Extended Gaming Group - Northern Virginia

Huzzah Hobbies - Ashburn, VA

For those that do not know me, my job frequently necessitates traveling up and down the East Coast of the United States. The stars seemed to align last week as I was going to northern Virginia for work. I contacted Bill from The Gamers Lounge in hope of meeting up with him and some other locals to play some Malifaux. Everything came together nicely and I was able to get some games in two out of the four nights I was in town.

I actually stopped into the local gaming shop in Ashburn, VA called Huzzah Hobbies on Monday night when I got into town. This gave me the chance to make sure I could find the location with my outdated GPS which is about 6 years old on the map side of things. The area is relatively new by the looks of the roads and the buildings. Of course my GPS unit wasn't very accurate because of these two factors. Luckily I had Google searched the store a couple of days prior and found an image of the storefront which helped me find it on the back end (highway side) of the shopping center.

My first impression of the store was that it was kept very neat, clean and organized. There appeared to be some card games going on that night in the back half of the shop. I believe I was greeted by the store owner when I entered and offered any help if I would need it. The front half of the store had a good selection of merchandise ranging from hobby supplies (basing, paints, glues, tools, etc.) to table top games (Flames of War, Warmachine, Malifaux, etc.) to a good selection of card and board games. I decided to pick up some Micro Art Studio bases to put my new Lilith Box Set on for another project. I also grabbed some Gale Force 9 Hobby Glue and their Rapid Cure product. The last item I purchased was something I had been meaning to get for a couple of months, which was some Games Workshop brush on Gloss Varnish. I had been wanting this for gems and other such things I wanted to stand out after I typically matte finish my models.

I returned to the shop Tuesday night which Bill informed me was their usual Malifaux gaming night. I believe there were 6 to 8 Malifaux players there at any given time from about 6:00pm to 10:00pm. I watched a couple of games that were already in progress when I arrived. As I still only had four games under my belt, three of which were with another brand new player, I felt there was plenty I could still learn just watching.

My first game was with eChris and we decided to keep it small at 25 soulstones. eChris was using Ramos and the Arcanists (The other guys said he wasn't allowed to play Neverborn against me) versus my Kirai crew. I think his list consisted of Ramos, Kaeris, Fire Gamin, Gunsmith, Mobile Toolkit and Student of Conflict. I was fielding Kirai, 3 Seishin, Shikome, Lost Love and Onryo. This left him 2 soulstones and me 7. I didn't do much in this game other than listen to eChris as he gave me some pointers on my crew as I kept doing stupid stuff. We finished our game with eChris having a 4-0 win in victory points. We then watched the weeks main event which happened to be Bill Vs. eChris. eChris won this game 4-2 and then six of us went out for a late (according to my usual standard) dinner where we continued to discuss models, tournaments, rules, tactics and future plans. All in all, it was a great night of gaming and good company. I honestly didn't feel like I was out of town with strangers. It seemed like a local shop that I had been going to for months if not years.

Thursday night was a return to Huzzah Hobbies for a 35 soulstone game between me and Bill. Mike ended up joining us and taught me a tremendous amount about Kirai from his own experiences. Bill was testing some things out with a Dreamer crew consisting also of Lelu, Lilitu, 2 Daydreams, Coppelius and a Stitched Together. I fielded Kirai, Lost Love, Seishin, Shikome, 2 Onryo, Datsue-Ba and a Canine Remains. I only own 3 Seishin models so I started with one as I wanted to try the trick of killing the Canine remains with Datsue-Ba getting another Seishin and Gaki. Ultimately, the trick worked and her trigger went off giving me the Seishin and an Onryo. So I turned a 2 soulstone model into another 2 soulstone model and ended up with a free 5 soulstone model. For what it is worth the game remained close and ended in a 6-2 win for the Resurrectionists. I chalk this more up to a massive training session as both Bill and Mike fed me a ton of info on the game and my crew.

I had a great time gaming down in northern Virginia and I definitely plan on getting back down there from time to time. The drive is only about 5.5 hours from my home to Huzzah Hobbies which for most people would be quite the commute but as much as I travel already that isn't bad at all. I could very easily work Friday and drive down that night, get some sleep and game all weekend driving back Sunday night. I know they do hold some weekend tournaments so I plan on making as many as I can work into my crazy schedule.

I left with a better understand both of my crew and the game. I also got some ideas for some new YouTube video segments to work on. I also bounced some ideas back and forth with Bill about some video recording capabilities so looking forward to that project down the road. We also discussed some Adepticon trip details which I am really looking forward to. Lastly, Bill gave me a couple of Black Library books to read and review. Once read I will hopefully be able to do some review segments on the Gamers Lounge No Gamer Left Behind.

Great times and some great stuff coming down the pipe...

On the Workbench - Onryo WIP

I wanted to get a little bit of an update out here on my hobby progress. The holidays and the first week of the new year here ended up being a bit busier than I had expected. I had every intention to finish painting my Kirai crew but that just hasn't happened yet.

I have finished my three Seishen and moved onto the two Onryo. At the time of typing this they are actually finished but I am still working on the video/pictures. The video below shows some of my work in progress though.

