It just had to come

 

A couple of days ago I played the last game of the year. It was 50 soulstones worth of Malifaux, strategy beingSymbols of Authority with Corner Deployment.

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge + Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
The Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Rogue Necromancy
2x Crooligan
Dead Dandy
Rabble Riser

Pool: 4
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Take Prisoner (Dawn Serpent)

Take Prisoner, Assasinate, Claim Jump, Leave your mark, Runic binding

Opponent had:

Asami + Amanjaku
Ama No Zako
Shadow Emissary
Akaname
2x Tengu
Katashiro
Obsidian Oni

Pool: 7
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Claim Jump

Turn 1:

Apparently my camera is starting to fail after 13 years or so. I clearly remember taking a picture at the end of turn 1, but there is none. 

Fortunately it's the corner deployment, so not much engagement happened. My two Crooligans had deployed in top-left corner to start scoring strategy as fast as possible. A Night Terror was summoned on the first round to aid them.

I had grand shenanigans in my mind with Philip & Nanny, summoned Night Terror and discarding a card for healing. However, I played far too aggressively with Premonition, discarding my hand left and right. Unfortunately this trend continued throughout the game. 

I think it was first turn when Molly re-activated Rabble Riser, who then charged a Katashiro dead. 

A big brawl was going to brew up in the middle. Opponent had laid a scheme marker near the center point, which I took for Leave Your Mark.

Turn 2:

Rogue Necromancy charges the Shadow Emissary and throws a high five for damage. 

Ama No Zako sped up towards my blob of Molly, Necrotic Construct and Forgotten Marshal. 

And oh boy did I do my best at removing the flying goblin. Molly, Necrotic Construct, a Crooligan and Philip & Nanny wasted all their action points in the attempt. And the thing was left alive with two hit points and two poison. There may have been some grinding of teeth involved. