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Students of Conflict - Season 2 - #5A - Lonestar Fauxdown: Liam (Von Schill, Iron-Heart vs Asami Tanaka)
344 Plays5 months ago
This episode we welcome Liam to the podcast, despite the Pacific Ocean, to talk about a game in his journey to a third place podium finish at the Lonestar Fauxdown Malifaux GT. We discuss how he prepares for a large international event and how his critical analysis of the scheme pool kept his podium hopes alive.
Hosts: Clay and Doug
Guests: Liam, Andre, and Bryan
Students of Conflict Discord invite: https://discord.gg/TYh6XyBpns
Tournament: Lonestar Fauxdown Malifaux GT
Tournament on Longshanks: https://www.longshanks.org/event/20146/
Photos from the event: https://www.facebook.com/StudentsOfConflict/posts/pfbid0dcPEm5PUwLYQeWPFtv447K8NQPiexp7aVL4oyELPFCBfdtEQ79ZLY8PJftm3fiFgl
Encounter:
Round 1:
Deployment and Strategy: Corner, Plant Explosives
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, In Your Face, Hold Up Their Forces, Sweating Bullets, Protected Territory
Liam’s Schemes: In Your Face, Protected Territory
Travis’ Schemes: Hold Up Their Forces, Protected Territory
Final Score: 5-5
Crews:
Liam’s Von Schill, Iron-Heart
Size: 50 - Pool: 5
Leader:
Von Schill, Iron-Heart
Totem(s):
Steam Trunk
Hires:
Hannah Lovelace
Arik Schottemer
Yannic Waller
Tunnel Rats
Freikorps Engineer
Freikorps Engineer 2
Travis’ Asami Tanaka
Size: 50 - Pool: 10
Leader:
Asami Tanaka
Totem(s):
Amanjaku
Hires:
Ama No Zako
Ohaguro Bettari
Minako Rei
Kamaitachi
Tengu
Terracotta Warrior
Foods Discussed:
Lebanese Rice Chicken!
(Students of Conflict recipes can be found in the #s2-recipes-archive channel of our discord server)
Plugs from Guest:
New Zealand Nationals
23-24 August 2025
HobbyMaster, in Auckland, NZ
POC: Hamish (aka @Hamdog on discord)
Thank-Yous:
Big thanks to Top Doug Design for all the terrain we play on here in Texas and for sponsoring this podcast, to Wyrd Miniatures for allowing us to use their artwork from the 2nd Edition Student of Conflict, and to Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy North Houston, the home of our Texas tournaments.
Top Doug Design: https://www.topdougdesign.com/
Wyrd Miniatures: https://www.wyrd-games.net/malifaux
Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy - Houston North: https://www.dlair.net/houston-north/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Students of Conflict'
00:00:10
Speaker
Straight out of the heart of Texas, here come the students of conflict, helping you become a better Malifaux player and reach the top of the podium, one game at a time.
00:00:33
Speaker
All right, welcome to Students of Conflict. We are Clay and Doug. Hello. And hello. And we are absolutely overjoyed to have the entire podium here from the 2024 Lone Star.
00:00:43
Speaker
that these guys are coming here helping us become better Malifor players, at least hopefully doing so, leveling up Doug and I, and hopefully leveling others up as well.
Game Analysis and Learning Points
00:00:53
Speaker
We do this by taking an in-depth look at just one game from our guests, asking them about key decisions that they made before the game, during the game, and now that they're looking back at the game, what were the things that they learned and that they can pass on to others?
00:01:04
Speaker
We really enjoy interviewing and guests together so we can get some good cross flow in the different perspectives. so And then we release them as one individual podcast for guests, helping people level up one game at a
Meet the Lone Star Fodown Competitors
00:01:14
Speaker
time. Today, we are speaking with Liam, Andre and Brian. Hello.
00:01:18
Speaker
Hi there. Yo. And hello, guys. These guys came in third, first, and second at the Lone Star Fodown tournament in Houston, held in October the 12th through the 13th of 2024. And we are going to be releasing our discussions with these guys as season two episodes 5A, B, and C.
00:01:38
Speaker
And without further ado, let's get going.
Liam's Journey with Malifaux
00:01:41
Speaker
I am super excited to be talking to Liam here that Liam, it is your first time as guest ah here on Students of Conflact. And so first, welcome, we are super glad to have you. And ah something that we always ask our first timers is kind of just a couple minutes of how you got into Malifaux and that you got into it to the degree that you would fly from Australia to Houston to play Malifaux.
00:02:05
Speaker
Uh, yes, I got into Malifaux, um, in 2020. Um, it's no accident. I think that plague ended up being one of my favorite keywords. The, um, I got to play exactly one game of it, uh, playing as the VIX and then we went to lockdown for three months and they spent the three months trying to optimize Benny rat summoning strategies. So the, um, uh, yeah, that, that was pretty informative for for my entry into the game.
00:02:34
Speaker
Um, and yeah, it it's been kind of a love affair. I really like the, uh, for me, I just love how thematic the game is, the way the, um, rules tell stories. So, so effectively, like I, I feel like I knew who doc Mitchell was and, uh, like before I ever read any law on him, just reading over his stack card when I was first starting. Um, and despite that, like.
00:03:03
Speaker
very law focused side of me. I do get quite a thrill out of the competitive nature of the game. And and I love the community as well. So Houston was an opportunity to meet people I've been talking to for at this point, like years online, like ah Pete and Dixon. And I just got them back from the New Zealand GT where, so I was sort of feeling that competitive buzz still going and wanted to get some more of it, yeah um which was what factored into the terrible financial decision to fly overseas for five days in the US. s Well, I'm so glad that you were able to come here. When I was looking at the ticket sales and I saw like, wait, someone from Australia bought a ticket? What's going on? I was so confused and excited. Yeah. Well, you can thank Pete for that. He he sells via the event
00:04:00
Speaker
um makes it sound like a lot of fun. Yes, yes we he does. and and Part of it is that it is a ton of fun. But but yeah, seriously, thank you, Pete. um The Pete that we're talking there is ah ah Pete from Rage Quit Wire and ah Dead Serious. If you're listening to this and you're not subscribed to Rage Quit Wire, you need to put this on pause, go subscribe to Rage Quit Wire, and then come back to the show and listen to some more about him. But Rage Quit Wire is just fantastic. and We do appreciate the shout-outs that Pete makes about this. and And we super appreciate you coming up to put to play with us. ah and And come in third, like crushed a lot of people along the way. And so good on you. And so
Promotions and Community Growth
00:04:37
Speaker
congratulations on the performance. Congratulations on being and here. but But thank you so much for coming to join us. And and that's just awesome.
00:04:44
Speaker
Thanks. so I had so much fun. It was there an absolute loss. Oh, that is excellent. so and And you got a whole bunch of people that are now ah committed to making it out to Australia for Australian nationals at some point, I suspect as well. So crossing fingers, trying to figure out a way to make it happen. And and that is amazing. so Excellent. um All right. ah What a shift to kind of our formal ah ah formal with my tongue in my cheek, but formal icebreaker question for this episode. We're very formal in series around here. Yeah, absolutely. We are nothing but a series. Very, very serious, high-minded discussions happen here.
00:05:19
Speaker
Absolutely. because Because we have noticed when we kicked off this season that there was very, very few people that were talking about Malifaux and food.
Cultural Cuisine Anecdotes
00:05:27
Speaker
And so we figured that that was an issue that we could take. And so we've been leaning into this like you know better Malifaux one snack at a time kind of thing. and ah And so anyways, we also want to lean into the fact, just kind of in honor of you, Liam, coming up from Australia and the fact that Australia has a reputation for just everything from snakes and spiders and people to just everybody ah being very dangerous. And so um what is your most dangerous food, your most dangerous recipe? We'd love to share that with our listeners.
00:05:56
Speaker
um Yeah, so I'd probably go with ah Lebanese rice chicken. Once I have my family's Lebanese. okay ah Anytime I need more, like if I were ever need more advice on how to make mine better. And I, I do need advice on that front. Uh, I would need to take a trip to visit family in Lebanon, which is a pretty dangerous super dangerous, this be right dangerous Oh, I gotcha now. Okay. Yeah. If you're getting it authentic, you're getting it with Lebanese ingredients. You're getting advice from a family that's still in Lebanon and
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, no, that is a yeah that definitely counts. so um Though you're clearly not making it as good as maybe some of your family members are, ah that we would love to grab a recipe from that. and When we publish the episode, we'll try to drop that into our season two episode, setting so people can check that out and and have a shot at trying lemony's chicken.
00:06:58
Speaker
Uh, that would be awesome. So now thank you. Thank you very much. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
Strategic Decisions Against Travis
00:07:04
Speaker
So, uh, which round are we talking about today and why? Uh, so I want to talk about my round one game of the event, um, which, you know, uh, was, uh, probably my most difficult game. I played into Travis who ended up placing fourth. Um, and.
00:07:24
Speaker
it was a It was a really close game. i I made a fairly critical mistake early on and then had to do a lot of really important things to um ah to keep the game as close as it was. And yeah, I just think it's it's an interesting one to discuss. There's a lot going on from hiring through to um how the final scores shook out.
00:07:47
Speaker
No, that is fantastic. And, uh, uh, and yeah, just as a spoiler that it ended up final score was five five, right? Yes. Yes. This is a, this is one of the two drawers that helped me, uh, submarine into third place without ever having to play any either. ah either of our other two guests today. ah workly If you haven't listened to our podcast before, um, Travis, uh, gets mentioned a lot on the podcast because while he's not big on, you know, coming and sitting down with the podcast and chatting, you know, private dude, which totally okay. He tends to be one of the other guys who tops the Texas podiums on a regular basis. He is a tough matchup.
00:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I came into day one feeling i I'd slept terribly from the jet lag. I was struggling a bit. And at round one, I was like, oh, 10 thunders.
00:08:43
Speaker
ah Yeah, you definitely caught one of our native cave trolls immediately. Like that was that's Travis is one of the scariest players in our meta. And so the catch them on a some right off the bat. Like, dang, dude, that's awesome. ah And Andre is very thankful for that because that's how he got.
00:09:03
Speaker
have stravis I appreciate your service, Leo. You're welcome. I'll jump on that grenade. There you go. That's excellent. so the um You talked so probably if you had to name one big lesson or a theme from this game. yeah And there's a ton of stuff maybe to it. So but yeah, what's the biggest thing that kind of as we go go through this little discussion here, our listeners will be trying to to look for everything that you got to say about the game is awesome. ah But yeah, what's the if they take nothing else from this discussion, what what should they take?
Scheme Denial and Game Balance
00:09:37
Speaker
I'd say the big theme on this one was playing to the scheme pool and really focusing heavily on denial.
00:09:43
Speaker
um because it was a five-five tie. ah The way it shook out ended up with ah um Travis got four strategy points, but only one scheme point. And i he he shot me out of the strategy with only two strategy points, but I made up the difference on schemes. um So was I was, which, because I didn't know for sure which schemes he'd taken required me spending every single turn playing to all five schemes to try to make sure he wasn't scoring anything.
00:10:13
Speaker
um But I built a list in part with that in mind from the outset and ah and I'd practice the game to to make sure I could play like that. So um yeah. ah Yeah. No, that's cool.
Outcasts Faction and Tournament Strategy
00:10:27
Speaker
OK. And so, yeah, I want to I want to definitely hit some of that as we talk about. and And maybe that's this is a great time that the faction, as we talk about before the tournament even starts, you know, you're still in Australia, you know, you've seen the pool and and you're thinking about how you're going to approach this. um You only play outcasts, right? Is that is that correct? OK, yeah, just that so.
00:10:49
Speaker
So it wasn't like, what faction do I want to take for this tournament? That's pretty easy. And looking at the pool, and let me just go ahead and and spoiler alert for our listeners that it was corner with plant explosives. um And then the schemes were let them bleed in your face, hold up their forces, sweating bullets and protected territory. As you're looking at that, were you were you Were you thinking about a bunch of different masters or had you, even before you left, you'd practiced it and you'd kind of like planned on, this is going to be Von Schill because I'm probably going to be jet lagged. I need a master that I know backwards and forwards. You know, what was your thoughts on why Von Schill, significantly or even locked in? Getting there was a bit of a journey because I think I played this round like three times. um I wasn't sure if I liked Leviticus Vicks or Von Schill more on it.
Choosing Von Schill for Mobility
00:11:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:41
Speaker
Part of that was the combination of corner and plant explosives meant I felt like I needed mobility. um Sweating bullets made me want to avoid the center um because I didn't want to just give up free points on that one if my opponent went for it. And in your face and hold up their forces meant that I kind of wanted to skew cheap with my hiring choices.
00:12:03
Speaker
So that made the VIX and Leviticus kind of tempting because I felt like I could build crews where my most expensive models are under cost eight and to deny in your face as an option and make hold up their forces difficult while giving me good hold up their forces options. I leaned away from the VIX partly just because of space concerns. I could only bring four or five keywords and in my Cara case, they take up a decent bit of room and I'm never super confident playing the Vicks. You always feel like you're one red joker damage flip away from everything going disastrously. So I was originally thinking Leviticus um with a crew built largely around like V and Herbert to get my bombs down. and um But when I saw 10 Thunders were in
00:12:59
Speaker
What was my round one matchup? I do not want to play Leviticus and Ten Thunders between Lantern of Souls and so a bunch of anti-healing effects. Terracotta Warriors to deny Leviticus his own offensive output just felt like a really messy one. um And I had practiced the game with Fonshield on this pool.
