Posts Tagged ‘Barbaros’

So it’s been a fun month with Lilith. I may have broken a few rules of #ToMB by using other models in my collection but the Lilith box comes in at 28/29SS at a push which does not meet minimum game size for including a Master.

So what have I learned? Let’s break down each model and see what they do:

Lilith
The Master of Malifaux. She can ignore LOS for CA and charges. With a Wk/Cg of 6 she has little movement bonuses for charging over walking. combine this with her bonuses on her sword when attacking and damaging for NOT charging means she either wants people within her melee range or at most take 1 walk and swing her sword with a better chance of hitting. She has Black Blood which is a Nephilim trait. Any Nephilim who take damage will inflict 1 Dg on all non-Nephilim models in 1″ range. Nice defensive ability. her Df is the highest in the game with a trigger that means if you miss her with melee you will be at -2Ml til the end of the turn. And lastly she ignores severe terrain when moving. Her only downside is 10 wounds which is a little fragile on a Master. Rush of Magic allows her to draw an extra card at the start of the turn. She can then discard a card down to her hand size.

Her spells are very nice. Tangle Shadows is perhaps the best one but does require a relatively high card with a Mask. She targets a model within 12″ (ignoring LOS) and switches places with a friendly model within 6″. Her standard 2″ melee range means she might then be able to take 2 swings with a ML 7 positive attack and damage. She will probably be killing most things with 2 swings. She has a (0) action that allows +1 Dg on all melee damage from charge actions if she moves through terrain.

The upgrades I have taken so far have been:

  • Beckon Malifaux – Lilith gains Instinctual to do 2 different (0) actions which is handy since this upgrade gives her an additional (0) to create an Illusionary forest to block LOS to her but not for her. She can then charge through this to get the bonuses above.
  • Living Blade – This extends her range of melee and gives her an ability to get a free swing if a model is pushed within 1″ of her. Which leads to
  • Wicked Mistress – Gives Lilith a spell to make her push a model up to it’s charge towards this model. If it is pushed through severe terrain it tales damage and gains slow. If it ends within 1″ it can be targetted by Living Blade.

These 3 key upgrades give Lilith a lot of movement shenanigans and make her deadly within a 12-18″ range.

Barbaros
Lilith’s Henchman and protector. He is not quick but has Nimble so gains an extra move. He has Armour and Black Blood and a trigger when someone misses to inflict damage and push them away. His high Df adds to this making him pretty tough. He has a sword with decent range, decent Ml6 and standard damage spread. He can then push the target up to 4″ away afterwards which can then be combined with Nimble so if he is in a place he does not want to be he can hit once and move twice. He has (2) action that deals more damage, pushes the target further away then pushes him in Base contact after. His (0) Challenge allows him to put up a big bubble to protect those inside from damage as all actions need to pass a WP test or fail immediately.

  • His main upgrade is the Gladiatus which is a (0) so it is either this or Challenge each turn. The Cyclone Crash is a Wk duel which if failed deals damage and pushes away. Those pushed into base contact with impassable terrain gain SLOW.
  • Rapid Growth is a nice upgrade on Barbaros as this allows Terror Tots nearby to be able to grow into Young Nephilim when they kill a model.
  • Obsidian Talons allows models who trigger the chance to cheat damage flips even if they are on negative flips. Normally you can NEVER cheat negative flips but Obsidian Talons grants the FLAY ability and this is perfect for a hard-hitting fragile crew. Kill other models before they kill you.

Terror Tots
These adorable little critters don’t look like much with low wounds and above average walk. They have a high defence and ignore severe terrain and have Black Blood. When they die any Nephilim in range may walk towards the model that killed it. They have an average Ml5 but where they excel is their tactical action – Sprint. This allows them to move, flip a card and if a Mask is flipped they move again. A cheat from your hand can guarantee these guys are up the other side of the board before the opponent knows what is happening. They have a built in ability called Pounce that allows them to get a free attack if a model ends a push in their engagement range. You may ask yourself why you would heal an opponent’s models rather than killing them but we will cover this later.

Cherub
He is the Ace up the sleeve when it comes to interacting with the board and other models. Other models within 3″ may take (2) Interact actions as (1) actions and (1) actions as (0) so this means for any scheme involving placing markers or interacting with other models means the models get a bonus move or action for free either after interacting or before. His ranged attacks deal little damage but hand out Slow conditions and he can make the area around any model hazardous which then means models take damage in it.

