It Just Had To Come vol whatever

 Two 50ss games



of Malifaux 4th edition.

Strategy: Wedge Informants

Schemes: Assassinate, Harness the Leyline, Runic Binding

My list:

Molly, Harbinger of Havoc & Necrotic Machine
Archie
Philip & Nanny
Night Terror
2x Rabble Riser
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5

Opponent had:

Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Eclipse
Gwyneth Maddox
Kitty Dumont
Kara
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 4

Turn 1: Forgotten picks Assassinate on Mr. Tannen. Honeypot picks Assassinate on Philip & Nanny.

Eventually Archie leaped, walked and charged to punch a point out of Mr. Tannen. Respectively, same didn't happen for Honeypot, because I wasn't measuring up my distances correctly, and a Crooligan wasn't in fact contesting a marker on my side's quarter after she climbed on top of a building.

In the end, Archie's reckless charge was not a good choice, as opponent was able to remove him from the board. Certainly he disrupted most of the first round for Honeypot, ultimately leading to situation where Honeypot didn't score even a single point this turn. 

Well, not only Archie. There were other choices too, like taking a double walk to contest rightmost strategy marker with Molly, which left her in a precarious position for the upcoming turns.

Also, a Crooligan attacked a contesting Illuminated at the leftmost strategy marker, which didn't do much. But the way the kid shrieked from shadows had the Illuminated jump to Necrotic Machine, letting Crooligan to control the strategy.

From top of my head, I think it was this turn when Kara tried to take the highground, but Molly gave her a walk off from top of building, essentially to the joint corner of the two rightmost buildings in the picture.

Scores went 2-0 for Resurrectionists. Was the Archie gambit worth it? We'll see!

Turn 2: Forgotten picks Scout the Rooftops. Honeypot picks Detonate Charges

I had been playing Scout the Rooftops from turn one forwards, but it still took a lot of work somehow to claim two points from it. Molly and her jinkies were essential in achieving that after Mr. Tannen took a double walk to block my earlier set up.

Kara came to block the marker on my side after shredding up a kid on the roof of a building. Fortunately Philip & Nanny kept pram ramming the cat so hard that during end phase it died to feeling utterly abandoned.

The second kid cheered and ran to Gwyneth to play some exciting new card games, but was beaten to death by a card deck instead. One of the Rabble Risers also died, and the other one at something like two points remaining was moved right next to a bunch of scheme markers for a Detonate Charges.

At least Necrotic Machine was also able to remove one illuminated, so there were losses on both side.

But Forgotten had the heavier toll, so Ten Thunders were able to start collecting strategy points.

Both teams got two from their schemes, so scores went 4-3.

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

... Allrighty, oh-kay'y. 

I mean, once you play this game enough, statistical anomalies are bound to happen.

The turn was a total disaster. My own estimation was that Resurrectionists were struggling in this game, and were rather fighting for a draw rather than victory. But this turn just tilted the scales so far into loss.

The thing was, that I had just a single 13 in my hand. That was from previous turn, by the way. Meaning that I did not draw it on turn three. This is important information.

After we ended the turn, I tallied my discard pile AND my hand. Here we go:

1x 13
1x 11
1x 8
2x 7
3x 6
3x 5
1x 4
3x 3
4x 2
3x 1
Black Joker.

I mean, it was hilarious in its own way. But it did lead to such a one-sided situation, that we could end the game right there and then to a 4-6 victory for Ten Thunder. Sure enough, that point difference wasn't too bad, but Ten Thunders had such an overwhelming majority in contesting models that not scoring two points from strategy was just not going to happen. 

I had the 13 in my hand, and figured that if I just would receive 11+ in my hand, opponent would be able to deny two points for my scheme only with a Red Joker. But that 11 in the stats was not in starting hand. 

So, let's get on to the second game.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Plant Explosives

Schemes: Assassinate, Ensnare, Make It Look Like an Accident

Last Breath Seamus & Copycat Killer
Strange Lady
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Dead Doxy
2x Mourner

Pool: 5

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 5

Turn 1: Redchapel picks Ensnare, Augmented picks Make It Look Like an Accident

I must admit I was dreading those harpoons. But you got to move some models in this game, I guess. Mourners seem rather good for their extra walk to drop bombs right off the bat. Unfortunately there were mechanical bats doing just the same for Augmented, and also four legged canine/feline hybrids, that the lone Mourner found herself against top-right.

Another Watcher went to place a strategy marker bottom-left. I managed to arrange Bete Noire there doing just the same, but also charging it with bonus from crew card. Damage was good, but most of it was healed by Mechanical Attendant anyway.

