A Call For Reinforcements

It's been a busy week or so for the Governor's Secretary. He's arranged his first Henchman tournament, painted another model and played some games. Oh, and there's been those nasty-real world commitments like working, eating, sleeping etc that get in the way of these more important pursuits too!
The tournament was a small-scale friendly tournament ran in conjunction with ABZ Games, with ten places available. I'd estimated that I could fill 8 places, but had high hopes that all ten could be done. Then it was revealed that there was tournaments for Age of Sigmar/40k/Warmachine down south and several of our likely participants were attending. Then I realised some of my gamers had this odd condition called 'Family' (which did not permit a chain activation, more of a Shackled effect, hur hur hur) and suddenly ten dropped to five, including my fine self. Still, five is better than four so onwards we pushed.
 I decided to get a practice game in on Wednesday against Michael and his Neverborn. He'd asked for some help as he is fairly new to the game and so Lucius (ever keen to help out a fellow Neverborn it would appear) agreed to play. I'd chosen Lucius with Secret Assets (I think) and Watch My Back, Cpt. Dashel, a Peacekeeper, a Warden, a Death Marshall, a Lawyer and 2 Hounds. I had Plant Explosives and Breakthrough, with the Strategy being Squatter's Rights. I faced Lilith with various nasty upgrades, Nekima with sharp claws, Barbaros, 2 Waldergeists, 2 Terror Tots and a Primordial Magic. Sadly it appears that a sword cane is no match for a two-handed greatsword as Lilith hacked Lucius apartafter I foolishly left a lane open to him and failed to switch him with Dashel. Dashel did beat Nekima to death with his cosh, to my delight and the Lawyer almost killed Barbaros with the weight of the law, but the game was comfortably Michael's. Nekima went through my crew like the prawn curry that I once hospitalised myself and my brother with and Lilith bled over my robots and dogs to great effect. Sadly her bleeding is of a higher caliber than that of BJ's Rotten Belle brigade and one dog literally melted whilst the Warden lost half it's wounds. I'd attempted to Pinebox the bigger (printed Height, not actual height...) sister but he red Joker'd the WP flip and chopped poor Miss Terious in half :(
 I painted up my male Guild Guard (looks like Jeff Bridges in RIPD and True Grit, so Guard Bridges it is) and started my Lawyer. I'm really pleased with them both and liking how the crew is looking with the pinky-purple/red tying them together. I'm hoping to finish the Lawyer by the end of the week (a lot of work commitments though) and onto the Scribe after him and the second Lawyer. Luckily I manicured my fingers before my photoshoot!

The tournament itself was great fun. There were five of us including me, so each game had one bye (counted as a draw and thus 1 point, 3 points for a win, 0 for a loss). I was the bye for game one, which was Extraction. Kit (Hamelin) drew 5-5 with Ben ( Colette) and Stewart (Jakob Lynch) beat Michael (Lilith). Frame For Murder was a popular choice, with Nix, Angelica and a Silurid all finding themselves 'victim' of the scheme-the evidence is overwhelming and Judge sentenced all the guilty parties to hard time. 

Game two gave Kit a bye, so Ben (Colette) played Michael (Lilith) and I (McCabe) played Stewart (Lilith). It was Interference (Corner deployment) and I realised that Luna and some hounds was likely to allow me to pull off Exhaust Their Forces and Inspection in a way that Lucius and my Guild Guard would not. I took Lucas McCabe with the Glowing Saber, Elixir of Life and the Badge of Speed, Luna, Francisco with Hermanas de Armas (and Wade In?), Sidir with Promises, a Riflewoman, a Death Marshall, and 3 Hounds. I almost lost Lucas in turn 1 when I (very very foolishly) charged Lilith thinking she was Def 5, WP 7 (that would be Nekima...). Thankfully Francisco pulled him back out with Hermanas and I was able to score repeatedly with the Hounds, one of which devoured a Silurid in the process. The Death Marshall failed to pinebox any one (as ever) but was able to lock down Lilith and her Black Blood Shaman for a turn. It finished 6-2 to me as I was able to Exhaust Lilith repeatedly and keep my Hounds alive to score me the points. Michael beat Ben.

Game three gave Ben the bye, and Stewart (Pandora) played Kit (Hamelin), whilst I (Perdita) took on Michael (Lilith). We were playing Headhunter (Corner deployment), so I felt that the Ortegas who could keep things away from their own precious heads were a good call. I chose Covert Breakthrough and Undercover Entourage (on 'Dita) and went aggressive with them. I took Perdita with Trick Shooting, Plant Evidence and Aura Ancestral, Enslaved Nephilim, Francisco with Hermanas de Armas and Wade In, Santiago with the one that gives him rapid fire (except it was a her as I've got Santana), Papa Loco, a Lawyer ('cos every Family needs their lawyer), a Death Marshall and a Latigo Pistolero. In turn one Perdita shot Lilith dead-Michael soulstoned to keep her alive on one wound. This set the tone for the rest of the game. Michael belted Santana to one wound with 2 Freikorps Trappers (proof mercs have no standards, although Nekima in a bikini could entice a lesser man I suppose....). This was his undoing as a VERY irate Santana went postal, killing Lilith and then took Nekima down to three wounds so that Francisco could kill her off. Perdita trick-shot both Waldergeists before taking out the Primordial Magic which was in his corner and camping there for the VPs. The Lawyer scooped up both sisters heads for the trophy rack. It ended 8-5 to me, and proof that doing lots of killing can mean very little as I'd got close to tabling Michael but was far behind on points. Stewart beat Kit so it came down to the last game-if I lost then Stewart would win by the differential. 

Game four gave Stewart the bye. Kit (Hamelin) played Michael (Lilith) and I (Lucius) played Ben (Colette). It was Guard the Stash, I'd taken Catch and Release, and Take Prisoner (on Colette herself as I've got fed up trying to kill her). I chose Lucius with Surprisingly Loyal and Secret Assets, Francisco with Hermanas de Armas and Wade In, a Doppelganger, Mr Tannen, 2 Wardens, and 2 Hounds. This game was one that the cards said 'yes'. In turn one I paralysed Colette and Angelica (I thought Ben was going to seriously injure me!) and killed the dove. I successfully passed all my Commanding Presence checks, beat Cassandra down before she could spring Southern Charms, and managed to copy the Corphyee's claws to Red Joker them to death with my Doppelganger. Ben did pull off Public Demonstration in turn 1 and we spent most of the game tagging each other as he got his tags off before Tannen could get Chatty up and running. It ended 9-8 to me and so the tournament was mine! Kit beat Michael (also 9-8) so Ben got the wooden spoon (a very nice one it must be said!).

It was a great tournament and we all had a great time. Next time we are hoping for an even number of gamers and a few more participants to give us more excitement and options on the table. I think I did so well because I kicked the 'only take themed stuff' mentality and started to utilise the faction more. I will post up some analysis soon but as I need to leave for work soon I'll have to call it there. Hope you all like the pictures I've attached, courtesy of Ben's photography skills.