Or is it Derpowere?

 Lantern Year 8 - Lion Knight level 1

So... Tremuli, Tredge, Goliheen and Egibon tried to act in the impro play set up by Lion Knight. My first showdown ever with this guy, and by gods, did it go horribly.

Right from the start things went wrong, when the heaviest armored guy became the Fool, and Tremuli was the villain. That wasn't too bad, but she did have the second linked Rawhide Headband. At least automatic priority target token on Goliheen gave a little leeway for the first turn.

While survivors did manage to land hits, the wound rolls were horrible. The amount of 1's was discouraging, but even more discouraging were the results that were missing by one. 

In fact, only two wounds were caused by actual damage rolls. All the remaining wounds were caused by collision with Amber Poleaxe.

... which meant a grand total of four wounds done to the Lion Knight.

If I had luck somewhere. they were the severe injury rolls. The amount of straight 10's there was unreal. But even that wasn't enough, when Lion Knight landed consistently three hits with a single attack with a damage of three because of Crowd Pleaser - and all hit locations on Tremuli (the villain) were either hands or body. 

This showdown really, really requires the option to surge.

Intermission didn't come a moment too soon.

Tregde and Goliheen lost their weapon proficiencies, Egibon their re-roll.

...

But that's two more endeavors, at least.

8: Goliheen visits the strange caravan to trade a scrap sword with Silent Barterer. He got scammed with Broken Lantern and Monster Hide.
9: Leiha shares some experience with Timbifor.

Whom to hunt, next? I don't actually know. I'm almost tempted to go for Phoenix, although the time shenanigans worry a little. But you know what? 

Lantern Year 8 hunt & showdown - Phoenix level 1

Timbifor and Neliprinso tear their muscles in antler-gouged terrain (74) before Wind Tunnel pushes all survivors back to starting space. 

... and Leiha leads the party to a Mudslide (55), and survivors lose Monster Grease and Bug Trap, as well as receive concerning amounts of damage.

And Rahlovia disturbs a nest of Madflies (52). And I'm having Deja Vu... I distinctly remember that in some settlement I also rolled Madflies and three out of four survivors got Frenzy. 

Swatting the flies in frenzy, survivors stumble upon a Scribe's book. Insane as they were, Rahlovia and Neliprinso wrote their names. Timbifor had to instruct Neliprinso with his re-roll so that settlement wouldn't lose even more gear.

... buuuut they did. Fortunately Unmaking took only one set of Stone Noses, but still this hunt was absolute disaster.

Phoenix better go down real quick. 

Random terrain was Debris and Survivor corpse.

Phoenix opened with Gouge and Feast. It targeted Leiha, as she was the only survivor able to use survival actions. However, she had zero insanity, so Age tokens were an issue, and now she had two of them. I was sure this showdown was essentially the end of the settlement.

However, Rahlovia poked two criticals on the beast with natural 10's, one of them being the bird's liver. Excellent example how situations can change rapidly in Kingdom Death.

I wrote that sentence in middle of showdown. How ironic it seems now... Even with auto-knockdown from Materialize and no Displacement, rolls were excruciating. Wounding on 2+ seemed to guaranteed at least one one. At least the AI cards were not the worst, but because of the frenzies it was a desperate race against time.

A race the survivors ultimately lost.

Survivors did get Phoenix down to one AI card remaining, and it was Bored. And that meant every other turn there was a chance to kill it with one attack. 

Timbifor, the lousiest and most useless of all the survivors, was the only one surviving, and he had the Bone Darts and the Catgut Bow. 

He took the Bored attack thing at least five times, trying to snipe the beast with a single, frenzied attack.

But, it seemed Kingdom Death really wanted to teach me a lesson this time. 

Last survivor of the showdown died, because Phoenix was so bored.

Lantern Year 9: Nickname

Nickname for all returning survivors, yaaaay!

Eedge received a point of courage from Gorm Climate.

Two survivors ceased to exist, and two died of natural causes. Population 10+ and Cooking gave a total of six endeavors. Not that I got to use those just yet, because all blotted out survivors were wiped out, so showdown became instant.

Settlement had zero survivors who had any progress worth mentioning, so defenders were: Leihovia Toothon, Timbon Brees, Egifor Brees and Tregde

Lantern Year 9 Nemesis Showdown: Slenderman level 1

... and what a messed up showdown it was.