00:13:20
Speaker
um just to make sure I knew how to play it in case of an emergency. Because at the end of the day, of those three choices, Von Schill's the one that I played the most. ah It's just a really solid cruise. So I feel like it can has the capacity to let me like come back from adverse circumstances.
00:13:38
Speaker
um Corner plant explosives isn't one I probably would have dropped Von Schill on until quite recently. But the tunnel rats have done a lot to change the way I think about that pool.
00:13:50
Speaker
and um But it was going to require me to play in a really sort of cagey way. to Because um if you're playing Von Schill, you usually bring a bunch of top Cost 10 models, which means in your face, hold up their forces, and sweating bullets, ah because those Cost 10 models are henchmen, are all very live schemes for your opponent. um So i wanted it I made sure to have practice playing around those schemes with that crew. That is just some really good discussions, and particularly for some of our
00:14:22
Speaker
ah You may or may not be familiar, but we a lot of times we kind of think of our listeners in three different groups, you know kind of lower tier tables, you know newer players or players that are just picking up a new master, yeah still very much learning the game, kind of mid tier players um who are you know coming along and then upper tier players like you guys, the people that we're interviewing. And ah and so particularly for lower tier players, you know they're thinking,
00:14:47
Speaker
I kind of want a generic list. you know I want a standard list. And you're talking very, very much about tailoring it to the pool and thinking ah through that beforehand. And and that i'm I'm really interested in thoughts from um just from what we've heard so far. you know Andre, you're you're very well known for kind of one trick in and for kind of finding an optimal list. And then Doug, you're very well known for showing up at a tournament and being like, let's go, and you know coming home with a belt, as opposed to a guy like Liam that is doing a ton of planning you know before he's even you know set foot in the in the country. And so yeah, just thoughts from either you guys on kind of Liam's method or questions for Liam on clearly it's it's working for him.
00:15:34
Speaker
And so i'm just I'm interested in your thoughts or questions on this. oh yeah with all that With all that extra planning, have you thought about trying Iron Scorpius? I mean, I know you traveled from overseas, so it's harder for you to do that here. But by in your own meta, do you go for Iron Scorpius since you ki you sort of try to plan all that around?
00:15:56
Speaker
um So with, uh, I came very close to try to do iron Scorpius. I think I managed to end up fitting five keywords into my case. And there was a bit where I was like, can I cut two models to just fit in a random master and henchmen and just have them play a versatile about a keyword crew for like one round. But, uh, ended up deciding against that, um, partly because I couldn't just find anything to cut. but And yeah. Um,
00:16:25
Speaker
And unnecessary. Yeah, yeah i don't I don't normally try to put this level of effort into my local tournaments when when I'm playing them um in part because I'm often the TO and I'm wanting other people to have a ah good time and it's only like I'm only probably only playing if there are um there would otherwise be odd numbers.
00:16:48
Speaker
um Sounds familiar. Yeah. And, uh, when I do play, um, particularly cause, um, we're, we're often like hoping to have some new people at each event. I'm, uh, I'm usually trying to think of something like silly that like highlights what I love about the game, um, more than something like this focused.
Tournament Preparation vs. Casual Play
00:17:11
Speaker
Um, but for levy, for example, with, you know, optimized for the pool, maybe not the best experience for every new player out there. No, probably not. I'm more likely to bring the four horsemen and then, um, feel really bad because when I realized halfway through the game that I'm about to table but ah the opponent because the horseman could crank out a surprising amount of damage on term three. Um, but yeah. Uh,
00:17:39
Speaker
So I look forward to events like this or like the New Zealand GT, where I do get to shift gears and and take things really, really seriously for a bit. I do have a couple of ah questions for you in that context, because we're very set on our reputation here. So now that you've played in the New Zealand G g and the Houston GT, where do you think you found the stronger competition and why?
00:18:04
Speaker
Uh, Oh, I'm sorry. Definitely the New Zealand. It's not just so much like the individual players per se. It's just the quantity of good New Zealand players is freaking terrifying. Um, you can be, you can go into like round four with a, like two losses and a win and end up playing against a guy who'd be in the top 16.
00:18:29
Speaker
it's ah on it on as bed It's a nightmare. Every round is just like, boy, I hope I don't get paired against that person but that person, or that person, or that person, or that person. So when is the New Zealand GT so that you know we we can plan it and bring a little Texas hurt down there? It's normally in August. Give me a second. It's actually a really good time to get out of Texas then.
00:18:57
Speaker
I mean, I do get one trip a year with the boys, so maybe it's going to be New Zealand.
International Competition Experience
00:19:04
Speaker
My wife would murder me if I went to New Zealand without her. Like that, she was just... You know, what we can do is we can go. Your wife can hang out with my wife, they can go do some non-malefil related things, and then we'll just, you know, New Zealand it up.
00:19:20
Speaker
I'll just note that, uh, the New Zealand, so it's, it was the, I think 26th and 27th of August this year. Uh, it takes place in Auckland. Um, and Auckland for what it's worth is a two hour drive from Hobbiton. It's, uh, pretty, pretty close to some amazing glow worm caves. Uh, when I went last year, we didn't do it this year because we, we'd done it the year before, uh, my brother and I turned the trip into a, like a two week road trip across New Zealand. And that country is gorgeous. If you get the chance to visit.
00:19:51
Speaker
By all means, go for it. That's where I wanted a honeymoon, but. Yeah, you answered my question. I was going to say, how far is it from Hobbiton? That was literally the first question that popped in my mind. Yeah, it's a day trip. it's It's so convenient. Okay. And that's a, ah so is, is the usual TO for that?
00:20:11
Speaker
ah Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah. Hamish, yeah.
00:20:24
Speaker
texas war party i'll be excited yeah no that that would be insanely cool
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that, that was going to be, and then it was too expensive. Oh, God. That's why she'd harder me if I went. Cause it's now honeymoon two or whatever, you know, set it up for a big anniversary thing. I think, I think we're there. Yeah. Okay. I think that's wing it. Give Michelle in here. We can sell this oh wait hey hey theyve be anniversary. You know what? That'll totally work.
00:20:55
Speaker
That could actually be spectacularly cool. business All right. So thank you guys very, very much. Appreciate that. And and any other questions or comments for kinda or any other thoughts from you, Liam, really even yeah before the tournament ah even started?
