I last played, nobody had even considered the possibility of The Explorer's Society existing, with most people seeming to think that any new faction would likely be some form of the returning Tyrants lumped together. I, and others among my gaming group, were certainly surprised that popular characters like Lilith and Nicodem had essentially been declared null and void; always a risky move when people had spent substantial money and time to get, build and paint their squads to often beautiful degrees, only to be told that they were not going to be allowed to use them anymore. But the game seemed to be going from strength to strength despite this, so I can only assume people transferred their minions to the next best options and got on with it.

 

From what I can tell so far, the Gaining Grounds system still swings the game between the more killy and more controlly teams, which I never had a problem with; everybody gets their day in the sun, and each faction has options to swing to on that front. There still seems to be a little bit of the cheesecake factor going on, but it seems to mostly be kept to where it thematically fits, such as Colette and Youko, which feels more restrained than where the game seemed to be heading near the end of 2nd Edition's time. All in all, the game felt ripe for a cautious return, spurred on by fellow Refauxgees' returning enthusiasm.

 

Which led to the question: who to play as? I didn't want (and really can't afford) to play the sprawling mass of Masters that I had in M2E, having learned the hard way (through every game system that I've played before and since) that sticking with just one or two teams and learning them inside-out tended to lead to the fewest embarrassing mistakes in play, if not outright success. I knew fairly early that I was going to stick to the Bayou; I always felt like they had the most characterful models and entertaining chaos in their ranks. I had, during M2E's days, repeatedly campaigned for Ulix to have some form of grow mechanic, as it seemed a perfect fit for the various ranks of Pig available even back then, so it would be churlish to not pick him back up now that he has been rebuilt for that very ability.

 

The addition of Squealers adds some decent but not overpowered range to his game, which can certainly help with the Deathball style of play I'm used to for Ulix. The spreading out of the Summoning duties to the Slop Haulers, Hog Whisperers and The Sow (at least in my early plans) adds some flexibility to Ulix's activations, although I do imagine that he will very often be growing something into a War Pig, healing it up and throwing it into someone's poor, poor face. I imagine that it'll be quite the learning curve to remember to keep Penelope and Old Major in the right positions for optimal pig-missiling, but I'm very much looking forward to getting those games in as often as possible. There may be a return to the Kin in my future as well, as it may have been the Ophelia Overloaded model that really got me looking at M3E again, but for now, it's all about makin' that bacon.

All Aboard The Good Ship Superior!

So! Here we are, the first post of the blog. The post that will define the others, the one lynchpin of it all...

Nah, that's far too organized. Let's start with a Hello! This post is by Graeme (tend to go by Tayne on forums and discord) but will feature posts by other members of the Refauxgees. I've no doubt we'll do a proper, dedicated introductory post sometime but for now, this is what you get.

Anyhoo...

Explorer’s, huh? I figured I’d whitter on about them a bit, try and organize my thoughts and maybe, just maybe, go to an event with some semblance of a plan. Not a bad idea, right? Couple of limiting factors to it:

1) I’ve played maybe five games of M3E total
2) They were over two years ago now (aside from one game ten days ago, mostly for a rules refresh)
3) That event I mentioned? That’s Haul of Eggs 9, this coming Saturday

Still, I’ve got the models assembled and at least undercoated, so at least I’m ready in some respects. Well then, where should I start off my ramblings? I guess a little about me. I’m Graeme, and I played fairly extensively in M2E. Back then I bounced between Neverborn, Arcanists and Gremlins (as they were). I had a lot of fun for a couple of years before fatigue set in. Then the final M2E book came out and the power creep it brought was the final nail for me and I moved on to other games.

A few months ago, I had a clear out and listed the whole of my remaining collection as a job lot (along with many other things). And, of course, my dumb-ass brain decides one month ago that it’d be good to get back into ‘Faux again, so here I am.

I poked around a bit, evaluated my choices based on an arbitrary criteria I set and have settled on starting back with Maxine Agassiz and the crew of the Exploration Vessel Superior, maybe lugging the odd Emissary along.

That almost brings you up to speed, the final piece of puzzle for why I’m writing right now is the current level of content available for Explorer’s Society players.

There’s not a lot of it.

