#battlereport

Hamelin, The Plague vs Perdita Ortega, La Diabla Recover Evidence / Standard  Schemes: Harness the Laylines, Take the Highground, Recover Evidence

Hamelin, The Plague Obedient Wretch Nix Rat King Rat Catcher x2 Stolen x3 6 SS Remaining

Perdita Ortega, La Diabla Papa Loco Francisco Ortega Santiago Ortega Nino Ortega Abuela Ortega Monster Hunter Brutal Fate, Emissary 6 SS Remaining

Board Layout:

The table effectively had 4 rows and columns, creating lanes, with Ht 3 blocking terrain sitting on the middle lines about 8” from the center. I knew the clear sightlines would advantage Perdita’s shooting oriented crew, but it also made it easier to lure enemies through.

I placed my marker on the right flank, Perdita put hers in the middle left. I deployed with a Rat Catcher and Stolen on each flank and the rest covering both mid lanes. The center group planned to lure an Ortega in for an early Diseased Embrace, leaving the flanks to focus on scheming and grabbing strategy markers. The Rat Catchers could quickly get scheme marker on the mid line with Moldy Cheese, so along with Onward on the Stolen I could probably score Harness the Laylines first turn.

Turn 1

At the start of the turn, Nino deployed From Shadow on top of a ht 3 cart on the midline. Hamelin immediately repositioned, lured him down, then charged him. First blight deployed. Nino then used Draw to Family to escape, climbed on top of the cart near my deployment and dropped a scheme marker. The Obedient Wretch then scaled the building and got my first Contagion Bar point. A few activations later Santiago introduced me to his signature Reacciona!, stripping the blight off of Nino. 

A skirmish broke out on the left flank between a Rat Catcher and a Stolen against Francisco and the Brutal Emissary.  The Stolen had placed a Scheme Marker on the centerline already and the Rat Catcher put one down with Moldy Cheese (and a rat) next to a wall that stretched next to Perdita’s deployment zone.

The Rat King used the On Your Heels trigger on The Red Death to pin down Santiago after he revealed his ability to strip tokens off models. The Monster Hunter figured Hamelin was tall enough to use Giant’s Bane on, putting down pressure after I pushed Hameling too far forward on the first activation, which Perdita capitalized on with Not on My Watch, applying Adversary to Hameling (I’d forgotten about Nihilism) then did some Bullet Bending to make me realize Hamelin did not have a lot of defensive tech.

At the end of turn 1, I scored for Harness the Leylines, the main point for Recover Evidence, and we both scored the bonus VP for Recover Evidence.

3v1

Turn 2 

I took Assassinate on Papa Loco. I didn't think too hard about my target, but my only other reasonable target was Nino.

While the central skirmish kicked into high gear, the Stolen on the left flank gave me my second Contagion point by giving a Diseased Embrace to Francisco. Concerted efforts then killed the Rat Catcher and the Brutal Emissary picked up Perdita’s first Strategy Marker.

I was able to slowly start getting plague out on more targets in the middle, and the scrum meant there were plenty of nearby blight tokens for the Obedient Wretches’ Bleeding Disease to bring Papa Loco low. I should have declared Assassinate here, but only remember to do it when the Rat King jumped in to finish the job later. Was I actually allowed to declare Assassinate on the kill? It did reduce him to “half health or below” so maybe?

Regardless, Perdita attempted to bring down Hamelin again, and this time I remember Nihilism to avoid the Adversary token and saving my higher card for defence. Didn’t help much, as Hamelin ended the turn at 2 health.

Meanwhile, careful placement of a growing swarm of Rats and the existing blight markers meant that I was able to spread the blight further at the end of round 2. We played with just me controlling the order they went off, but I don’t think the correct way of Perdita choosing her models order then me choosing mine would have made a significant difference.

I scored two points on Assassinate and Perdita scored one for Recover Evidence

5v2

Turn 3

I took Scout the Rooftops, since I had a free Stolen and Rat Catcher on the right flank with easy access to rooftops.

Perdita initiated the turn by finally killing Hamelin. I spent a soulstone to reduce a 2 damage  Bullet Bending ... by 1. Plagueborn didn’t get a lot of numeric value, but that meant it took a second action to kill Hamelin for good. Looking over his card, I realized he was no longer a vital piece. Strong, sure, but the Blight was now spreading through multiple sources.  The Obedient Wretch got the last laugh though, giving Nino another Diseased Embrace, bringing us to the heavy tax of discarding a card to interact, which was effectively board wide now. The Rat King picked up the Strategy marker from killing Papa Loco, then worked with Nix to keep a lot of the attention on the midboard while the surviving Rat Catcher and two stole laid down the scheme markers I needed. I even got enough Rats to summon another Rat King (though at least one of the rats used was a part of the previous Rat King). I realized that I was set up to win already and just needed to delay a bit more, losing pieces was no longer a problem.