00:21:10
Speaker
um i look ah this This round was probably one of the ones that gave me the biggest fits because it's this mixed way of like, quite a few schemes that I've made me worried my opponent would come prepared to kill. um But the strategy ah pushes you much more towards a scheming approach and finding that balance took ah quite a lot of work. and And congratulations there, Doug, that trying to give people kind of a you know ah pool, yeah because part of your thought on
00:21:42
Speaker
Could you just talk about your
Designing Diverse Tournament Pools
00:21:43
Speaker
philosophy maybe? I don't want to put words in your mouth on your philosophy of round one in a major tournament and what you're trying to do there. Honestly, when it comes to pools, I want any pools that I make for a tournament to have good options regardless of what crew you bring. like i end up ah I put a lot of thought into all the pools. I make sure that every single scheme is played So three-round tournament, every single scheme is played at least once, and then there's two that are repeated. Well, that means in a six-round of tournament, every single scheme is played at least twice, and then there'll be four that get played three times, just to have a nice even mix over the course of the day. But when I'm not just randomly doling those out, I like to take a look and go, okay,
00:22:32
Speaker
Let's make it so that there's picks for Killy Cruise, that there's ah options for, you know, Schemy, Tricky Cruise, but also I want to leave in the pools times you're like, Oh, which one of these am I going to pitch? Because if I go with these two that I normally go with, that's a lot of really scheminess or, um,
00:22:55
Speaker
you know, hey, maybe I can head fake this one.
Bluffing and Scheme Selection Strategy
00:22:58
Speaker
I like to, I think that Malifaux, the whole head faking into, you know, it was like, oh, which scheme do I got? Which scheme do I got? Is a big part of the game at a higher level is trying to bluff your opponent while guessing what they've picked.
00:23:16
Speaker
And for denial, I think that really goes into the the higher level play. It sounds like you did that and that that came up, but the denial pieces came up during the actual game. So I mean, I hope no one complained to me about the pools. I hope you all enjoyed the pools.
00:23:32
Speaker
Not very much so, and I don't know if Liam can speak to this or not as well, but I think Doug kind of spoils me for pools, because when I play in the MWS, I get into pools and I'm like, who did this? Why? Who hurt these people to make this pool here? And so anytime I play under Doug, I'm like, oh yeah, this all makes sense. Then I get to MWS and I'm like, those scum bags make these pools. So I don't know how you feel about that.
00:23:56
Speaker
um Well, I don't have the same exposure to the MWS that you do. I much prefer in-person play, so I don't tend to play a lot of vassal. But the I know, um like personally, for like a three-round event at home, I tend to do a thing where I will pick one scheme and like theme the entire event around it. So rather than having two schemes that double, there'll be one scheme that's in all three rounds, and all the other schemes will come up once.
00:24:24
Speaker
And so it'd be like, today is the Hold Up Your Forces tournament or the, ah it it lets you write almost write a little story around the tournament. Like back when, like I think the first time we did this vendetta was the scheme that we picked. So it was like, rudge matches galore and- That's great. I like that idea. That's a fun idea. It's like everybody gets in snare and you just put nets or something everywhere. you know Yeah, yeah. No, that's super fun. That's great.
00:24:52
Speaker
So already, so moving to this particular game, and you already talked about how, so yeah, you found out that it's Travis who you who you didn't know, but but maybe you'd heard rumors about it. Everyone's like, oh, wait, you know, did you did you get any of that from the Texans being like, uh-oh, you got Travis. And then he's obviously saying fenders. So go ahead.
00:25:08
Speaker
Uh, not until after the tournament, but I was very prepared to, uh, not, uh, after the game rather, but not until, uh, but I was prepared to treat any 10 thunders as a, as a serious problem because, um, well, because that's where we are. exactly Um, so I, it's a push me away from Leviticus as an option and, uh, definitively locked me into, um, Bonchil.
00:25:34
Speaker
Why? ah And obviously it would be the next step after that, but still before the start of the game, that what was the, the, uh, the decision between Von Schill one versus two, you know, OG versus Ironheart and that you ended up picking Ironheart. Uh, so they're both really compelling choices. I think, um, the reason I was leaning Von Schill one was partly in your face being a scheme that I felt like I would probably want to go for. And she'll two is just a bit more personally murderous.
00:26:03
Speaker
at close range, um whereas shield one is what you would go for if you were like trying to snipe people from across the table. The other big factor was um the combination of sweating bullets and hold up their forces, um because I really, really wanted um to be using I've Got Your Back on a regular like regularly on my Cos10 henchmen to keep them out of melee.
00:26:30
Speaker
and the um And while shield one has it on his card, shield two gets it from the assault shield and has the benefit of having two bonus actions so he can do it and do something else like leap or use his foul mouth motivation and otherwise contribute to the game while still constantly pulling my models out of any engagement they might have gotten stuck in.
00:26:56
Speaker
um and Oh, and the third factor was that I was into Asami, so I thought bulldoze might help get rid of rift markers if i if I needed that particular piece of technology. um didn't really come up that one, but it it was a factor. Like nice to have the option for sure. So that's cool. Okay. Um, and then, uh, uh, for your selection of schemes that, uh, you ended up picking, um, in your face and protected territory. And so you'd kind of touched on trying to to figure that out and and work that out even before the tournament, but, but what ended up driving you into those, uh, in particular?
00:27:33
Speaker
ah So in your face was because I had two cost 10 hires in Arik and Hannah, who would both be at least moderately mobile. They both ah can get leaps. Hannah can copy secret passage on the tunnel rats. They'd probably be my bomb carriers. So there was a lot pushing them towards that side of my opponent's table to begin with for the endpoint of in your face. And looking at my opponent's crew, um he'd hired ah I think it was Ahagaru, Amunazaku, and Monako Ray. So there were quite a few cost eight models, and there was a chance that he would summon ah cost eight models as well. So um I figured In Your Face was very likely to be a scheme that I could score at some point during the game. um For Protected Territory, that was because um driven largely by the fact that
00:28:32
Speaker
it so pretty easy like it has It's a pretty easy scheme to score in my opinion ah experience. It has a fairly low action requirement. um I've got a couple of ways to just make scheme markers, incidentally. And I've got a couple of models that have spare AP in my crew so I can get the markers down for it without really bogging me down too much.
00:28:55
Speaker
um Yeah. And especially in like plant where you're trying to spread out anyways, I've seen a lot of people kind of like it with that because you do tend to try to go wide. And so that works out pretty smoothly. So but so cool the one part of that that went wrong, as it turned out, was um i'd I'd only I had one or two practice games into a Sami two before this event. So I hadn't seen the full skip scope of the um only keyword in action. And I was taken a bit off guard by ah the combination of Tengu generating interacts that can ignore engagement ranges and Akaname having the ability to remove markers as a cost to one of their actions.