First I thought KD:M was giving me some hope, as random terrain was Flower Patches. Obviously the roll was a 1, though, so no luck tokens for me. 

Slenderman was constantly blinking on and off, which was a sort of boon for gathering together. However, whenever survivors managed to score hits, they failed to wound excessively. Slenderman mauled most armor levels off, before wounds started trickling in. First three were actually from Founding Stones. 

However, thanks to the monster's constant on and off, survivors had some time to bandage wounds and use first-aid kit. Early on Slenderman did break one survivor's back, so they couldn't use Amber Poleaxe any more. 

Despite getting absolutely wrecked, survivors somehow managed to grind through the monster's AI deck. When the last card was in, there were still three survivors in play. One of them the broken back one, though. 

And then it began. One by one survivors got too many bleeding tokens as I frantically tried to score those last few wounds. But no, soon enough there was only Leihovia left standing. 

But she did stand. Slenderman started missing as efficiently as survivors had failed their wounding rolls earlier. Whenever Leihovia received a severe injury, that was on a location already on severe injury, and didn't result in a knockdown. She did get the last AI card off the deck! ... but broke the Bone Axe in the process. Settlement is losing equipment faster than it can develop back.

... and then she had to confront the basic actions that had the knockback effect. She wasn't able to dash, had only one survival point and two penalty tokens to Movement. I was sure it was a game over then, but no.

The showdown seemed to drag on and on, and this is the victory the settlement got. Sheesh.

At least there were three Dark Waters and one Iron to be had.

Lantern Year 9 settlement phase, continued.

Three survivors died during showdown, so suddenly there was six more endeavors, although nobody remembered where they came from. I have no idea what I'm to do with this many endeavors at this point. Oh well.

1: Dark Water Research level 2
2: Leihovia studies the Stoic Statue, departing survivors gain +1 survival. 
3: Eemac got a point of Understanding from Stoic Statue.
4: Rofige worshiped the monster's statue, departing survivors gain +10 survival.
5-6: Golimato trains Pidicule to Age 2. He learns how to be Unbreakable.
7-8: Golimato trains Eedgien Nimportan to Age 2. She is the new Strategist.
9-10: Round-Stone Training for Eedgie. She learns Tumble.
10: Round-Stone Training for Pidicule. He gets +3 insanity and Carapace of Will
11-12:  Pidicule does auguries for +1 Understanding, +1 survival

I guess the year then just passes, because there is no hunt?

Lantern Year 10 - Gorm Climate

It took a re-roll from Rofige, but Eedge received +1 Courage.

And then a stumped phase for endeavors. 

1: Eemac gets second point of Understanding from Stoic Statue, triggering Insight. Extra endeavor.
2: Roficien worships the statue, giving +1 survival for departees. 
3: Trepanning for Golimato. Expanded consciousness for Overprotective Wardrobe Expert. He loses Immortal.
4:Shared Experience for Eemac, who gets +1 permanent accuracy from Age.

Lantern Year 10 Hunt & Showdown - White Lion level 1

Yeah, I chickened out. But last three showdowns have been so horrific I needed a breather. 

Pidicule, Eedgie Nimportan and Goliheen and Golimato Bowister go on the hunt.

And it's Madflies again! Now only half of the team frenzied though, and I doubt  the lion will be much of a challenge even if they went fully frenzied. The lion went prowling anyway.

Showdown was as much of a pushover as expected. Only one extra resource from crit locations, though.

Lantern Year 11 - Clinging Mist

Oh... Oh no. It is that result again. I had the option to begin a new settlement again, which would have been by far the best choice. But I want this campaign to end one day, and a "free" level 1 hunt might actually be the boost this settlement needs to rise from it's setbacks.

Clinging Mist Hunt & Showdown: White Lion level 1

This special hunt was an onslaught of success. Half of the team reached their Insights.

... And even the first card the White Lion drew was the Ground Fighting. Oh no. White Lion kept wasting the survivors' time by drawing the trap over and over again, but still the thing went down without much of an effort.

Although survivors packed 16+ resources, it was mostly just bones and hides. Only organs came from White Lion deck, none from basic resources.

