Relic Knights - Cerci Speed Circuit vs. Shattered Sword

Last weekend we pulled out my Cerci Speed Circuit and my daughter's Shattered Sword faction.  With the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for Relic Knights: 2nd Edition starting on Monday, I thought it would be great to try a 35 point encounter of Relic Knights with two painted factions.  Below is the battle report:

Setup:

Cerci Speed Circuit (34 Points):

• Marie-Claude and Esmee (13 Points)
• Betty (10 Points)
• Lug (11 Points)

Shattered Sword (34 Points):

• Jeanne Romee and Gallant (14 Points)
• Isabeau Durand (14 Points)
• Purifiers [3] (6 Points)

35 Point Encounters are played to 8 Victory Points, and the flips for the objectives were the exact same for each side (potentially from a lack of shuffling with two brand-new, never-used Esper Decks):

Primary Condition (Objective) - worth 5 Victory Points:

• Entropy - Tear It Down - destroy opponent's primary objective token, or both of opponent's secondary objective tokens.

Secondary Condition (Objective) - worth 3 Victory Points:

• Entropy - Carnage - destroy three enemy units.

The 2x2 felt gaming mat was setup with stone castle terrain I purchased from a seller named crowin16 on Ebay, completed with custom-made Cthulhu and Valkyrie statues that I created.  I added some purple Gale Force Nine crystals, a few large trees, and a pond.  Each team placed its objective markers and units.

Relic Knights is unique in that there are no predefined deployment areas - units just need to be placed no closer than 9" from enemy units and enemy objective markers.

Early Game:

Each team went for the opponent's primary objective from the start.  Cerci relied on the combined damage of Lug, Betty, and Marie-Claude to damage the objective, while Shattered Sword used Jeanne's Guidon power to boost the damage that Isabeau did each turn.  The Purifiers worked to defend their objective, but were ultimately destroyed by a volley of fire from Betty, giving Cerci the first points of the game.

Cerci Speed Circuit - 1 Point

Shattered Sword - 0 Points

Mid-Game:

Cerci focused on destroying the primary objective, but Jeanne Romee kept compelling Betty and Lug away from the objective with Hearts & Minds, keeping them out of line of site and range of the objective.  Cerci destroyed the Shattered Sword primary objective (gaining 5 points), but missed out on gaining 2 points for "Lap Time" - its faction condition, because they exhausted their Esper Deck just one turn before.  One turn later, Isabeau's focused attacks destroyed the Cerci primary objective (for 5 points).

Cerci Speed Circuit - 6 Points

Shattered Sword - 5 Points

 

Late-Game:

Isabeau ran to engage Betty, hoping to gain 3 points to win the game (1 for destroying a unit, and another 2 for accomplishing the "Justice" faction condition for Shattered Sword, which provides points for destroying a unit that defeats the first friendly unit).  Jeanne compelled enemy units away from Isabeau to allow her to focus her attacks against Betty.  Lug was defeated, taking redirected damage for Betty through her "Faithful" power, and giving Shattered Sword 1 additional point.

Cerci Speed Circuit - 6 Points

Shattered Sword - 6 Points

End-Game:

Isabeau's Mercy Strike, along with its Lifeleach press, allowed her to withstand attacks from both Betty and Marie-Claude while winnowing down Betty's health.  Jeanne supported Isabaeu, using her Guidon power to boost Isabeau's damage, and compelled Marie-Claude away from the fight.  As an Esper Master, Esmee used his Esper Cleaning ability to remove the Guidon marker, returning Isabeau's damage to normal.

But it was too late.  Lug was no longer around to act as a bodyguard to Betty.  Eventually, the damage output caught up to Cerci, and when Betty was defeated, Shattered Sword was victorious.

Cerci Speed Circuit - 6 Points

Shattered Sword - 9 Points (Win)

Conclusion:

In all, it was a close game - down to just a turn's worth of difference in the outcome.  Cerci missed "Lap Time" by one turn, and they would have won the game early had they gained the extra 2 points from completing their primary condition.

Overall it was difficult for Shattered Sword to match the damage output of Ceri, with Marie-Claude, Betty, and Lug.  However, although Jeanne Romee can't attack directly, her support abilities - the ability to enhance damage and move opponents - had a big impact on the game.

I found Relic Knights to be a fun distraction from my normal miniature games.  The models are fun to paint, and the gameplay is unique, dynamic, and cinematic.  A small cadre game was exciting and fun to play.

I'm looking forward to the Kickstarter to see what it will offer....

Pay Dirt

We've played Pay Dirt a few times over the last few months.  Pay Dirt is a worker placement game for up to five players and we've enjoyed it each time we've played.  There are three items to bid on each turn - claims to mine, equipment to process the claims, and workers to man the equipment.  I've been told that the characters in the game are from the TV show Gold Rush.

Each turn, you typically get one of the items to build your engine.  The objective is to produce gold pieces (which act as the victory points for the game, but can also be sold for cash to increase your ability to bid in the bidding phase).  The game has a great mechanic called the "Hardship Phase" to help prevent someone from running away if they are winning.

In all, I've enjoyed the game each time we've played. It is a good length game, with a well-paced middle and end game.  It has great components, although some of the smaller pieces are a bit fiddly.  I recommend it if you like engine-building and worker placement games.

Relic Knights - Cerci Speed Circuit: Marie-Claude and Esmee

A few months ago I finished Betty, Log, and a Pacer from the Cerci Speed Circuit faction of Relic Knights.  With the upcoming Relic Knights 2.0 Kickstarter campaign (at the end of this month), I decided to kick my painting into high gear on my remaining models using the dipping method.  I had already finished Esmee a few months ago, but I just completed Marie-Claude a few days ago.

Marie-Claude was quickly base-coated and then dipped using a new Polyshade mix.  It turns out that the new mix I used (Tudor) was way to dark.  I frantically washed the model under water, stripping away some of the dip, but also some of the paint (which hadn't completely dried).  I did my best to recover, but Marie-Claude is still pretty splotchy.  This is most apparent around her scarf, (which I modified for a little more modesty...).

Eldar Alaitoc Ranger

Old, classic Alaitoc Ranger from the 1990s.  I painted this for my still unfinished Eldar Alaitoc army.  He is sometimes used as a proxy for Illic Nightspear.