At least, not that’s current. There is what seems to be an excellent, in depth exploration of the Seeker keyword over on the YouTubes by the Danger Planet channel. Other than that the best I’ve found all dates from before the November 2022 patch*. Said patch did bring some cuddles with it for the Explorer’s, dating a lot of the content and limiting it’s value.

As for the EVS Keyword, I’ve found very little that’s less than 2 years old or talking Maxine, Monomaniacal pre-nerf, leaving me bereft of the very content I want to consume.

There, no you’re up to date. Let’s talk about the EVS, and see if I can figure out something ready for the weekend.

The EVS:
The EVS have two unique abilities tied to their keyword and both of them work with the your hand and cheating fate. They are Deep Discovery and Reconfigure. I’ll tackle them in opposite order, as Deep Discovery has some nuance I want to drill into.

Reconfigure - This ability is tied to a specific suit (except for Maxine 1, who can pick her suit each round), and allows the model to treat any card it cheats fate with of that suit to be treated as a 9.

Probably goes without saying, but 9s are good. They are only 4 less than a 13 (why yes, maths is my strong suit), meaning that your stat has to be two lower than your attacker’s before you would be taking damage at a straight flip, assuming no focus. That’s sweet.

Pondering this a bit more, it means we probably want to aim our crews to have a mix of the suits, that’ll help us maximise the benefits for our control hand. Let’s take a look at that how the crew breaks this down by suit:
Rams: Only Beau Fishbocker
Crows: Kiya Manimi, Machinist and Harata Ngaatoro
Masks: Tidecaller and Harpooner
Tomes: Dr Beebe and Maxine 2

Maxine 1 can choose her suit each round thanks to her Polymath ability, so she can either take a spare suit if we don’t hire to cover that, or adapt to each situation. The only crowded slot here is Crows, but Machinists are not going to be a high priority target most of the time. Honestly, given game size limitations I can easily see hiring one for each suit (Beau, Harata/Kiya, Tidecaller and Dr Beebe) for most games before taking a versatile model or two. Nice. Almost like Wyrd planned it.

Deep Discovery. I’ll just copy the text here before discussing it:
“Once per activation. When this model would Cheat Fate, it may discard a card to Cheat Fate with the top non-joker card of the opposing player’s Discard Pile.”

First thought - Awesome, pitch a low card of the wrong suit, use a good card they’ve just used.

Second thought - How does that breakdown with how timings for duels and discarding cards. To the rulebook!

We want page 8 for this next part. First off, we have “The Conflict”. The Conflict contains cards that are currently in use. So a model attacks an EVS model, both flip a card off their fate decks. That card is in The Conflict. No problem there, but what if multiple cards are flipped as part of the duel?

We need the third paragraph under Flips here: “If multiple cards are added to The Conflict as the result of Fate modifiers, only one card is placed in the Conflict: the other’s are discarded.” Remember here that a negative flip means the worst card is picked for the duel, a positive leaves the decision to the controller’s choice.

If more than two cards are flipped, page 8 covers that - the controller gets to choose the order they enter the discarded pile.

Page 9 covers cheating fate: “After flipping a card, a player has the opportunity to Cheat Fate by replacing the card they flipped into the Conflict with a card from their hand.” Or, for EVS models, the top card from the opponent’s discard pile.

So why have I gone through all of that? Well, I wanted to nail down that timing sequence as it is an integral part of the EVS game play. Let me demonstrate with an example.

Kiya Manimi gets attacked. My opponent has the Red Joker on the top of their discard pile. Now, if they are charging on a straight flip, I can use Deep Discovery, discard a card and claim that Red Joker for my cheated card.

However, in the same example, if the attacking model has a positive or negative flip to their attack then the whichever card is not selected to go into the Conflict is discarded before deep discovery kicks in. My choice will be whatever is not chosen.

As a final side note before I sign off, I may have to prompt my opponent to discard their cards at the right time. I say this because I think I’ve been guilty in every single game I’ve played of not discarding the additional cards from a flip until the end of the action, where I then gather them all up and discard them.



*There may well be other content out there that is current, if I missed your video/blog/podcast then I apologise and please tell me where I can get my greedy hands on it to consume.