Regal visit added a Hand showdown for the year. 

Acid Storm gave settlement a scrap, and adds +2 to Art rolls. Gorm Climate added +2 to Home rolls as well. 

1: Settlement innovates Bloodletting
2: Light Forging for Gloom-Coated Arrows
3: Settlement cures 4x Leather
4-5: Face Painting x2
6: Matchmaker from Golimato blessed the settlement with twins, Roficien and Eedge Nimportan received Ofici and Porfie.
7-8: Ofici is trained hastily to start training weapons. Age gives Last Man Standing. 
9: Since Odcien took a bite from the Lonely Fruit, settlement gained an extra endeavor... on top of those that came from burying Eedgien. Ofici tried Round Stone Training, gaining Cross-Arm Block.
10: Ofici left an offering under White Mask and got nothing in return.
11: Augury attempt has Eedge and Roficien at it again, receiving Auge Nimportan.

Settlement develops Gloom-Coated Arrows, Leather Shield, Leather Cuirass, Leather Skirt, Leather Bracers and Monster Tooth Necklace. After facing Lonely Tree, settlement also developed Rawhide Whip, as I want to minimize the amount of crap the hunt phase throws at the survivors.

First in line was the Hand. Although the rewards are great, I didn't want to risk any of the more promising survivors except Leihovia, who is training fist & tooth anyway. 

So, Leihovia Toothon, Talwar, Rofige and Eemac are the ones to dance to Hand's tune.

Special Showdown - Hand level 1

Roficien managed to die to the soft chuckle The Hand let out. Eemac was also hamstrung during the Line Up, but those were the only "casualties". Leihovia received the best applause, and unfortunately the only one who received any boons at all was the Hamstrung Eemac.

Oodge was packed into a gift for the settlement for the refreshing entertainment.

... and also, because it is the last year to fight the level one Lonely Tree, I ought to go for it. 

Special Showdown - Lonely Tree level 1

Pidicule, Eedgien, Golimato and Goliheen attempt to hack down a tree. 

Goliheen took a shot with gloom-coated arrows, and landed two solid wounds in. However, those also dropped two nightmare fruits... which meant the same reflexes would be coming up again. Lonely Tree would get +4 damage to most of its attacks before it was even drawing AI cards.

Early on this led to the demise of axe-wielding Eedgien, who also had the shield and scavenger kit. 

At that point Cat-Eye Circlet became super important, as the plenty basic attack reflexes from the tree would have most likely been fatal - no survivor had enough armor points in any location to survive just one hit!

However, finally the trap came, and resolving it was straightforward enough. It brought a little more time for survivors to tip-toe with their teeth clattering between the fruit bombs. 

All in all it was a fun and stressful showdown. I have always liked Lonely Tree as one of the more characterful showdowns, and this showdown didn't change that.

Five basic resources were very welcome back in settlement, although the two endeavors from Eedgien's death were, eh, okay I guess. Jagged Marrow Fruit, yaaaay.

Lantern Year 11 Hunt & Showdown - Frogdog level 1

That horrible downfall that happened with Phoenix and Slenderman still had me scared to hunt nastier foes, although level 2 Lion probably would have still been quite doable. However, I wanted to try something entirely new - the most recent purchase of Frogdog expansion. Going in blind against a level 1 version.

Team was Leihovia and Eemac, Golimato and Goliheen.

Chance Encounter and a random found corpse stacked survivors with courage and understanding. The frogdog hunt event was Wet Ground, which made half of the team squeamish. 

... and then. New content, yaaay.

At the end of the day it was a level 1 monster that I bashed on year eleven, so there didn't seem to be any real danger for the survivors. However, the whole fart deck thing is actually quite neat. Or, wait... that's not a word I'd use. Rather... flavorful? NO DEFINITELY NOT THAT. 

Every survivor managed to score their weapon training hit, although bow user Goliheen did their best to dodge marking that proficiency slot. 

Lantern Year 12 - Plague

Ah, yeah. The good old plague. I'm excessively happy that Bloodletting was settlement innovation just a year prior. 

Talwar and Oficien were easiest picks. Leihovia and Pidicule were the hard ones. It took a re-roll to not add plague to the timeline. All four had to skip next hunt.