00:29:37
Speaker
Um, so it was kind of hard to keep my scheme markers on the table for the reveal point protected territory, uh, between that and the fact that a zombie can summon these models eight inches away from her and then they can move. And it was, I was very contested for the, uh, the reveal point, but I was still able to snag in the end point. Okay.
00:30:01
Speaker
No, that's cool. And that how about thoughts on as you're looking at at Travis's list ah and you're thinking about what he might have picked and what was your thought on his game plan?
00:30:15
Speaker
or or Or did you not really have, you know, I think at the towards the top of the show, you mentioned that you weren't necessarily sure you kind of had to try to deny all five schemes throughout the whole game. but And so when did you start getting the inkling? Was it at all an inkling before the game or or how did that play out? um I felt like I probably ensured myself against in your face or let them bleed with the way i I'd hired my crew. I reckon Hannah are both quite tanky. I Um, he didn't really have, he hadn't really hired models that I felt could punch through that amount of armor really quickly. So I, uh, I felt like let them bleed or in your face were probably unlikely and everything else in my crew was too cheap to be worth targeting for those games. So that left me really focusing in on hold up their forces, sweating bullets and protected territory. Um, where.
00:31:14
Speaker
To protect the territory, I was basically just um trying to mob his models ah if they were near scheme markers to make sure that they weren't he wasn't able to reveal that scheme. To hold up their forces, as I mentioned, I was getting my shields out, so my models had um access to... I've got your back on demand. and I could just keep pulling my models out of any melee that they were in.
00:31:40
Speaker
and um Sweating bullets I played around by, um, like that, that, that was where my practice games really came helpful because I had that muscle memory to not let my models drift too close to the center point, uh, to risk giving up a sweating bullets point. Um, while still making sure I had the AP to get back fair on turn five, just in case you'd taken it as a, um, and hadn't yet revealed it.
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's just an an amazing amount of play and counterplay. And yeah i am I am a long way, frankly, from top tier table. So I'm i looking at at the other folks on this show. Is that the amount of counterplay that you guys are are used to you having and dealing with? Or is that kind of rare? you know is that Is that typical for your game ones as well?
00:32:35
Speaker
ah I don't think I'm necessarily as intentionally in depth as Liam is. I think a lot of the times it comes down to I'll start to pay attention once a scheme marker comes out. um But if I'm just like looking at like hold up their forces, if you're gonna score hold up on me, I have like a 0% chance of blocking that. ah Just because it's like, hey, he hired cheap models. I like expensive models and those haven't died yet or whatever. um But like the typical blood first scheme leader ah typically works out as a paradigm if you're concerned. So ah like I said, I'll start to pay attention when schemes drop. um But before then, like,
00:33:14
Speaker
I typically take sweating bullets so at least I'm swapping points with an opponent. yeah um if If I'm worried about that or if I think they're going to try to avoid me I'll just not take it because they think I'll take it and that's fair.
00:33:26
Speaker
um But as far as like trying, I don't have that, I don't have that kind of brain power. That's the, what's, you know, that kind of brain power, you have everything else. i hear the this like print and store All of the information of my opponent's models.
00:33:44
Speaker
in my brain. I can't also store how to keep all of the schemes straight. as I have to literally several times a game each game I can I know you guys can hear me say this when I go one of my schemes again and I have to like take a moment uh think about that because with all the cards in there I can't also stuff the schemes in there.
00:34:02
Speaker
so But and and and we know you guys are all amazing players, but it's just that that is really cool. Just hearing you talk about what you're keeping in your mind as you're working through ah even just the start of the game and then a little bit into the gameplay. That's that's that's very
Enhancing Mobility with Tunnel Rats
00:34:17
Speaker
cool. um So I mean, I will know I'm only able to do that because i I practiced around multiple times. And then it came very important to do so very early on. um I made ah my big mistake of the game, I think, was I stuck Two bombs on tunnel rats when in my practice name I hadn't done that I'd given them one bomb and put the two on Von Schill because he's at least he's durable and he's mobile and he can get them both down over the course of the game without too much of a problem but um I I made a split split second last last moment decision to put the second bomb on the tunnel rats and um Which is always a gamble because they are
00:34:58
Speaker
fairly easy to keep safe because they're so mobile. But if anything ever does reach them, they go down in one or two swings. so um And the way Travis played, um his front line had pushed up really quickly, but his back line was still dawdling. And so he had models in kind of every conceivable space on the table. And there was nowhere safe that the tunnel rats could run off to. And when they died really early on, it meant that Uh, Travis had seven bombs to play with and I had three i knew that getting the, uh, getting the strategy from there was going to be a really uphill slog. So I switched gears really from that point to, um, making sure, like just being hyper aware of the schemes at all times, because I knew that the only way I was going to eat out of even a drawer at that point was, um, was by just stopping every possible scoring avenue.
00:35:54
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. I'd like to talk a little bit about, and this may be my final list building question and final piece before the start of the game kind of thing, but ah Tunnel Rats, some of our listeners are probably, have never seen Tunnel Rats on the table yet. I happen to have played them ah or played against them, but could you talk through what they bring to the fight ah for people who may not know about them? And then also how they interact with with Hannah. I think that that piece is really cool. um So they're a massive game changer, I think, for the Fry Corps,
00:36:24
Speaker
By and large, they're not a very mobile crew. um They've got this ability to hand out Leap to any model, but it's a bit deceptive because it's ah it's costing UAP to give another model the option to Leap. um It uses cart. And it means you're usually having to hit a TN requiring a six, and then the Leap itself requires a seven. So it's sort of this thing of like um theme theme in the crew, really, that Any model could do something, but it's very hard to do that something efficiently. It always costs you quite a lot of work.
00:37:00
Speaker
um So the tunnel rats, on the other hand, just have secret passage off the bat. It's got a pretty high TN to hit, but it's ah it's a serious game changer because it's like one action and you're basically across the center line. And um it's a model that doesn't require another model supporting it at all times to maintain that mobility.
00:37:23
Speaker
And then the interaction with Hannah, which I think I actually caught Travis off guard with because he hadn't seen it in action, is that tra ah Hannah has adaptive tactics as her bonus action, which lets her copy someone else's tactical action, giving her the ability to use her bonus action to secret passage. um So I think term one, Travis summoned to Akaname sort of side by side, a fair way away from tra from Hannah. And then Hannah just sort of popped out of the ground and killed both of them in one swing, using the AOE on a melee attack, which, yeah, was a pretty helpful way to start the game. Pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. He did complain about that. So postgame, he was like, that's where I lost the game, was that move, or tied the game. That was a really big thing against his plans.
