Not all of the Foundry crew are from Canada, but some are. The Foundry folks mix metal and magic into living constructs that stalk around the battlefield, melting stuff.
Mei Feng’s parents worked on uniting Canada with the Canadian Pacific Railway, before the Chinese Exclusion Act forced her parents and a young Mei Feng to flee Canada and take their expertise to the world beyond the Breach, to the city of Malifaux. There she forged a new life with people as dedicated toward metal, magic and machinery as she.
So, on Canada Day, I played Mei Feng and her newest crew member: Boilermaker, a construct forged of honest Ontario steel, sparked to life by the spirit of the Burning Man. Along with her were the normal fourth edition Foundry crew — Rock Hopper as totem; Kang as henchman; Neil Henry as someone who gets lost a lot; Shadow Emissary as an easy target with a large hit box; Metal Golem as a unit that really misses Sparks; and a Steelworker to help keep the rest in line. Absent was poor Willie, replaced by a machine. Well, it’s for the best.
I was playing Kasul this time; every so often it works out that we head somewhere half an hour away to play a game we could have played together at home. But he felt it would be more fun to get out and about. Sounded like fun! I left work a few minutes early so I could print out all the new cards. I’ll be super happy when beta is over and I can stop printing this stuff out for every game. Printing isn’t the bad part. It’s cutting them all out and putting them in the plastic sleeves that takes the time.
Formation was Standard, strategy was Plant Explosives. This strategy existed in third edition, but it’s a little different in fourth — every unit gets an explosive. I think there are some that don’t (peons), but all mine did.
We both chose Ensnare as our first scheme — drop two friendly scheme markers within 2″ of the same unique model. Neither of us made it. After the first turn, I’d made the strategy and started off ahead, 1-0.
Kasul played Von Schtook of the Transmortis keyword. Previously, when I’ve played Kasul playing this model, he stayed back and wasn’t too aggressive. Well, I saw a different side of the dear professor tonight. He rushed forward and it turns out his crew has a bonus against constructs — which was nearly everyone on my crew, excepting the Shadow Emissary. I put on my best defense, but the best wasn’t good enough.
We’d both chosen Frame Job as our move 2 scheme — get a specified unit damaged on the enemy table half. Kasul got the extra point condition — having a scheme marker nearby. We both made the strategy point and ended turn 2 tied 2-2.
However, by this time he had killed my Metal Golem and Shadow Emissary — two important models. He figured he’d soon have Mei Feng and the Steelworker. I thought I could probably keep making schemes, but my model deficit would keep me from scoring the strategy. It had taken three hours to get through the first two turns somehow. I never know where the time goes.
We agreed on an 8-5 final score. I was not going to win against a crew that always had advantage against my models. It was a good matchup for Transmortis and the tools Foundry would have used to control the situation were stripped away in the fourth edition and replaced with nothing.
I still feel, with no evidence at all to support this, that there is a winning way to play Foundry. I hope. But, at the tournament in a couple of weeks, I will be playing December.