Playing Games

When deciding what models to take you need to know what Strategy you are playing and available schemes. If Breakthrough or Plant Evidence comes up I’m taking 2 or more Terror Tots and running them up the flank. If you declare this they only need to place 2 markers to guarantee 3VPs. Bodyguard works well with Barbaros with his Armour, 9 wounds and his inherent quickness. Protect Territory can be easily achieved with the speedy cherub helping models take (0) actions to interact and then do other things.

Lilith benefits greatly from being in the middle area of the board, her Mv6 and ability to see through terrain means that an opponent can have his best models swapped out and suddenly have Barbaros in his face and his best model now within string distance of Lilith’s blade.

Nephilim Pinball

Most Nephilim have a trigger on their melee weapons – For The Brood – built in. This allows them to instead of killing a model, instead heal it 1 wound, Paralyze it and push it 8″. This is essential for Nephilim Pinball. Basically a model kills an enemy, paralyzes it and then pushes it over to a terror tot who activates pounce and then kills the target and grows into a Young Nephilim. Perfect way to get enemy models off the board and get in heavy hitters to your force without spending on them at the start.

Conclusions

So I have had a blast playing Lilith over the last few weeks and learning her tricks. She is a very different master to what I am used to and can be played a few different ways to achieve victory. Next month I will be adding to the crew to get some more diversity in it.

Bob

With a spring in my step and a smile on my face I’m happy to finally announce that I am using Lilith in our global-spanning quest for world domination. Wait, what? Sorry, wrong blog. So yes, a group of Malifaux podcasters and bloggers have gotten together and decided to revive the old “A Tale of…”

What is “A Tale of…”? I hear you ask! Well, it all started a long time ago, like most stories do, in the mists of time when boys were small and White Dwarf was a respected gaming magazine. 4 writers for White Dwarf got together and decided to keep track of their new and fledging armies as they bought, painted and played with their forces each month. They each had a budget which they used to buy extra units for their forces and Little Timmy reading at home could do exactly the same as them (or just buy a whole army in 1 fell swoop because Little Timmy’s parents over indulged the spoilt little brat).

The “A Tale of…” can be used for various game systems and model ranges and this is where “TOMB: Tale of Malifaux Bloggers” comes into play. We knew that people new to Malifaux would need somewhere to come to read up on what others have done, see what options they have and (in my case) what failures they have made along the way, playing and gaming with their crews.

Malifaux lends itself well to this format. The starting price point we have is $60 which will cover an initial investment in a crew box set and a deck of cards. Each crew box will generally have a thematic core set, providing a Master, usually a henchman and a totem and some other models that are useful with the Master’s playstyle.

Each month after the first we have another $25 to spend on models. We can freely decide what to buy, save up for a larger purchase next month or get something new each month. So, with that here’s my 1st month’s spend:

  1. Lilith, Mother of Monsters – $40

This gives me $40 spent and $20 to bank for next month. With this crew box set I get Lilith, Master of Malifaux and her henchman, Barbaros, a gladiator-style Nephilim. Lilith’s totem, a symbol of her power, flutters by her side in the shape of a Cherub. And her ‘children’ – 3 terror tots to help achieve her plans in Malifaux. The arsenal box provides a full of set of stat cards for all models released in the first wave of Malifaux 2nd edition. The reason I bought this is that even though all new models come with new cards for 2nd edition if I get the chance to buy any models cheap on ebay from 1st edition I will have cards to use them in 2nd edition. It’s a future investment for the faction and my crew.

I am tying this blog together with a slow grow league we are running in my local gaming group so for the next few weeks the core set will do me just fine as we are playing small soulstone levels for a few weeks. In small games it is usual for the henchman to lead the crew rather than a master. Last week seen Barbaros, Lilith’s henchman take on Ototo of the Ten Thunders in a Turf War.

The game was a lot of fun, the terror tots made good use of terrain to scamper forward with their Sprint ability (move, flip a card, if it’s a Mask, move again), sometimes cheating in a low mask when I really wanted some speed. Barbaros himself is not fast but his additional Nimble ability allows him to get a free walk which more than makes up for his 4″ movement.

Black Blood on all Nephilim models means that even if they are engaged they can be a threat as each damage they take they dish out 1 damage to all non-nephilim around them. In the end it came down to Ototo failing to heal himself and a sneakity little terror tot stabbed him in the knee to kill him and get the Assassinate scheme.

10-6 victory in my first outing. 2nd round tomorrow night.