Another Mourner went to place a scheme marker near center point, trying to bait either Peacekeeper or Hoffman himself there, but neither seemed to be that interested. Although I think Peacekeeper attacked her once, but she leaped away with concealment token. Strange Lady did the same, and last attack went to Seamus who had been moved there by Copycat Killer. By then Hoffman had already committed to everything but attacking.

I did realize my Seamus shenanigans were off by a large margin, because I could have done what I wanted so easily with just a well placed Secret Passage. Oh well. At least Seamus was able to claim Ensnare with two points.

Opponent couldn't make Make It Look Like an Accident work, but they did claim strategy. So did Resurrectionists for a 3-1 lead.

Turn 2: Redchapel picks Frame Job with Mourner, Augmented picks Breakthrough

I tried to bluff Madame Sybelle as the potential Frame Job target, but I had picked Mourner who had just three health remaining. However, this particular opponent had a history for giving me easy Frame Jobs, so he was really hesitant to attack anything at all near the center. Some non-damage action pulled Madame away, but she just charged right back. Mourner walked away to place a bomb, but charged right back. And in the end, Hoffman refused to frame a job. 

To confuse opponent even more, Seamus wasted his activation by dropping three scheme markers on top of a building to bluff for Search the Area. Well, it wasn't a total waste - I was also building up for Scout the Rooftops next  turn.

Copycat Killer also had teleported on the building, and shot Melissa that had climbed on top to contest Search the Area. He shot Melissa with the monster cannon, and fell from the building, nearer enemy deployment zone to place a strategy marker there.

Fortunately all this also lead to a situation where he couldn't claim Breakthrough, so neither player got scheme points.

Bete Noire managed to slice a Watcher into scraps, but it took every action she had.

Warden, Hunter and Peacekeeper punched through Dead Doxy, who took admirably long before she died. 

With great difficulty both players had managed to drop five bombs. Augmented, however, had placed two of those on my deployment zone, so they received the bonus points, catching up on the scores to 4-3 lead for Redchapel.

Turn 3: Redchapel picks Scout the Rooftops, Augmented kept Breakthrough

Augmented kept Breakthrough. Although I did have first activation, I wasn't in a position to deny it. 

This turn, however, went absolutely horribly for Redchapel in other ways as well. 

My plan had been to discard walk with Mourner to pick up the bomb she had placed earlier, then take a double walk. Later, Strange Lady would give her the interact required to score extra point from strategy. However, I wasn't paying attention to the actual deployment line, and the Mourner scaled a terrain to get on top of a fateful building to receive cover from possible attacks. She did receive those, sure, but wouldn't be able to plant the explosive! Strange Lady did give her at least the interact to place a scheme marker for Scout the Rooftops, but... wait, there's more.

Seamus had to teleport in to save the day, but even that I managed to mess up. He teleported, placed bomb in enemy deployment, walked to scale terrain and placed a second scheme marker for Scout the Rooftops bonus points. Except that he didn't. Instead, he picked up the neutral bomb Mourner had left when she eventually had died.

Last two paragraphs summed up probably my most horrible case of self-sabotage in the entirety of my Malifaux career. First, the Mourner robbed me of a point - I was one strategy marker short of receiving victory point from strategy. Then, I didn't have the models to place enough scheme markers for Scout the Rooftops bonus points. GAH.

Opponent was able to score Breakthrough with ease, and then focus on killing my models and ensure strategy.

Scores tied at 6-6, as Resurrectionists had been able to claw at least the bonus points for strategy. 

Turn 4: Redchapel picks Leave Your Mark, Augmented picks Assassinate on Strange Lady

I had the option to pick either Detonate Charges or Leave Your Mark. Since I already got one next to center point, I thought I'd have my shot at that, because opponent likely would avoid my scheme marker like the plague. 

Opponent was quite sure I had picked Detonate Charges, but decided to drop some scheme markers to the center anyway, just in case. Once that started happening, I tried to redirect what was left - mostly just Bete Noire - to engage models there so they'd not make even more schemes. 

I won't say opponent had easy time killing Strange Lady. She did take some effort for sure, but if Peacekeeper, Hoffman, Hunter and Melissa decide with all their action points that you're getting assassinated, you kind of... are. 

I was passing as much as possible to make my last move, Seamus dropping three schemes for Leave Your Mark. Unfortunately Augmented still had one activation left, and that was Mechanical Attendant, who was able to teleport to Hoffman, walk and drop a scheme. This denied me one point.

Resurrectionists were the worse bombers this turn, too, so opponent got three points and Resurrectionists only one. This ended the game in 7-9 victory for Guild.

Moly cow

Lantern Year 4 Showdown - Butcher Level 1

Senaus, Chybele, Theus and Omena set out to defend the settlement. With great struggle survivors did a point of damage in to Butcher on first turn, and I believe it was second Butcher turn when the nemesis disemboweled Chybele. 