Golimato was anointed as the Mere Navi. After all, they had witnessed an omen. This took one re-roll, though.

After all the coughing had passed, Lion Knight paid a visit. Had not plague blocked so many proper survivors, I'd have tried to take on the knight fair and square. Of course I still do, but with a crapstack of Porfic, Eedge, Roficien and Auge. Roficien began dancing.

I know I will curse my conviction, but settlement chose Barbarism. That Hands of Heat is going to wreck this settlement, but since all the star survivors have died long time ago, the settlement needs that strength. Goliheen was nominated as the Thundercaller.

And finally the Gorm Climate. Home endeavors get +2.

One tinker, one Brave result, population 10+ and Cooking yielded eight endeavors before the encounter with Lion Knight. 

1: Settlement innovates... Clan of Death. I shouldn't complain, but getting this far without Surge action or even Symposium feels rough.
2: Leather curing. 
3-4: Face Painting x2
5-6: Golimato and Goliheen spend their Matchmakers on the two plague victims. Ofici and Talwar establish a new Nella family. Talici and Ficiar are born. They even drink a Love Juice for good measure. Third sibling, Ofar, is born.
7-8: Goliheen and Talici leave offerings to the white mask, getting +1 strength token for the departees.

Settlement completes the Leather Armor set, Bone Pickaxe, Frogdog suit and Monster Grease.

Coming up next is Lion Knight level 2, but that's going to be... some day. Verpowere has been due an update for a while, and even if this is just a four year advancement that's still eight showdowns. 

Population: 14

Departing survivors gain +1 strength tokens.

Make It an Accident

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Informants

Schemes: Ensnare, Take the Highground, Harness the Leyline

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Noxious Nephilim
Archie
Keepside Strangers
Carrion Fate Emissary
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 4

Opponent had:

Lynch, Wild Card & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Kara
Koji
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 4

Turn 1: Both crews pick Take the Highground

Honeypot had a bit easier time fulfilling their scheme, as they had a bit more options to leap on near their deployment zone. It wasn't exactly tough for Forgotten either, as they had such a repertoire of movement tricks. Carrion Fate flied a Crooligan on top of building on the right, and the same happened with another Crooligan and Noxious Nephilim to the left. Third piece was taking a charge at an Illuminated contesting center-right strategy marker and swinging the minion a couple of times before leapin on top of a rock.

Another Illuminated to the left and Koji had two terrain pieces, and near the centerpoint Kara and Hungering Darkness were holding a flooded building for their scheme.

Molly went parading on a tent near center, too. I thought that her unusual defense ability would work wonders on such a small platform, and I needed someone to place markers for Ensnare, as well as bait Honeypot uniques nearby.

Scores went 3-3.

Turn 2: Forgotten picks Ensnare, Honeypot picks Make It Look Like an Accident.

Hungering Darkness charges Keepside Strangers and nearly kills them. A Crooligan from left discarded a card to leap to Keepside Strangers, dropped a scheme next to Hungering Darkness and went to engage the thing. Keepside Strangers had already spawned one scheme marker last turn for a possible Breakthrough at one point or another.

Crooligan messed up Honeypot's scheme big time, since they were planning on throwing a kid off a window. Just a little too late Honeypot realized that the second Crooligan on top of building had Shielded. 

Forgotten got their Ensnare soon enough, as Gwyneth charged in to kill Night Terror. Turns out Night Terrors are garbage players at card games, because Gwyneth had no trouble card sharking the minion dead. However, Illuminated ones seem equally as bad at playing with ice cream, as Archie was able to pummel the guy to mist. 

Lynch nearly killed Carrion Emissary, damaging it down to two health remaining. It flied away, scared of gambling any more and instead placed two scheme markers while also contesting center-right strategy marker.

Beckoner walked to contest the same marker, tying the control. She was able to lure Crooligan off the building, but no-one believed it was an accident since the kid was shielded.

Now defenestrated Crooligan went to control bottom-right strategy marker.

Rabble Riser and Noxious Nephilim squabbled with Koji and Illuminated, neither side making much of a progress.

In the center Kara tried the only possible action for Honeypot to score their scheme, and attacked Molly. Attack hit, but didn't score Rams.