I used these models to practice my blending/layering on the flowing cloths which worked out well. Some of the colors I had picked to use ended up having to be swapped out due to some older separated paints. I also tried some not traditional metallic paints. I used a pearl white for the white parts of the robes and used a little bit of the metallic ruby red on the fan. I really liked this paints from Reaper and plan on using them some more once I get to my Ikiryo and Kirai models. I wanted to use some metallic colors to try and represent a silken cloth look and I was happy with the end results.

I have also begun work on my two Shikome and will get some updates to those by the weekend if all goes well.

On the Workbench - Kirai Crew - Seishin

Here are the first three finished models in my Kirai crew. When I say finished it means ready for the gaming table. I still have some accessories ordered that will be placed on these bases when they arrive. Until then these are ready to see some gaming action!

On the Workbench - Malifaux Kirai Crew

Work has finally begun on my Kirai crew. If you interested in following along. I will be using video to post some updates as I progress.

DIY Clump Foliage for Terrain

Here is a great video showing how to make your own clump foliage for terrain. I actually saw this video before the original one. I really liked the style of this though. I've been following GunBeryl on Youtube for quite awhile now even before he created his second account. Great guy and always very creative stuff. Go check him out!

Nicodem The Undead Pimp

This is the first upload to my YouTube channel in over 8 months. I hope to get adding them regularly again. If nothing else it will be a nice change in sharing my hobby progress with everyone. I would like to start getting some of my terrain tutorials up as well as Malifaux Battle Reports too.

Seamus Vs. Ramos 35 Soulstone Scrap

This was my first game using a master other than Nicodem. I decided to give Seamus and his Avatar a shot. It was certainly different than the undead factory that Nico typically produces. Here is the run down as best I can recall:

Seamus Crew:
Seamus + Avatar
Copycat Killer
Bete Noir
Canine Remains
Convict Gunslinger
Rotten Belle x2
8 Soulstone Pool

vs.

Ramos Crew:
Ramos
Mobile Toolkit
Joss
Steamborg Executioner
Steampunk Arachnids x3
6 Soulstone Pool

Core Strategy: Reconnoiter

Seamus: Claim Jump & My Little Friend
Ramos: Sabotage & Kill Protege (Bete Noir)
I may have some of the strategies and schemes mixed up. I have them written down but not with me.

The first round initiative was won by Ramos and I was not in sync at all trying to find the synergy of this crew. Not much happened in the first round other than moving up, jockeying for position and Ramos gathering scrap and summoning an Electrical Creation. My initial plan was to concentrate on the two quarters of my side of the board as well as the one where my claim jump marker was located. I figured this would give me a good start on Victory Points.

At this point Ramos had two Electrical Creations on the board (one proxy with token) and the 3 original arachnids had joined into a swarm heading toward the side with Seamus and the claim jump marker. He also had moved his Executioner over to sit on the claim jump marker and kept popping his steam fog ability. I had tossed the canine remains into the list as fodder. I figured it could be used to either help summon another belle or a spot to pop Bete up at. You can also see a belle and the convict gunslinger stretched out on the left side here. Lastly, you can just barely make out the base of Joss at the top of the image in the center. Joss was sent to help against Seamus, his totem and a Belle. Both of my belles were mostly used to help drag models into range for attacks on the left and right side of the table. I didn't notice the first round that the true synergy of Seamus and the belles actually worked better with Seamus going first and then activating the belle immediately after. Live and learn!

At this point there had been another arachnid swarm moving up the right side of the picture trying to get to my side for the sabotage scheme. My belle pushed him into range for my convict gunslinger who actually got trigger happy off and killed him in a single activation.

Not much new in this shot. More creations from Ramos and my canine remains is about to go poof from one exploding next to him.

By this point Joss had been taken out by Seamus. I attempted a slit jugular once and my timing was way off. It seemed I was almost always activating him while my opponent had a hand full of cards. I finally just said to hell with it and simply kept attacking him until he was dead. I then popped Bete out at this point to either help me with the Executioner or to head for Ramos.

It turned out things really started going bad for Ramos in round four. I was able to manifest Avatar Seamus who went over and smacked around the Executioner for a couple of rounds before killing him off. Bete made her way toward Ramos and his little creations. I got lucky with Bete's 7 Defense and was able to take down a Swarm with her. By the 6th round Ramos didn't have any significant models on the table other than himself. I moved a couple of models around to give me 3 of the quarters uncontested and the 4th being shared with 1 significant model each.

The final score was 6 - 0 Seamus. I have a lot to learn with this crew but it really was a lot of fun and a nice change of pace.

Things learned running this Seamus Crew:

• Slit Jugular can be vicious if played later in a turn after an opponent has used up their control hand. This is especially true with Seamus and Bete Noir both having the ability.
• Seamus's synergy with the belles seems to work better when he activates earlier.
• The belle and convict gunslinger was a very nice combo on one side of the table.
• The copycat killer wasn't as useful as I had thought. I thought he would be able to do more damage since he had the same gun as Seamus. I didn't notice the 3 Cb on it until the first time I tried to use it.
• Avatar Seamus is fairly easy to manifest by turn 4.
• Focus on strategies and schemes! This is a difficult one for me coming from games where tabling your opponent meant a big win. In this case I didn't focus on killing much until things got near me or in my way to accomplish my own strategies and schemes.

I should be starting to assemble, paint and play my Kirai crew this week though in preparations for my first Malifaux Tournament on December 17th at my local gaming store Gaming Grounds in Kent, OH.