But that was the extent of Butcher's threat. Despite mauling Chybele almost turn after turn, he wasn't able to kill the disemboweled survivor. Survivors got their act together and were able to score two to four wounds per turn. 

It looked like Devour Lantern might become one of the cards left in deck, which certainly could have made things difficult... but even that threat didn't turn real. Relatively clean showdown, if we discount one meager disembowelment.

 Lantern Year 5: Stranger in the Dark

We thought we had a population of fourteen, but there had been a guy who responded to the name of Incognito, all along.

Chybele was nominated for Hands of Heat, and eventually her feet were branded. She really tried to form a tradition, but other people felt more like using branding irons.

Gorm Climate took off some re-rolls, too. We were not keen on losing innovations.

Benoira took the Sleeping Virus Flower.

Endeavors: 

1: Settlement innovates Face Painting
2-3: Face Painting by Gravemind and Hoki
4: Senaus makes a match out of the painted people, Grachio is born.
5: Chybele does the same, and a green savior, Fortuna, is born!
6: Theus attempts augury with no results. 

Lantern Year 5 Hunt & Showdown: Gorm level 1:

Senaus, Fortuna, Omena and Theus hunt the beast. Hunt is uneventful. Survivors manage to ambush Gorm, which already carved four wounds off from the quarry before it had drawn a single AI card. A couple of retches did some heavy injury levels, but that's it. Gorm was a total pushover. However, gained resources matched the challenge.

Lantern Year 6: Open Maw, again!

Returning survivors forget their name with Memory Haze. 

1: We had four survivors with no name, and one guy called Incognito. That was almost 33% of the population, so settlement innovated Family to better structure their names that seemed to get lost.
2: Polly jumps into Open Maw, returning courageous and with Hissing Cockroach and Cyclops Fly. Omena places the fly into her empty eye socket, and doesn't die.
3: Settlement special innovates Citrinitas.
4: Face-Painting for Intimacy
5: Nameless guy did some matchmaking anyhow, Tumbo and Hoki becoming the first family, Fifaly. They were blessed with a baby girl named Yalcapallo.

Lantern Year 6 Hunt & Showdown: Gorm level 1

First two showdowns were played with Tabletop Simulator, but what comes next was live games. Nameless guy with Twilight Sword, Incognito, nameless woman and Theuvo begin hunt. This whole thing was nothing but an appetizer. Gorm chips munch munch.

Lantern Year 7: Slender Blight

Slender Blight was to invert the survival and insanity of departing survivors.

Hooded knight paid a visit, dueling now nameless Twilight Sword wielder. Duel was lop-sided, and ended up with a gaping chest wound for the wielder.

1: Settlement innovates Clan of Death
2-3: Face Painting for Manda and Theus Bo.
4:  Matchmaker for Manda and Theus, Manaus Bo is born.
5: Augury for Manaus Bo, giving her +1 understanding.

Settlement develops Bone Axe and Manda and Theus drink a love potion to give Manaus a little brother, Pentska Bo.

Lantern Year 7 hunt & showdown: Gorm level 1

We just didn't want to give up on Gorm just yet, wanting those sweet pieces of armor instead. So, 

nameless Twilight Sword, Chybele, nameless daggerist and Theus begin hunt. Hunt wasn't big of a deal, but thanks to Slender Blight and a couple of advanced AI cards that got stuck in the last few cards gave an actual challenge no-one expected at this point. 

Lantern Year 8: Gorm Climate out of deck

Gorm Climate took a bunch of re-rolls, because it threatened the loss of innovations.

While Benoira watches the meteor flying up high, Manaus gazes at the dung ball rolling around in the distance.  Not sure if that leads to any sort of camaraderie, though.

1: Settlement innovates Bloodletting
2: Settlement builds Leather Crafter
3: Settlement cures leather
4:Matchmaker, Tumbo and Hoki receive Volibala, little brother to Yalcapallo.
5: Stone Noses.

Settlement develops Leather Cuirass, Dried Acanthus and Rib Blade

Lantern Year 8 hunt & showdown: Flower Knight level 1

Twilight Sword, Benoira, nameless daggerist and Theus begin the hunt.

Which was an emotional rollercoaster of sorts, as twilight sword guy was constantly losing and gaining access to use Twilight Sword. 

Benoira, our luck machine, got the Unlucky disorder just to eventually lose it.

 Flower Knight opened the showdown with an advanced card that pulled two survivors inside the fairy ring, and incidentally those were the worst armored. The knight lopped off Twilight Sword wielder's inner ears, making him deaf.

Although exciting in other ways, that was the most severe setback of the showdown. Eventually the knight calmed down a bit, and became much easier to handle.

Lantern Year 9: Dark Seamstress

Well there sure seems to be a few endeavors this time around. 