00:38:15
Speaker
But it definitely made tunnel rats a priority one target though. If they, if they hadn't been before, he's like, she is not doing that again. And they've got two markers on them. Two strap markers. They are going down. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, um, it's really, really ah good ability. Plus on top of all of that, uh, there's a trigger on their secret passage to drop a scheme marker and Hano's life and power. So when she's copying their secret passage,
00:38:43
Speaker
She becomes really action efficient because she not only moves 12 inches on her bodice, she also drops the scheme. Uh, and still has, it's the trigger too. Okay. That's fantastic. I didn't realize that that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, just cause she's got the ability to take, shit yeah, she's got the the ability to just copper damage to build in the crow. And it, it all becomes suddenly very, very reliable for her to move a huge distance and scheme and still have both of actions left, which is really important because she's a.
00:39:13
Speaker
very high costed model that can deal with considerable amount of damage. So you don't really want to be scheming with her, ah but it's great when you get to do it incidentally. Yeah. Okay. No, that's fantastic. Are there match-ups in which you would not consider Von Schill? Because I feel like the the Hannah adaptive tactics and just access to tunnel rats by themselves really opens up a lot of
Matchups and Character Selection
00:39:36
Speaker
his scoring potential. So I was wondering if there's a matchup where you're like, ah, Von Schill's not the man for me.
00:39:41
Speaker
Uh, I don't think he's really ever bad. Um, he's just such a reliable crew. He's got so many different tools in his toolbox. His models are hard to put in the ground. Um, it's, it's rare that he's bad for the matchup, but there's often ones where I prefer someone else. Um, I don't like the fact I don't, I don't love him on stuff, the ballots or cloak and dagger. Cause he really doesn't want to get into an interacting tug of war. He, um, doesn't really have the actions for it. Whereas plan explosives.
00:40:10
Speaker
It has a bit like the demand is lower for the amount of interacts I find you need to do over the course of a game. And his models are a bit better suited for a game plan where they like drop their bomb marker and then just kind of squat on it. So I'd ideally be playing him on raid the vaults, though, where there's ah he doesn't need to interact at all. And there's a strategy strategy markers that Hannah can secret passage out of.
00:40:40
Speaker
right right so yeah uh the the more action intensive the pool gets the more i i would lean away from him um but you he's he's the kind of master where you could just like take like solo him into every conceivable scenario well that you know that that is kind of my My, my avenue of thought here. So I was, I was curious to that, but I appreciate that crack up. Are you considering now soloing Vonshi Andre in your possible solo one trip?
Recommending Von Schill to New Players
00:41:13
Speaker
Not, not, not yet. I still have to remind guild players that guild's good and they're bad, but, uh, I'll, uh, I'll, I'll put that in my pocket for later.
00:41:23
Speaker
Look out. the yeah is Is that yeah is someone that you might recommend, obviously, to a top tier player? Is Von Schill one that you would recommend as kind of a generalist to a beginning player or not necessarily? If if they're interested in outcasts,
00:41:37
Speaker
ah Would fun she'll be one that you might lean him to her or does it become? Yes, they have so many tools. Yes, they can do everything. But good luck sorting it out as a new player. I think I would definitely recommend him to a new player. I think the versatility hat is like really usefully gated behind an upgrade mechanic that a new player doesn't really need to look into that deeply. ah But it gives that depth of play to grow into the game ah with.
00:42:08
Speaker
um And while they're still new and learning the game, you get this crew where all the models are individually quite durable, which they're very forgiving as a result. It's a keyword where that kind of lets you mock up a lot and and still have a good game.
00:42:25
Speaker
ah That's fantastic. So no, thank you very much. Appreciate that. they They're definitely one of the crews that I will throw down on the table ah for a new player, either playing against them or playing, at ah you know, for them. It's like, Hey, here, borrow this crew or playing against them because it's also one where Okay, you know, it's not like I'm not doing some weird, crazy breaking all of the rule stuff. So it's not something where you take it against a new player. They're like, wait, what crazy shit did you just pull? they they They seem like they're a fairly straightforward rules crew. Yeah. And even the upgrades can be fairly intuitive. Like the equipment box rolls up to enhance your rocket launcher. It's not that.
00:43:13
Speaker
insane in terms of uh yeah it's like we can figure that out yeah and it kind of looks like you know there's a level of it looks like what's on the tin you know or whatever it actually plays like what's on the you know Yeah, I often think of them as the Space Marines of Malifaux. They're good at everything. They're fairly straightforward, I guess. Yeah, yeah Hannah is ah is is you know a model that you probably don't want to be close to. you know it's like So that's that that gives a level of counterplay that newer players can just stay away, avoid. No, that's all great. OK, so ah and you've talked ah some about just the during the game, some of the mistakes made in your your work, trying to be very, very deliberate about scheme denial ah to prevent that. Are there any other interesting lines of play that are worth talking about during the game? ah Yes, so the. um Really big one, I think. That ah that came up towards the end was um mostly
00:44:18
Speaker
me not like my lack of familiarity with the Sami's toolbox because, oh boy, she made it. ah I did manage to kill Monaka Ray to get my in your face point ah fairly early on, which also gave me a bomb. So I was, I started to have hope creep back in that this might be a three or even four point strategy game. ah But that, but then, um the ah part of the game that I had in practice started to bite me in the butt as Asabi started pushing me off off my markers or just walking up to them. And even though my melee arrangers were covering them, um she could still pick them up with, I think it was the Yokai, ah have have a um trigger on their dark bargain to like let you interact even in like even if you're engaged,
Underestimating Opponents' Capabilities
00:45:10
Speaker
um which were tricks that I just
00:45:12
Speaker
I just hadn't seen an action before and hadn't brought any counterplay or but set up any counterplay for. um it It kind of highlighted what a silly move it was to give the two bombs to the tunnel rats in the first place was, because the um putting loading your bombs onto a fragile model is only really a good play if you are very confident you understand your opponent's threat ranges. That was not when it came to Asami.
00:45:40
Speaker
um you know like Her ability to like attack through rift markers didn't really even factor that much into the game, but i it sort of dawned on me just before the Tunnel Rats died that if that was like a line of play that he could have gone for, it didn't end up being the one that he went for. But yeah, ah if you're up against threats that you don't fully understand, it pays to like ensure yourself against what those threats could do a lot more than I ended up doing.
00:46:10
Speaker
That is super good advice for for all levels of play, for sure. So, worked out. ah think it is To be fair to you, Liam, rare is the occasion in which Asami players have the Synapses fire long enough to stop just Windmill slamming Drogamot onto the table every turn. To Travis's credit, he never once summoned Jargumort.
00:46:33
Speaker
I think it was mostly, well, he was going, it it turned out, I think after the game, the scheme that he was never able to score was hold up their forces, which, um, so he was mostly going for cheap summons like Yokai and Akaname, um, to maximize so so that he could actually score that scheme off my support models since I was being so cagey with my ah big expensive ones. Uh, but even then.