At the end of the turn, I scored 2 for Scout the Rooftops and we both scored one on Recover Evidence

8v3

At this point, we knew it was impossible for Perdita to win, even getting all of her points for turn 4. Nonetheless, we played it out.

Turn 4

I only needed 1 more scheme point and took Detonate Charges. Leave Your Mark was a bit obvious, and I basically had it set up around Abuela.

There’s not much to say for this turn.  Perdita’s crew was able to start picking off more pieces, finally placing scheme markers on the center line. I got a single rat to Ruin Supplies, removing one of them.  Perdita managed to kill enough that she actually ended up with the final activations for the turn. 

I scored 1 on Detonate Charges, while Perdita scored 1 on Recover Evidence and 1 on Harness the Leylines.

9v5

In Conclusion

I was skeptical that I’d actually complete the Contagion Bar, but I pulled it off with aplomb. While I figured that Perdita focused too much on killing, they said that my models were always in the way at the start. I plunked Stolen and Rat Catchers on the spot they wanted to use for a turn 1 Harness, and slipped up the strategy turn 1 and forgot the main point, focusing on getting the bonus point early. Then by the end, the Contagion Bar made interacting too expensive while I still had the threat of Nix and the Rat King on the table.

I had a great time playing against LouisXIV at the Rustbelt Ruckus, which was an Infinity tournament out in Michigan.

Although my performance overall was not the best, the experience was lovely. I got to see friends I rarely see (in person!) and had a nice time rolling lots of dice. I even ended up doing a little teaching on the side, due to some low placements. 😅

The four rounds were all challenging and interesting, and the prize support, meals, and chats were all a delight. Well worth the time and effort.

As a part of the tournament, I was challenged by someone interested in contributing to Operation Hungry Walrus, LouisXIV, for the 1st-round. (Players can have challenges, but only for the first round pairings.) This worked out, since the mission we were set to play - Frontline - was the first mission of the tournament, allowing us to contribute thematically while also playing the standard rules of the Rustbelt Ruckus.

So, without further ado, our battle report and contribution to the online fan campaign! 

THE RUCKUS

LOCATION: WEST HYPATIA COASTLINE SITREP: Hypatia’s western coastline is home to a number of interesting locales, not the least of which is a former Silk Lord’s estate. After being booted out of the Akua Leisure District, the former eccentric billionaire Battho’ Ubelin built a sprawling estate to the west of the main city. 

The Black Hand believes that Ubelin’s fall is part of a multi-phase cover operation, in which the former silk lord would slowly transition into a life of debauchery and eventually move to VaudeVille. All of this, presumably, is just a long-term plant operation, with Ubelin having been psychologically groomed to be utterly loyal to his Haqqislamite paymasters after decades of loyalty before his social downfall. Their goal is to seize his compound and plant quantronic tracking devices to observe him, and confirm if Ubelin has any such issues with loyalty.

Haqqislam Special Operations has deployed a multi-tier task force to Ubelin’s estate. This is not “protection,” but instead the desire to secure it and destroy the building to prevent any evidence of Haqqislamite deep-cover techniques. Ubelin is expendable. 

The Haqqislamite team was going second, and the Nomad team from Bakunin going first. 

The Bakunians had a number of aggressive morlocks in their own specialized unit, primarily kept in line by a taskmaster.

The Haqqislamite team had very few defenses in place, save for a few hackers placed up front and an impersonator pretending to be Ubelin. 

A somewhat painful turn 1 for Haqqislam, the pupniks and Morlocks advanced quite far. They even managed to discover the hidden impersonator. Things were looking a bit dire, but the elite Asawira Unit , alongside hired operative Knauf, cleared out much of the chaff - including the Taskmaster. 

A Red Fury Mukhtar, placed far up, only activated too late (if only he’d had earlier initiative!) and absolutely decimated the Morlocks and Pupniks. By the time it happened, many rear-line units were in peril. 

TURN 2

Turn 2 continued apace, with a renewed focus on the Riot Grrl team and the Asawira. The Asawira and nearby Mukhtar did clear out quite a few, but the 2 wounds on the Riot Grrls were unable to be broken. 

Making matters worse, the Impersonator fell dead without having accomplished anything due to some bad rolls adn the Riot Grrl’s MSV preventing smoke-throwing. 

TURN 3 

Horror upon horrors! A Prowler (well-painted by LouisXIV) appeared out of nowhere to eliminate Knauf and the Barid hacker who had been providing support from afar. although Knauf survived, the Prowler was able to steal a cube, accomplishing a classified and removing two orders as well as my hacking support. A well-placed Prowler can make all the difference in the world, especially when nobody is watching down the way! 

DeDespite a decent number of points in the middle and back, I’m unable to really outwit the Riot Grrls and prowler together. Although my opponent has lost the vast majority of his orders, it’s not enough; he still has a few chunky ones touching the right spots, and I'm not. An honorable game, played well by him and decently by me.

OUTCOME