1: Settlement innovates Bed.
2: Nameless daggerist sleeps in bed, healing broken rib. 
3: Matchmaker for Mossman and Yalcapallo forms a new family and receives Vega Greenery. 
4-5: Round-Stone Training for Pentska and Benoira, both gain Tumble
6-7:  Shared Experience for Pentska and Benoira
8: Twilight Sword does augury intimacy for Mossman and Yalcapallo - both die despite Mossman's re-roll.
9: Twilight Sword does augury for +1 Understanding.
 10: Twilight Sword does augury for +1 survival.

Settlement develops Skull Helm. 

Lantern Year 9 showdown: Slenderman level 1

Benoira, Chybele, Pentska and Theus defend the settlement from this unknown threat.

It's been a long time since I was against the Slenderman, and I had... almost forgotten how distressing showdown that is. Those dmg 4 hits are scary, and the feeling of powerlessness and futility that comes from not being able to really fight back until the posse is together. It certainly only added to this theme, when the Slenderman opened with the advanced card that pushes everyone to a corner and attempts to ensnare. Survivors had started by tossing a Founding Stone at a location that inflicted two wounds on a critical.

Survivors got only two Dark Water from pod imprisonment thing, and one of those had to be used to clear Benoira's disorders so that she was able to pull Pentska or Theus back from the darkness, because they had three bleed tokens already. Benoira suffered a few nonpermanent injuries, one of which has her skip next hunt.

Slowly survivors grinded through Slenderman's AI cards and were victorious. Reward check was not that thrilling, though, because a one dropped.

Lantern Year 10: Cracks in the Ground

After a few re-rolls, settlement regained the lost Founding Stone.

1: Settlement uses Light Forging to craft gloom arrows. 
2-3: Failed auguries
4: Shared Experience for Incognito

Next it's going to be a level 2 something. Lacking Surge be damned.

Covert Game of 3rd

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 3rd Edition.

Strategy: Flank Covert Operation

Schemes: Sabotage, Secret Meetup, Public Demonstration, Catch and Release, Leave Your Mark

My list:

McMourning, Insanitary & Zombie Chihuahua
Batsch & Amalie
Leftovers
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Nurse
Guild Autopsy
Canine Remains
Enslaved Spirit

Pool: 3
Schemes: Catch and Release (Guild Autopsy), Public Demonstration (Curator, Nurse, Canine Remains, Enslaved Spirit)

Opponent had:

Shenlong & 2x Aspiring Students
Sensei Yu
High River Monk
Lotus Eater
2x Fermented River Monk
2x Wandering River Monk

Pool: 5
Schemes: Secret Meetup (Batsch&Amalie a Wandering River Monk), Sabotage (a power generator to right)

Turn 1:

First turn Monks claimed top-right quarter with Shenlong, Yu, both Fermented River Monks and a Wandering River Monk. That was unfortunate, since I really hadn't much else than Batsch & Amalie and Enslaved Spirit going there, having set up McMourning's factory along the bottom fork of my flank deployment.

Which I messed up, by the way. I charged McMourning too far from Corpse Curator, so I wasn't able to summon a Flesh Construct. To cut my losses, McMourning gave some extra legs for Guild Autopsy and Rafkin.

Only the two versatiles of my crew got away from bottom-right quarter.

Monks also spent quite a bit of time meditating, but they were still far more spread out that Experimentals. High River Monk, Lotus Eater and a Fermented River Monk were in a position to easily redirect to center-left strategy marker, and the second Wandering River Monk was speeding uncontested towards bottom-left strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Soon enough a Fermented River Monk went to charge Batsch and Amalie. With the last possible attack Batsch & Amalie backed off from engagement range. 

... from that point on, models just kept piling up to the narrow passage between a container and nurgle tower. 

Shenlong had charged in to drop Enslaved Spirit dead, but somehow failed at that. Nurse, the spirit, Guild Autopsy and even Lefovers surrounded Shenlong. Right next to that septic blob were the Batsch & Amalie, Fermented River Monk and Wandering River Monk, so that's a concentration of 41 point plus one master.

In the center, High River Monk and Fermented River Monk were attacking Corpse Curator, dealing plenty of damage, but the armored skeleton had like ten points of poison for heals. Later, McMourning walked in to summon a Flesh Construct to the mix.

Rafkin took a double walk near center-left strategy marker to screen Canine Remains, who was a claimer for me this turn. 

Monks claimed bottom-left strategy marker, Experimentals got the center-left. Experimentals had ganged up on Shenlong to claw both scheme reveals. However, Monks also got one of their scheme - Secret Meetup with Philip & Nanny and either Wandering or Fermented River Monk.