00:46:58
Speaker
wasn't quite enough. I think the downside to some of the cheap models was that they often got killed um and they can't score the scheme on the turn they're summoned. So I had a fair amount of leeway and when I killed them, but yeah. Oh my god, they're in the updated economy are so fucking good. that They are.
00:47:20
Speaker
And it's really when you can summon them eight inches away and then I don't think they even come in slow. So then they can walk another 10 inches and then they can remove any marker within two inches of them as their bodice action. So keeping, I honestly, it was a miracle I schemed. I was able to get, uh, the end point of protect the territory in the end because the, uh, the scheme marker removal threat range is like 20, 20 inches from wherever a Sabi is. So she can basically take a scheme mark off the table anywhere.
00:47:49
Speaker
Anyway, there is one. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. So who is your MVP model? ah Probably, pro it probably have to be Shill himself. I mean, he did, give them the the advantage to Shill too, is that he just does so much every activation. He usually heal, his bonus action, heals someone, puts out an upgrade and gives the target focused. So.
00:48:18
Speaker
crazy value off the first. kind of like a ap master Yeah. And then he has a second second bonus action. And then his, uh, his actual AP are useful. So he, he over the course of the game, I think he dropped two bombs, a scheme marker, killed Manaka Ray, um, kept using I've got your back to keep important model, but to the deny points, like as a model, he was probably like, uh,
00:48:47
Speaker
three of my VP and denied both, like hold up your forces points between, between his actions. Okay. um's Was he ever, we hadn't really talked about, was he ever at at risk of dying through this is, or is he just not a target that you can even, an opponent can even kill? Uh, he wasn't, he's a lot more vulnerable than she'll one. Um, one of the points of calculus you make when you're deciding which version of shield to play is, uh, how aggressively you think your opponent is going to go for your master. Because if you think they're going to go ah go after them, she'll one is almost unkillable. But the ah the way the get this game shook out was so ah the two the two only henchmen kind of went down my left flank and she was going down my right flank. So he had Asami herself and
00:49:39
Speaker
Monaco Ray to contend with. And after he killed Monaco, he was sort of rocketing across the table to try and get Hannah back in the game, because she'd gotten kind of stranded when the ah Tunnel Rats died. So he played outside of his one big kill. He he wasn't really ever on under even near any enemy models. I think he'd drive by, kill the Amanjaku as well at one point. like But yeah one one one one of those situations where I'm like, I could walk, but I could also just charge and get a kill in while I'm at it. Yeah, it's like, it's probably gonna happen and I need to be over there anyways. Oh, that's hilarious. Oh my goodness. So already that, uh, Uh, something that we love doing on this show is asking for advice, uh, for kind of our three different tiers of players. And so, uh, I would love to spend hours talking, uh, with you on this piece, but we probably don't have hours before you have to get back to work. And again, thank you for the, the, uh, just, just making, making this call work, uh, despite the Pacific ocean, uh, worth of time zones being in the way. And so, ah but anyways, what kind of advice would you give for a bottom third player who's facing Von Shill 2 for the first time? And then also I'd love to hear ah what kind of advice, if if there's anything else to say that we haven't already, that you would offer to a bottom a third player who's thinking about picking up Von Shill. I just want to say first thing, despite the Pacific Ocean is a great tagline for my entire Houston experience.
00:51:13
Speaker
the Uh, so for a lower third shield player, I think, um, I would say the, um,
00:51:29
Speaker
you probably want to just like, uh, the point where I think shield levels up is when you really understand what the five different upgrades offer.
Strategic Depth through Upgrades
00:51:40
Speaker
Um,
00:51:41
Speaker
And this is a journey that I haven't even finished yet. I constantly ah forget that you can remove scheme markers with the clockwork grenade. They have a crow trigger for um ah to to remove any scheme marker that the shockwave would touch. um And that's a tool that probably might have even given me a ah line on denying Travis's protected territory point that he did actually manage to score.
00:52:12
Speaker
Uh, if I'd been thinking it through, I'm not sure though ah that he he yeah had, he had played that ensure the insurance game. There were, that he had a few redundancies in play. It might've been more complicated. Um, but nevertheless, uh, that each of the upgrades offers like really valuable pieces of tech and knowing when to deploy them is, uh, uh, a huge part of going from, uh,
00:52:38
Speaker
Freightcore is this crew that is tough and it does damage and is just generally well-rounded to a crew that has um just the perfect tool for this specific scenario. And it takes a while to learn because knowing that any of your models could have the 10 different actions that are available across these five upgrades or I think it's eight different actions, but whatever. It is a bit of a step up. um
00:53:13
Speaker
Oh, and honorable mention should always go to always be aware of when it's valuable for the steam trunk to give itself landmines and then blow itself up. There was a great moment in this game where I got activation control because an Akaname was standing next to a riff marker.
00:53:29
Speaker
sorry the A steam trunk trundled into the rift marker, gave itself landmines, and then took its bodice action, which was enough actions to deal three damage to it through through through the hazardous rift marker. Doing an automatic four damage to the Akaname that was standing next to it that hadn't yet activated.
00:53:51
Speaker
And you're like, we are done. We do not need him anymore. He has done his job. Thank you for your service. Yep. Yep. It's the best part about that that. That was a particularly nice example, but man, a, um, two inch pulse. That's just an unresistant forward damage to everything in the area can change some games pretty quickly.
00:54:11
Speaker
really wreck some pace yeah and and it can wreck yours if if you're still working on your unpack and oh yes be careful about where your steam trunk is yes absolutely i i have to imagine every vongial player has learned that lesson at least once the hard way I cannot imagine otherwise, yep. So, all right. the um And you've kind of talked about that journey along and moving from bottom third to to middle towards top as you learn more and more about the upgrades. Any other and advice for people? How about how about for facing ah that crew? ah Particularly two, but maybe Vonshell in general. We'd love any advice you have for really any of the those three levels.
00:54:55
Speaker
Uh, you're probably ah like, unless you're really confident about your offensive output, you're probably best going after the support models rather than the, the big three, uh, she'll Hannah and Eric, particularly if your opponent is playing she'll one at that point, attacking. She'll is basically a trap. He has armor. He probably has shielded. He has, um,
00:55:17
Speaker
ah The survivalist rule so when he heals he additionally heals at least one health heals an additional one health and the crew has a million like one health pings Which mean his like he he can just incidentally heal half his hit points over the course of around With without you even really trying so um Be aware that if your opponent's like offering you she'll one on a plate He's probably trying to bait you into making a bad move there So models like the engineers or the, um, particularly the metallurgist, which is a crew model that I usually only hire as a tech hire.
Weakening Von Schill's Crew
00:55:58
Speaker
Um, if I'm expecting hazardous or, I don't know, maybe Nekama, but I go back and forth on that one because Nekama does kill it so easily. And then you lose the tech that you hired it for. Um, but those, those are the models that you should probably be focusing down first. Um, once they're gone.