Molly was Forgotten's last model to activate, and she slapped Kara off from kitchen counter with parade baton. She had to use two Parade Routes on Crooligan to get it to contest strategy marker in the center.

Forgotten took the lead with 6-4.

Turn 3: Forgotten picks Reshape the Land with schemes, Honeypot attempts Breakthrough.

Gwyneth finishes Carrion Emissary before it is able to activate. Archie makes a tit-for-tat exchange with Beckoner, killing her before she activates.

Koji and Illuminated to the left nearly kill Rabble Riser. In fact they would have if it wasn't for a lucky Rams during Rabble Riser's attack when he was still at one health remaining.

Fortunately I was reading around opponent's cards, and noticed Illuminated's "Don't Turn Your Back" in time - I had this grand plan of flying Noxious Nephilim and Rabble Riser to bluff Search the Area for a bit, but making the markers for Reshape the Land instead.

Molly had to spend her entire activation to walk on top of central building and parade the Nephilim out of Illuminated's engagement range.

Kara continued to attack Molly, making the cat even more distracted. 

A Crooligan moved to remove a scheme marker some Honeypot model had placed on my deployment zone. That was my attempt to deny Breakthrough. Unfortunately Honeypot had plenty of more activation by then, but at least it forced Hungering Darkness to scheme around.

Both players scored full schemes and strategy for 9-7 lead for Forgotten.

Turn 4: Honeypot picks Assassinate on Molly

Noxious Nephilim tried to remove Koji from equation to get one strategy marker for Forgotten. Both of his attacks needed to hit, but the first one failed already unless I spent a thirteen from my hand - which I did. But second attack missed as expected.

Lynch scores one point from Assassinate, and also gives Molly slow. She had three health remaining. She had to activate next, and went over the central building to take a charge at Koji. Koji died, but so did Molly when Illuminated activated. 

Opponent was able to kill Keepside Strangers and Crooligan effortlessly. I still had one chance to tie the game - Archie pushing both Gwyneth and Mr. Tannen away from their respective strategy markers. Attacks hit well enough, but no masks were scored in any of the cases. Since it was double point round, Honeypot claimed a 11-9 victory.

Rusty New Year

Two 50ss games of Malifaux 4th Edition.

Strategy: Corner Recover Evidence

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Scout the Rooftops, Reshape the Land

My list:

Rusty Alyce & 2x Hollow Waif
Marlena Webster
Ashes and Dust
Maurice
Vee
Scavenger
2x Abomination

Pool: 4

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 3

Turn 1: Amalgam picks Public Demonstration on Lynch, Honeypot picks Scout the Rooftops

I built up an awkward chain of activations to bring Rusty Alice to pick up the first strategy marker. I had placed it quite far to the left, well out of easy reach of both Amalgam and Honeypot models.

So in the end, Maurice tossed Ashes and Dust into mud for 2", and then Ashes and Dust went to drop a scheme marker for Alyce to jump into. Then all it took was a double walk and interact.

Honeypot had placed their marker closer to center, but terrain on my side blocked an easy denial of picking up that one. I had originally chosen Public Demonstration on Lynch based on his positioning - I thought he also might take a double walk and interact to pick up the evidence. However, I didn't take into account various abilities Honeypot had for additional movement. Instead plain Illuminated went to pick it up.

I didn't have any options to block Scout the Rooftops either. At least Honeypot wasn't fast enough to get the second point from scoutings.

After Illuminated had picked up strategy marker, I was sure Amalgam lost their scheme points this turn. However, Scavenger had advanced mid-field. He had shot the scoring Illuminated with shotgun without much of an effect. Although failure, this baited Lynch to eclipse himself closer and start hacking at Scavenger. I still had one Abomination left to activate, and it took a double walk to hug Lynch.

Both players scored strategy and one point from their schemes for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 2: Amalgam picks Detonate Charges, Honeypot picks Leave Your Mark

Amalgam minions were lit this turn. Scavenger and Abomination scared Lynch away after they brought him down to six health remaining or so. The second Abomination was able to kill the Illuminated that had picked up strategy last turn. 

After Lynch escaped, Hungering Darkness entered the brawl in his place, and got shot four points of damage from Hollow Waif thanks to a Red Joker.