Scores went 3-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Shenlong wanted to kill Guild Autopsy, but first he had to remove Enslaved Spirit. This did happen, but it took two action points. McMourning's extra legs saved Guild Autopsy, when Shenlong cheated a Red Joker for damage with dragon kick thing. Nurse also lost 66% of her health.

Nurse could be sacrificed, so Zombie Chihuahua healed Guild Autopsy for five. 

Yu and Fermented River Monk tried to kill Batsch & Amalie, the pair was gobbling up soulstone refreshments in record time between their waltzes. Same kind of happened at the center, where Corpse Curator miraculously managed to survive yet again. So did all the Monks, too, despite Corpse Curator, Flesh Construct, Canine Remains and McMourning mauling High and Fermented River Monks.

Near the center-left marker, on top of a building, Rafkin was barely holding up against Lotus Eater and eventually even an Aspiring Student - who was about to become first casualty for Monks after purposefully botched blood transfusions by Rafkin.

Wandering River Monk relocated to center-left strategy marker.

Leftovers and another Wandering River Monk claimed top-right strategy marker.

Resurrectionists continued with 4-3 lead.

Turn 4:

... and then there was a traditional turn where everybody died. Or at least Batsch & Amalie and Canine Remains, High and Fermented River Monk, and both Aspiring Students did.  

Since Yu and Shenlong were camping near the right edge of the board, I figured scoring Public Demonstration end condition might prove problematic, especially after losing also Canine Remains. Nevertheless, Nurse parked nearby and Zombie Chihuahua tried to go and stall the master and henchman. But I considered more important to try to secure all strategy points, and bottom-left strategy marker was way out of my reach. McMourning and Guild Autopsy ran towards is fast as they could, but still it would take a lot to get there next turn.

Fortunately both High River Monk and Fermented River Monk died from the center so that Corpse Curator was free to claim center-right.

Leftovers would have liked to go to deny extra movements for Shenlong and Yu, but before they got the chance to activate, Wandering River Monk leaped to push the thing inside severe terrain.

Ten Thunders didn't get a strategy point, but scored their second scheme of Sabotage. Resurrectionists got strategy, continuing the 5-4 lead.

Turn 5:

Last turn was mostly just about if Experimentals could get bottom-left strategy marker and end point from Catch and Release - and if Monks would get center-right claim as well as their schemes.

Public Demonstration was denied easily enough. Corpse Curator did t


ry to deny Secret Meetup end condition by removing enemy scheme with Dredge Up, but that didn't amount to much even when the resulting melee attack scored crow trigger.

Resurrectionists couldn't deny Ten Thunders schemes, but they did lack the models to go and claim additional strategies.

Wandering River Monk wasn't able to grab Catch & Releasing Guild Autopsy, who was also claiming a strategy point from bottom-left.

Game ended in a narrow 7-6 victory for McMourning.

Scattered

 Did a few pieces of scatter terrain. Rows of gravestones will likely become small walls, while the others will function nicely as Sz 1 destructible terrain for Malifaux.

Those Foamy Cliffs

 A game of Malifaux4th edition. Since 4th edition requires a bit more terrain, especially terrain heights, I'm going light with the pictures since some of our terrain choices

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

Schemes: Make It Look Like an Accident, Search the Area, Public Demonstration

My list:

McMourning, Malpractitioner & Zombie Chihuahua
Rafkin
Leftovers
Kentauroi
Flesh Construct
Batsch & Amalie
Oskar
Dapperling

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Sonnia Criid, Unmasked & Kazamir
Samael Hopkins
Witchling Handler
Hex Bow
2x Thalarian Queller
2x Witchling Stalker

Pool: 4

Turn 1:

Schemes: Search the Area (both)

This game my opponent was a beginning player in third edition, and this was very first game of fourth edition he had. I knew this so I left Rogue Necromancy home.

However, at the end of first round it became clear that opponent was quite overwhelmed by the system, and I get it - if you last game was a year ago and it was third edition, first you got to learn again how models interact with each other, how they attack, what are raises and all the basic mechanics around them. 

I wasn't quite aware of the starting point on turn one, so I was able to grab quite the headstart building up scenario and schemes. I had picked up Search the Area purposefully so that I'd just build up for Breakthrough next turn, not scoring points just yet.

Hex Bow and Samael proved to be ideal combo, and together they were able to shoot Flesh Construct off the board on turn one. Their side of the board also had Witchling Stalker and Thalarian Queller against Oskar and Batsch & Amalie. I guess Leftovers were there, too, but they were kind of all over the place anyway.

Remaining models were on the right. McMourning was able to walk and charge a Witchling Stalker, carving a Little Gasser out of it. It was an honest mistake, it completely slipped my mind that Sonnia summoned models by killing them... yeah. 