00:56:15
Speaker
the henchmen become a lot less threatening. Because a huge function of particularly engineers is to make sure that the henchmen have both severe in hand from tools to the job and focus from the preparations trigger that they can get on their um ah bonus action. And Hannah and Eric both rely very heavily on these very spiky damage tracks where the severe are far worse than the the weeks.
00:56:40
Speaker
um that many, they're not the sort of beater that like has ways of getting third attacks. So instead they're usually all about hitting you for, uh, like a seven damage severe or, or more in Hannah's case. So, um, yeah, kill the little guys and then try to outscore them basically, because the big guys don't have many actions to work with and the, um, and they hate using them for scheming.
00:57:08
Speaker
Makes great sense. So awesome. that I want to kind of wrap up ah some questions. we've We've hit a bunch of the questions that came up in our Discord. For listeners, if you are not in our Discord, we've got an invite in the show notes. And we would love to have you in and discussing and asking questions before we run episodes. um Some that we have not hit, I think. Photon Cosmonaut had asked, ah you certainly you have a reputation for playing a lot of plague. that was ah Getting into the Malifaux during Covid maybe started there, but but no plague in this one. Was it just the pool or or what? What kept you from running plague into this particular pool? He was not. What did you even bring plague? I did. Yeah. Yeah. right Like plague is part of the reason I couldn't do why in Scorpius, because I needed to reserve 30 models for just the plague keyword. Got it. OK. I think I'd originally in my practice games plan to play plague twice across the six rounds. I think
00:58:08
Speaker
Uh, our recurring theme of the, um, the, the ties that I got this event was that I made some last second decisions. So in this case, the last second decision was to play Tara and round four instead of plague. Um, and.
00:58:25
Speaker
sort of 50-50 or whether or not that was a good idea in the end. But yeah, I ah love to but i love to play leg, but yeah um I am aware of when they're not the best idea and corner plant explosives with this pool where I didn't want to go near the center either.
00:58:42
Speaker
really not the place to play. It's a really bad idea. yeah so The benefits of not ah whatever, having a bunch of of models in your in your kit bag. so All right. ah that A question.
00:58:56
Speaker
oh I think we got, ah Pope DARPA had asked some questions and we were able to talk about that on the jet lag and that kind of stuff. ah Nathan had asked that, so Von Schill was your pick into 10 thunders. Are there 10 thunders masters that you would have regretted that? Or or is he generally a pretty good pick in to and into thunders?
00:59:18
Speaker
Uh, yeah, like there are aspects of 10 funders that are frustrating. They have lots of extended reach there and models, uh, crews like Shen Long and McCabe can be frustrating because, um, of their stat advantage. Um, like I mentioned, Eric and Hannah don't make many attacks. They only make like often one or two really big attacks each time.
00:59:41
Speaker
And so if you're trying to land a stat six really impactful attack into a stat seven defense because of Chi or because of ah McCabe's curse objects or whatever, um it's really problematic if your opponent has the 13 in hand to make that attack miss.
01:00:00
Speaker
Nevertheless, nevertheless I do still lean Shill. like I would rather be playing Shill into a bad matchup than Leviticus into a bad matchup in the 10 Thunder scenario because the like the inherent resilience of the crew does just give you that padding to like still find opportunities even if your game plan isn't perfect.
01:00:25
Speaker
um I'd probably rather play it be playing Hamlin, but that ah just wasn't an option for this pool. yeah understand So no, that's cool. No, thank you there. That, uh, and then, uh, final question, Diceman had asked a bunch of questions, uh, and, uh, and there's one that we have not hit. And I love this question. It is, you just got hired by the fry core and you can pick one of, uh, either the minion or.
01:00:49
Speaker
Forcers. Yeah, congratulations. Welcome to the Freight Corps. um You can either take the job of one of the minions or one of the enforcers. And so what job do you would you want in the Freight Corps and why? Oh, it's a librarian without a question. ah My hand-eye coordination is shot, so don't give me a gun. I have basically no technical knowledge, so don't make me a metallurgist.
01:01:11
Speaker
I probably wouldn't do too well in a tunnel, but I have a background in publishing, so I could probably do a librarian's job. ah yeah that I can spit ancient words at people until they fall over dead all day long. Yes. 2-4-5, give you a little bit of focus and it's going to be a problem. That is fantastic. Do you have any plugs or shout outs or thank yous that you need to make Liam before we let him go? No plugs or anything at the moment. I just want to say a big thanks to all you guys. You were so welcoming over the weekend and a massive thanks to both Pete and Doug for giving me lifts.
01:01:53
Speaker
ah Um, and to the, state the, the, the airport, it was nice after but spending that much money getting to the event. I didn't have to spend more, more money on Ubers or anything, which is cool. Yeah. Brian. So Liam, what was your favorite food while you were here? Uh, Doug gave us a recommendation of, uh,
01:02:12
Speaker
place called Rudy's, I think, for some Texan barbecue. and that That was pretty pretty wild. um I don't, I don't get served a crate filled with meat very often in Australia.
01:02:26
Speaker
Good. I'm glad you guys took Texas barbecue. yeah Yeah. It was a lovely experience. We did that on the Sunday. So the tournament had wrapped up and it was a great way to just sort of finish off a pretty intense couple of days. Cause, uh, yeah.
01:02:39
Speaker
It was a lot of Malifur. It was great. There was a yeah lot. Yeah, for sure. No, that's awesome. Well, thank you again for coming on. ah Very, very much appreciate you, ah despite the Pacific. And very, very much looking forward to playing you online and as well as playing you in person at some point. It may be a while before I'm at your tables, but David, I'm looking forward to seeing you again. So that's awesome. Yeah, absolutely. i Um, I make no promises about being able to get back there next year, but I'll definitely keep an eye on the plane tickets and see if any deals show up. Outstanding. Thank you so much for coming on the show today, but also thank you for so much for coming all of the way here from Australia. that I was incredibly flattered that, you know, this event is big enough that it got on your radar. So ah look, it was definitely worth it. I don't regret it at all.
01:03:33
Speaker
That is amazing. So, well, thank you again. And again, congratulations. Thank you. And thanks for having me on. Students of Conflict is brought to you by Top Dog Design. Check out topdogdesign dot.com for all of your Malafurterian needs. Top Dog Design, 3D printable designs to enhance your tabletop. Students of Conflict is not an official product of new administrators LLC. All intellectual property belonging to weird miniatures is used with permission. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of entities they represent. Any content provided by our guests and or hosts are their opinion and not intended to align any group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything. Whoo!
01:04:36
Speaker
I don't get served a crate filled with meat very often in Australia.