Honeypot wasn't quite as adept at dishing out damage, but didn't fall much behind. Especially Maurice was a sorry punching bag, missing all of his attacks. At least he bled Injured all over enemy models while going down to four health remaining.

I was quite powerless to stop Honeypot from leaving their mark on the centerpoint, especially after Mr. Graves, Kitty and Illuminated spawned a total of four scheme markers there. Rusty Alyce could have gone and removed one of those, but instead she went to a terrain to place two scheme markers to it, thus scoring extra points from scenario.

Vee is amazing model to spawn a bunch of scheme markers, too. Her and Marlena were able to score Detonate Charges for two points from Hungering Darkness.

Both players scored strategy, but Amalgam did it twice. Both crews got two from scheme, so Amalgam got the lead at 6-5.

Turn 3: Amalgam picks Grave Robbing, Honeypot picks Take the Highground

With great trouble Amalgam was eventually able to score Grave Robbing reveal from Hungering Darkness. Ashes and Dust was able to pick one enemy remains for the second point, but Mr. Tannen used his invisible hand to turn another remains into a scheme marker. So I needed to kill one more model for two points from scheme. I certainly tried, but Mr. Graves was too difficult to take down with the models I still had left to activate.

Oh well. At least Rusty Alyce was able to royally screw Honeypot by taking a walk to contest bridge terrain that was controlled by Kitty Dumont. She took a shoot at Beckoner to summon Abomination, and shoved Kitty off the bridge for good measure anyway.

Mr. Tannen had one terrain for Take the Highground, but the summoned Abomination was now contesting the second piece Honeypot had.

Illuminated was able to take a double walk to scale on the hill, but would have needed to also succeed in his bonus action, since you have to go 100% supported with scale terrain. This action failed when opponent didn't have any cards in hand, which robbed Honeypot scheme points this turn.

Honeypot did manage to claw strategy point from Maurice, though. Hungering Darkness gave the point for Amalgam, so Alyce's lead grew to 8-6.

Turn 4: Amalgam picks Runic Binding, Honeypot picks Make It Look Like an Accident

Mr. Graves was able to fell a Hollow Waif from top of terrain, but she was left alive with two health remaining or so. To deny Make It Look Like an Accident, she tried to hide behind the same building she had stood on. Lynch did some odd shenanigans with eclipses and whatnot, and went to kill her anyway.

Vee had managed to craft a perfect Runic Binding if Lynch had stayed in place. I was weighing if I should reveal the scheme for just one point now that Honeypot had surely secured two. In the end I decided to take the one point as I was ahead in points anyway.

Various models were able to kill the summoned Abomination. Rusty Alyce attempted a hail mary set of perfect actions. First, she needed to shoot Beckoner dead with one shot, then Scrounge to Abomination's corpse to touch both Abomination's strategy marker and pick up Beckoner's strategy. She managed just that, and we called it a game. Game ended in 10-8 victory for Rusty Alyce. At best Lynch could have narrowed it down to 10-9.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Detonate Charges, Harness Ley Lines, Public Demonstration

My list:

Rusty Alyce, Rider Remade & Soul Battery
Marlena Webster
Vee
Hard Stop Herbert
Scavenger
Abomination
Necropunk
Angel Eyes
2x Bloodwretch

Pool: 3

Opponent had:

Hoffman, Steel Sculptor & Mechanical Attendant
Peacekeeper
Melissa KORE
2x Hunter
Warden
2x Watcher

Pool: 4

Turn 1: Amalgam: Public Demonstration on Peacekeeper. Augmented: Public Demonstration on Hard Stop Herbert.

Early on Vee pushed Alyce and Marlena a wee bit forward. That was the first mistake. 

Hoffman gave Melissa fast and extra walk, so she got into position to blast Rusty Alyce four times, hitting with each shot. Each shot dealt two damage. 

I had a bunch of 13's on my hand, so Marlena Webster took a walk and shot Melissa with her healing shot, but only managed to heal two points from Alyce.

And then Peacekeeper walked and used Wrecking Ball to charge Marlena. Fortunately it did only three damage or so, but this left Marlena a prime target for assassination next turn.