Someone was able to land the killing blow on the hired Witchling Stalker, so at least Witch Hunters sort of lost power by having a summoned model instead of a hired one. 

McMourning took in quite a bit of damage, as Witch Hunters directed most available attacks on him. This caused most of their crew barely leaving deployment zone. 

Oskar and Leftovers had brought a strategy marker past centerline, and Dapperling did a scheme marker on my deployment zone, and Kentauroi did one on the centerline.

Scorest went 1-0 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 2:

Schemes: McMourning picks Breakthrough, Sonnia keeps Search the Area.

Witch Hunters kept focusing on my models, and while they did respectable damage - both Kentauroi and McMourning would be gone in the end phase - it was clear opponent wasn't playing the scenario or schemes at all. I asked if he needed a hand with those. I had scored two points from Breakthrough after opponent's first activation so it wouldn't matter that much if opponent revealed his scheme to me, and we figured out a way to move forward a tad more aggressively. 

Since Search the Area for Witch Hunters looked next to an impossible one this turn, we decided to focus on building up Harness the Ley Line for next turn. After all, Witch Hunters had pretty much claimed the right half for them to do whatever. There was only Dapperling around.

McMourning died mostly because he black jokered Vial of Goo to poison a Witchling Stalker. He charged and killed it with two strikes, but without that black joker that would have been four points healed. Without thinking I went ahead with summoning one more Little Gasser, which got turned into a Witchling Stalker, which got turned into a Witchling Thrall.

Elsewhere my attacks were meager in their results - but I think by now every single one of my models had dropped their explosives to enemy table half, except for the Flesh Construct who died before being able to. Only Batsch might have been holding on to his explosive, I don't remember.

Scores went 4-0 for Resurrectionists, but at least Witch Hunters were now in way better position to play turn three. 

Turn 3:

Schemes: Late McMourning picks Frame Job with Rafkin, Sonnia takes Harness the Leyline.

Oskar died, Dapperling died, and I think opponent still had the same number of models with which they started the game. I had to make most of my action points.

For a while it looked like Rafkin wouldn't get to frame any jobs, but fortunately Sonnia deliberated on figuring out a way to go and scorch Batsch & Amalie or shoot Rafkin. But Rafkin was standing there, easy to shoot, so he got two points. 

Witch Hunters also had to spend quite a few actions securing their Harness the Leyline, so they weren't able to pick up or drop that many strategy markers just yet. Strategy went to Experimentals.

Scores went 7-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Schemes: Both pick Scout the Rooftops.

Since we were quite exhausted at that point, turn four was mostly theorized through. Claiming two points from Scout the Rooftops would have been an easy job: Opponent already had required terrain pieces, only the scheme markers were missing.

There was zero chance Experimentals wouldn't get their extra points from strategy, but that wasn't too hard for Witch Hunter either. They also had plenty enough actions points to rob me from a regular strategy point and claim it for themselves. Barring any unexpected results, most likely end scores looked like 8-6 for Resurrectionists.

Sparky and Santa

 For the longest of time I had a game of Dead of Winter. Four players. No, make that five - because we had two games.

Game 1: Winter Has Come

Since it had been so long when we last played this, we took the "normal" side of Winter Has Come. Not the difficult side.

My characters were the mayor and the construct worker. My secret was the Revenge, where at least three other survivors needed to die. Well, it was the long game so I thought it wouldn't be too difficult.

We also had the soldier in our midst, which was a nice combo with the construct worker. At least seven survivors would be needed in the colony to chew through their abilities. The normal way, at least. Extra spawns from crises were another matter.

The colony had absolutely hideous luck with the crises, though. Scenario needed fuel, crises needed fuel or food. There was one junk crisis, but other than that it was either of those two. Like. Wow. Morale became quite of an issue.

And that's when our doctor started to experiment on things. And the first  time she did so, she got the "bitten" result. In the colony. Only bitten result in this game, mind you. This killed two survivors, which was good for me, but trying to kill more at such low morale was risking both the whole game, and could seem really suspicious.

And as morale had nose-dived to three or so by the fourth turn, and to two or so by the fifth and we were getting tormented by the crisis deck, I just couldn't find a way to complete my secret. Because it was the revenge, I thought it might make sense in the roleplaying way to make everyone go down with me. I had the megaphone in my hand, so I might just kill everyone in a location. (Reading FAQ as I write seems to deny this, so good thing I didn't use the megaphone.)

However, since it looked very much like survivors might actually win unless last crisis would knock things over, I decided to tell everyone that I will make us all lose if I'm in the colony. So I was exiled. And funnily enough, my new secret objective was Forgiveness. I would be able to make a valiant sacrifice as my last call for forgiveness by calling zombies to my location with a megaphone.

