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Ice Breaker - Malifaux Tournament 12/2/12
#1
This Sunday I am competing in a Malifaux tournament being held in Harrogate. I am going to compile some reports on the event, including some of the build up and preparation, starting with today. Hope you find it an interesting read.



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#2
Best of luck - hope to see you climb those rankings Smile
Figures painted in 2016: 4 Blush
"What this game needs is a panda with a chaingun."
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#3
So with the tournament being held approximately 3 hours drive away, in Harrogate, and the event being planned to run from 9am until 4.30pm, I have booked myself into a small B&B for the Saturday night. Coupled with a 5am until 12pm Saturday shift at work, the Friday before the event is being used, for most of my preparation.

As a Wargaming event, the first thing I need to make sure I have ready, will be my Wargaming needs. So on the Thursday evening I compiled a list of what I will need to take.
This list will be like this
  • Check all my stat cards, are laminated and clean, for any models I will use.
  • Check all models are in my bag
  • Check I have both my Mini-rules manuals, and Twisting Fates in my bag.
  • Make sure I have TWO tape measures (I may loose one at the event and having a spare will deal with that issue
  • Make sure I have TWO tubs of gems for use as Soulstones.
  • Check I have TWO Fatedecks, and all cards are there, and free from excessive wear, that could count as marking.
  • Make sure I have any Markers that I will need to use throughout the tournament. This will include Corpse and Scrap counters, anything that I will use as a spell marker, and finally anything that I will use in Strategy and Schemes, over the weekend.
  • Finally check I have my Dry-erase markers, and that they are still functional.

This is quite an extensive list, and most of it will not be an issue, but by checking everything over, I can load my Malifaux bag, and anything else safely into the car, knowing that at the event I am ready.

However before I can do this, there are a few other things I need to finalise. The tournament will include a random 4 of the following 5 shared strategies. Claim Jump, Destroy the Evidence, Reconnoiter, Slaughter and Treasure Hunt. 3 of these will use markers as part of their rules, so I need to make these. I Currently have 5 T.N.T. barrel markers, which I made for Line in the Sand, which will be used should Destroy the Evidence show up. Luke made me some banners, and Friday I will need to paint one up for use in Claim Jump. I am also creating a Treasure marker, for treasure hunt.
Also the event does not have a fully painted requirement, but everything needs to be fully assembled, and glued to its base. As I paint my models and then base, anything else I want to use this weekend, that is not already complete, needs painting. This is ultimately my Rasputina Avatar, that tonight will get based. Once these things are done, I can then pack everything away and place it in the car.

The final task that I need to do, is to make sure all my kitbag, and entertainment for Saturday evening is loaded up too, such as a book to read, and my paints, so I can sit in the room, working on some other models.
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#4
My Saturday started with an alarm ringing at stupid o’clock, leaving me tired and at work. After rushing to get my job finished as quickly as I could, it was time to get home, grab a shower and something to eat, and then head off to my B&B.

However the main part of the day prior to any event, is preparation. What I need to do is, make sure I have any items that I will need in the event. This is includes the models that I will need, on top of any markers, pens, rulebooks, movement trays, templates, terrain, etc. For me most of this was done, on the Friday evening, as I was traveling to the event a day earlier. If I was going to and from the tournament on the same day, this would be the last thing I would do, before I jump into bed.

This aside, one of the most important things you should do before an event, is read the tournament pack. The one for Ice Breaker is fairly simple. It tells me I will be playing 4 games over the day, at 80 minutes per game. These will be 35 soul stone games, with one pre-declared faction, that is fixed for the day. Finally it lists a pool of 5 strategies, that a random 4 will be played over the day, and that I can only use each scheme once during the day. Other events may require you to send in an army list, or tell you of painting requirements etc, and it is best to make sure you know what you are competing in.