However, Peacekeeper was now in easy to reach position for Public Demonstration, and that was indeed what happened. Rusty Alyce jumped over a fence to get Peacekeeper within 6", and summoned two Abominations to the demonstration target before galloping away much like brave sir Robin.

Hard Stop Herbert and Bloodwretch were delivering a strategy marker to top, where it looked like Warden and Watcher would be the main adversaries. 

Another Watcher as well as Hunter were delivering two strategy markers towards bottom, where I had Scavenger and Bloodwretch.

I was able to present Augmented a dilemma to either score one point from Public Demonstration or one point from strategy, but not do both. They took the strategy.

Amalgam took the lead with 3-1, as their public demonstration was a SMASHING success.

Turn 2: Amalgam: Detonate Charges. Augmented: Assassinate on Marlena Webster

Peacekeeper started smashing Marlena as the first activation of the turn, scoring Assassinate both reveal and end condition instantly. It still had actions left to smash Necropunk in one hit.

I wanted to bring Rusty Alyce to middle, but Melissa's gatling gun had put the fear of god in Alyce. Both Abomination and even Bloodwretch went to engage Melissa. They were all dealt with easily enough, but Melissa wasn't able to blast everyone dead, as she had to scale on top of terrain to yeet my strategy marker back whence it came.

Angel Eyes took a shot at Watcher, who stumbled out of her reach with crew card shenanigans. The thing leaped to bully my strategy markers even more. Finally Scavenger was able to put an end to the Watcher's rampage over my precious little markers, and out of spite scrounged Watcher's corpse off from board. Which was a short-sighted mistake.

Vee was important model to score Detonate Charges, as she passed Secret Inspection checks left and right without cheats. This left Hard Stop Herbert able to walk, scale and interact Augmented strategy marker away, which in the end was the factor that forced Melissa's hand.

Lastly, Rusty Alyce charged Peacekeeper after detonating some charges, and managed to dish out five damage or so. However, she was now in a precarious position even if she had managed to heal up back to seven or so, and Augmented had the start next turn.

Only Hoffman scored strategy this turn, but Rusty Alyce got two scheme points easily enough.

Amalgam was still leading with 5-4.

Turn 3: Amalgam: Graverobbing. Augmented: Detonate Charges

... and this is where everything fell apart.

Although Peacekeeper failed to kill Rusty Alyce, she was equally unable to kill Peacekeeper. I had the option to run away with last action, but instead I was greedy and tried to finish the thing for graverobbing purposes. I didn't have the cards to secure that, so obviously it failed miserably, and now Alyce was sitting with two health remaining.

Hoffman healed Peacekeeper a little, charged and killed Rusty Alyce.

Peacekeeper was at three health remaining without Shielded. Abomination tried to claw it dead. I thought that if I a managed to land a total of two points and Injured to the robot, it'd die. But damage was only one, without Injured. So Mechanical Attendant just moved, schemed and healed Peacekeeper back to unfortunate amounts of health.

I still threw everything I got at Peacekeeper to score schemes, but killing took the effort of my entire remaining crew. The flips were absolutely miserable.

However, Scavenger was MVP of sorts. He took off from melee with Hunter, Scrounged to Guild scheme marker and shot the Peacekeeper dead. This gave me a point, and denied a point for Augmented. But the thing was, Scavenger was my second to last activation - it was impossible to get extra point from Graverobbing. And Augmented dominated the strategy markers, and most of the board so totally that we didn't continue the game even if Amalgam was still leading the scoreboard with 6-5.

Turn 4: Amalgam: Runic Binding. Augmented: Take the Highground.

Third turn was such a horrid spectacle that we did not play fourth turn. It was clear Augmented would get four points, while Amalgam had a minimum and maximum of one. 

Augmented won with something around 9-7.

Fun fact: I didn't receive Red Joker in any of my flips throughout the game. Not even in checks that essentially waste Red Joker. Same can't be said of the Black Joker, who certainly made an appearance every single turn. 

Christmas Family Games

My Christmas trip saw an unexpected amount of family games.

I had two sessions of Yatzy with just two players. This was more like the expectation I had.

However, I also encountered old foe. Uno.

Fortunately that was at least the No Mercy Uno variation. Even if that deck has those crazy +10 cards, the games didn't drag on endlessly because of that blessed mechanic of dropping out of game with twenty-five cards. 

We played two sessions, with at least six games on the latter session. Player count was five and six. 

Espionage

 A three player Talisman, 4th Edition. We had all the corner expansions and the Cataclysm board, and no special ending.

We had Leywalker, Spy and Amazon in this game.

Spy had an explosive start when he got the Astral Journey spell that gave +1 Strength and Craft. Then he got to visit Guru to pick a spell from spell discard pile that had only a single spell in it... yeah, +2 Strength and Craft right from the start.

Leywalker could have had a promising start, rummaging through the remnants in the middle region, but the first card drawn sent it to Highlands via magic portal. I suppose that was somewhat of a flashing start as well, as Leywalker got the Talisman on the first round of the game.

Amazon was shuffling around here and there, getting only some minor equipment here and there, so she decided to seek her destiny in the woodlands. She did complete two paths successfully throughout the game, but did not receive a destiny in any straightforward way. However, she did pick up the item that acted like a destiny.

Spy had quite the rollercoaster of a run. Quite early in the game he got the money to go and get a flail, but that was stolen from him by the Amazon via Path of Greed. However, just two or three turn later he got to pick a "place" card from discard pile, which was den of thieves or something, so he stole the flail right back. And not too long after, Green Mist destroyed it. But he wouldn't give up, and saved up for another one. 

That all took a while, during that while Leywalker had some luck. It managed to get back to Middle Region, and found Toxic Spring there. Not only that, it also got Craft spell from the spell deck. It also had Spell Call, and was able to set up a teleportation circle to Runes space. Leywalker had also received Healing spell at one point, so he was able to soak up the toxic waters of the magical spring.

Leywalker also had the Woodlands follower that essentially gave him +2 Craft, but also lost a life whenever Leywalker gained a stat. That follower was ultimately it's downfall, as it decided to take a point of unnecessary damage instead of just ditching the follower - Craft 13 was not necessary to get through Portal of Power and Mines. Leywalker was just at one life remaining when it would have got to fight the snowbeast, so instead of taking that risk, it teleported out of Inner Region. With two lives Leywalker would've tried to fight the snowbeast at least once, but now it just teleported back to Runes that had a portal, and was ambushed by the flailing Spy. Leywalker went down. Enter Arcane Scion.

However, Leywalker had delayed Spy long enough that Amazon was able to get to Inner Region before Spy, both only a turn or two. Bitterly cold part of the Craft path delayed Amazon for a turn, so Spy got to the crown first. But then a challenger - the Amazon - appeared. Without the flail the fight could have been a little more even, but that piece of equipment just made the combat completely one-sided, and Spy absolutely dominated that fight. Since it took a couple of rounds, Arcane Scion had plenty of time to ride around the City on his riding horse and Hopper, the bunny.

Victory for Spy.

New Moon

 

I tried a new game called Luna Nova. It was a mechanic driven set-building, tile placement sort of game, where phases of the moondictated which tiles were available for you, and the moon phases were changing based on player actions. 

Simple enough once you get the hang of it, but having quite the depth in how to place your tiles for maximum effect.

I had two two-player rounds. First round went as expected, as in the early game I didn't have much of an idea what I should be building either now or in the future. 

Second round I was able to scrape a the narrowest victory possible - opponent would have won with next whatever tile she picked.

Pale O

 Two games of Paleo with two players. We played the second scenario where there was a lot of wolves involved.

First game did not go great. I think the tribe went extinct on the fourth day without even a single section of the cave painting done. Uh oh.

Second game went better. We aimed to get all the secrets open, and were indeed able to get the chieftain's suit in record time. At the same daycount when the tribe had lost in last game, we had both the sling thing, chieftain suit and first section of cave painting.

Although first three skulls appeared at a worrying pace, the downward spiral stalled for a while. Quite often the tribe struggled by the skin of their teeth to finish the day without additional skulls from hunger or accomplishing mission goals. Whenever tribe was able to make a stone spear, it had to be flinged at a big enemy soon after. At least those were big kills, though.

Paleo seemed like a fun game, though. There was plenty of variables and shenanigans that came into play, and I usually enjoy those.

 A couple of rounds of Joking Hazard. Let's make that a one session. There was some sort of expansion involved, but I don't think I heard it's name.