I did already say I didn't use it, though. We actually had a betrayer whom we did not expect past turn three or so. We even helped him in his endeavor. Morale dropped to zero from a dead survivor, and game was over. Betrayer secret was something like overtake?

So, a victory for the betrayer.

Game 2: Home Sweet Home

This time we had five players. One in particular had never played the game, and had the misfortune of being a betrayer. Even then he was kind of found out accidentally and exiled soon enough. 

Then his new end condition was misplayed, and it did have major impact on what decisions was made. 

For whatever reason, handling crises was way easier this time around. Morale was almost easy to keep at or above five. However, one player in exile caused trouble in building up the main objective. As a result, colony won only on the last possible turn. That was somewhat due to unfortunate blizzard that stopped investigators from moving.

My secret objective was to vote betrayer if we had one, so that was accomplished easily enough. Frostbitten Sparky secured their loner tendencies after the mall santa offed himself on the last turn.

One player failed to stash a hoard of medicine to be a junkie, which is a weird victory condition.

Either one or two out of five failed their secret objective, but colony was barricaded from the outside world, safe and sound nonetheless. 

I Swear I'm Not Wearing a Mic

 Also, a game of Arkham Horror 3rd edition with four players.

Scenario: Shots in the Dark, where Nyarlathotep threatens Arkham.

Investigators: 

Minh Thi Phan, Secretary. 
Tommy Muldoon, Rookie Cop
Marie Lambeau, Entertainer
Patrice Hathaway, Violinist

Starting display window revealed Thompson tommy gun, and since every investigator started at police station, well, three of us stayed there to get it. Patricia did get it, and it was given to Minh, who had to act as the team's discount gangster thug. She was appointed for "cleaning duty" by the O'Bannion's. 

Investigators went along with O'Bannions, angering the Sheldon gang. 

If it hadn't been for Marie's busted ability to give extra actions, the investigators' hilarious rolls would have spelled doom for the scenario rather quickly. They were kind of passing their checks, but only barely. Mostly they warded off just one Doom token from board, researched just one clue, did only a single success on Newspapers, etc. This trend was especially harsh for Patrice, who could have researched clues if she managed to roll at least two successes. I mean, technically it could've been done with just one success, but whenever she did, the re-roll just made the whole thing fail. 

However, investigators managed to ward off just enough that no doom tokens really went to the scenario sheet. It wasn't until unstable location in the Sheldon stronghold exploded... twice. Three doom tokens went onto the sheet instantly. 

Investigators tried to speed up their game, eventually finding out the culprit behind the waves of violence. While there weren't that many doom tokens on scenario sheet, the inept (if plentiful) warding caused too many locations to threaten exploding in doom. There was hurry. Sheldon and O'Bannion's both had to be snapped out of their madness, and who better to talk some sanity to possessed gangsters than the Rookie Cop? He talked at least six out of the required eight clue tokens to both gang strongholds.

All in all the game seemed to go fine, but there was a possibility that our attempt to broker peace would have been swept under the rug with the sixth doom token on scenario sheet.

Victory for Investigators.

Totem Duel

 A game of Malifaux, 4th edition.

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Harness the Leyline, Frame Job

My list:

Kirai, Lady of Vengeance & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Carrion Fate
Kuchisake-Onna
Lost Love
Shikome
Gwisin
Seishin

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Hoffman, Inventor & Edie Clark
Peacekeeper
Melissa KORE
Guardian
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 4

Turn 1: 

Schemes chosen: Urami: Frame Job with Shikome. Augmented: Harness the Leyline

I was considering either Harness the Leyline or Frame Job, but then I noticed hard nerfs that Harness Leylines had received at some point. However, I decided try and bluff it by moving Shikome as my first activation to the centerline and planting a scheme marker.

Augmented took the bait, and Peacekeeper walked down from a stone formation and charged the minion for two victory points for me.

Shikome survived relatively well, but her position so vulnerable that Kirai walked for a bit and pulled her back with a heal. 

Soon enough Ikiryo walked and charged Peacekeeper and slapped it down to seven health remaining. 

Melissa shot a bunch of damage to Kirai, some of which was redirected to Gwisin.

Kuchisake moved a strategy marker, walked and shot two seishins right to Peacekeeper. One of the seishins gave a walk for Ikiryo for her to go and engage Melissa as well as Peacekeeper, and be in contact with a strategy marker.

Edie gave an action to one of the Hunters, who tried to shoot Ikiryo with harpoon. This failed, but Hunter felt confident that throwing enough harpoons at Df 3 target would eventually do the trick. Which it did. 

Carrion Fate interacted a strategy marker, flied with Gwisin towards  top-left quarter and interacted again the same marker.