So having read through the rules pack again, I have some more preparation to do. Firstly I need to read through all the scenarios that I can possibly play. I will do this several times, to make sure there are no small, but important points that I over look. For instance in this event, during a shared Destroy the Evidence, an insignificant model cannot interact with an evidence marker. Selecting a crew full of insignificant models to do this, would leave me in trouble. However when it comes to interacting with the Treasure counter, during a shared Treasure Hunt, an insignificant model can do so, although at the end of the game, there are other penalties with doing so with such models. An other point to note is the time limit in each round, is fairly tight. Using more complex models, can delay my game, causing problems. As an example, if you are playing Hardcore Warmahordes, with a 30 minutes clock before you lose, taking 2 units of 10 Bile thralls would be a bad idea. When working out all those spays could take over a minute each, meaning you would time out a huge amount. On the other hand taking 3 Heavy Jacks, with fairly simple activations, will speed you up, and put the time pressure on your opponent.

So having read, and re-read the scenarios several times, I start to think about how to deal with them. for the foreseeable future I plan on only using Rasputina as a master, which puts me at a heavy disadvantage, due to her being fairly slow, and also one of the weakest masters in the game. However my plan is to get to know how she works, and the easiest way to do that, is play her a lot. So With several of the strategies involving travelling across the board, I look at models and combo’s that will work with Rasputina, that increase my mobility. This is something you should be doing before an event, such as if your playing Warhammer Fantasy, and you are playing the Watch Tower game 2, you should work out, when creating your army list, one how to hold the tower, two how to take it should your opponent get into it first. For example, if I was using an Empire army, I would look at taking 30 or 40 Flagellants, as they can gain Hatred, and they use Flails. When assaulting a building, combatants split at the end of the combat phase, meaning every combat is the first round. So you are always getting re-rolls to hit, and +2 strength. Giving yourself an idea how to win a game, when it comes to army selection, is a huge advantage. I also look through all the rules again, just making sure everything works how I expect it will.

Then I try, and usually fail, to get a good nights sleep. So basically the final day before an event, I try to spend preparing fully. Reading rules, and packing everything together. It’s that simple, and a little dull, but hopefully it gives you a bit of insight into my pre-tournament preparation. Tomorrow or Monday I will give you some actual news on the event.
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#5
Right then into the main event. Sunday morning I got up nice and early, to make sure everything was loaded into the car, for the return home after the tournament. After a breakfast and shower, I headed off to the RAFA club in Harrogate, and entered the building. Upon arrival, I headed up to the registration desk to erm...., register. That involved me confirming my name, selecting my faction for the day (Arcanists,) creating a name badge for myself and arranging with James 'mythicFOX' Doxey to have a chat later about GenCon.

When everyone finally arrived, we were given the option of 4 games with 80 minute rounds, or 3 games with 100 minute rounds. The consensus was to go for 4 (3 would have been more comfortable with me getting the hang of things, but 4 games is better value for money.) Pairings were announced and I was drawn against Rob '13th Warrior' Owens. The Strategy was Slaughter, and Rob chose to use a Lilith crew. I was over the moon at this, as I explained I could see how it worked, and give Alan some pointers. Being the fool that I am I forgot to take many notes, and Schemes Rob took are forgotten, but I selected Bodyguard and Kill Protege. I remember I took Rasputina, an Essence of Power, an Ice Golem, 2 Ice Gamin, a Silent one and a Convict Gunslinger. Rob had something like Lilith, Primodial Magic, 2 Mature Nephilm and 3 Terror Tots. I was destroyed by flying bats all over the place, diving in and hitting me hard, without much chance to defend. I took out several of his smaller things, but eventually with nothing left on the table, Rob won 8-0. After the game he showed me some tricks that Lilith can do, which was interesting. To be honest I was always going to be up against things with my crew selection. Rob had 2 Matures, and 1 was always going to hang back, with me having Kill Protege (which ever one I selected.) The crew as a whole is easy to hit, with low defence, and not the most survivable, but it was a very interesting game, against a very decent chap.

Game 2 pairings went up, and I moved onto the bottom table, number 7. This time I played Jamie Forth, who took Guild. This time we were given Claim Jump,



tbc.
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