Clandestine Affairs

 So this week our Tale of Many Bloggers has taken off in style. There's 14 of us now, with crews ranging from the Ortegas to Tara and everything in between. All factions bar Gremlins are being represented and nearly everyone has got their first month's stuff sorted.
I am chuffed to say I'm ahead of the curve for once! As the last post showed, I've bought and painted my crew and I've started painting them.... by which I mean Lucius is underway (see the pictures below) and the female Guard and Dashel (not Da'shel like some French pornstar/ned child!) have the base layer on their skin done.

So, that is Lucius so far, and the spare bases for my next set of models that need them (Guild Rifles most likely). I've used GW paints, started with Screamer Pink for the coat and cloak, Druuchi Nightshade wash, then for the coat I mixed Screamer with Evil Sun Scarlet, mixing in more and more each coat, with a final highlight of pure Scarlet. The cloak was done in a similar manner but with less Scarlet, and it's final highlight was with Pink Horror instead. The mask is Leadbelcher with a Biel Tan wash, Auric Gold, then Necron Compound, and the scarf and cuffs are Fenrisian Grey, Russ Grey, then White Scar. I have been somewhat handicapped by awful lighting, so I admit that this is not my best work so far, and I can only apologise for the dreadful photography!

 I played my first game with the crew yesterday. It was a 50 SS game, with the strategy being Extraction. Scheme Pool was Convict Labour, Leave Your Mark, Set-up, Neutralise the Leader and Exhaust their Forces. Playing against Colette (my brother's force for the Tale of Many Bloggers http://thesoulstoneminer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/tale-of-malifaux-bloggers-month-1.html) I went for Lucius with Legalese, Secret Objectives, Secret Assets, The Scribe, Captain Dashel with Expert Sleuth, Peacekeeper, 2 Lawyers, 2 Guild Guards. I chose Set-up on Cassandra and Convict Labour.

 I must admit that I did not have much fun! Colette's crew is so difficult to keep a track of, and as I can't charge the Corphyee I struggled to do damage. I over-spread my forces and thus my auras and Lucius's abilities were frequently out of range. The Guild guard did nothing, being unable to hit due to low stats and negative flips, and only the Peacekeeper had much chance it appeared of hurting anything. Dashel is deceptively strong but I struggled to really do much and Ben blew up all my scheme markers, and only due to Legalese did I manage to to get Convict Labour achieved. Ben won't make that mistake again! The real issue though was that I did not know exactly what things did so I forgot about key abilities such as Lucius counting as friendly for auras/pulses, Lawyers casting Impassioned Defence or Dashel pushing thanks to Expert Sleuth. We have a rematch tomorrow, which I am hoping will go better. Once I buy Guild Rifles the Guards will likely be dropped due to their lack of any real role in the crew.