As I was running out  of actions at the center, Lost Love had to reposition there to throw a strategy marker past centerline. This left Datsue Ba alone with a Seishin to face against Hunter, Hoffman, Watcher and even a Guardian. 

Oh, minus that Seishin, because Datsue killed the thing herself with Lantern of Souls. Well, thanks to Seishin's valiant sacrifice, both players (and not only Guild) scored a point from strategy. Guild didn't get their scheme and abandoned it for a 3-1 lead to Resurrectionists.

Turn 2:

Schemes: Urami picked Scout the Rooftops. Augmented picked Assassinate on Datsue Ba.

Going from top to bottom, Gwisin eventually placed two schemes - one to corner, one past centerline to bluff both Harness the Leyline and enable double points from Scout the Rooftops.

And, uh, Peacekeeper. Yeah. That thing killed Carrion Fate in just one activation. Didn't even empower anything. Carrion Fate had a rotting fate. 

Kirai wasted two actions to get in a summon. An extra Shikome tried to engage Peacekeeper before it had wronged fate.

Melissa and Hunter smacked the summoned Shikome down to two remaining. Watcher had ran to a strategy marker, and as my last activation Kuchisake tried to kill both Watcher and another Hunter to the right, but failed the attacks despite benefiting from Adversary.

Hired Shikome activated late in the turn and went to place a scheme for Scout the Rooftops. Edie spammed actions here and there.

There was this final gathering of Watcher, Hunter and Hoffman against a granny. Hunter started clawing her, which got her down to six health remaining. She had to activate to save herself, and summoned Ikiryo to bodyblock Hoffman. She tried to skin a metal robot, but did only a few points of damage. But she scored crows and healed for a bit.

Watcher had interacted, leaped and interacted a strategy marker deep into Resurrectionist deployment zone. To at least remove that terrifying schemer, Ikiryo charged it, but failed to kill. I don't remember what actually killed the Ikiryo - probably some combination of Edie's shenanigans. But yeah, Ikiryo died, but Lost  Love teleported in to re-summon it. She smacked Hunter down to two remaining from the summon attack, and then charged the Watcher dead.

However, Hoffman had walked on top of terrain when first (or second, however you count it) Ikiryo had blocked Datsue from view. He scored two beam attacks, managing to stagger her and bring her down to two health remaining. 

Guardian went to toss one of my strategy markers back to wrong table half.

Resurrectionists fell behind in strategy, but had scored doubles from Scout the Rooftops. Datsue was still clinging to her dear life, so Assassination succeeded only in half. Scores went 5-3.

Turn 3:

Schemes: Urami picks Detonate Charges, Augmented picks Scout the Rooftops.

Hunter started beating Datsue Ba, who was at two health remaining. And look at that - she survived. It did take two of my highest cards from hand, though. But then the granny skinned Hunter, healed for a bit and even infused a soulstone. That somewhat eased the pain of losing Carrion Fate that easily.

The other Hunter went to engage Gwisin at top-left corner after shooting summoned Shikome dead.

Kirai attempted to remove Peacekeeper, and did it in a costly manner. She walked on top of a stone, used crew action to bring Ikiryo to hit Peacekeeper - and then hit it again with soulstone trigger from Soothe Spirit. Not sure how that counts as soothing, but at least Peacekeeper fell to two health remaining.

With a single raise and soulstone trigger, Peacekeeper would be able to smack Ikiryo off the board and not die to Vengeance. The robot decided to take it's chances, and died to vengeance. Ikiryo did go down to one health remaining, though, so she activated and walked and charged... somewhere? She didn't  really accomplish anything, though.

Melissa shot Ikiryo dead with quick reflexes, and damaged Kuchisake down to four health remaining. Kuchisake, feeling threatened by the presence of a tiny, not yet activated Watcher, summoned Ikiryo back after walking to within 12" of Lost Love. Ikiryo was able to kill the bat with summon attack.

Hoffman went to place a couple of scheme markers on top of terrain, and shoot Datsue Ba down to one health remaining.

Edie spammed actions again, but used one action to go and engage hired Shikome. Ikiryo charged Edie, and while she landed a hit, she wasn't able to free Shikome to do any scheming. Shikome walked away from melee, then, and walked and charged Hoffman on top of the terrain to block Scout the Rooftops.

Lost Love teleported to Ikiryo to plant a couple of scheme markers to Edie for a victory point.

Augmented scored strategy, but missed Scout the Rooftops. They didn't abandon the scheme, because they had it set up pretty well.

Scores went 6-4 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Urami was able to even out the number of strategy markers and claim a point from Take the Highground. Augmented scored the strategy too. They weren't able to remove Shikome from blocking the double points from Scout the Rooftops.

Game ended 9-7 for Resurrectionists. 

Both totems seemed... Intense. For both crews I'd dare to say that they were the MVP's of the match.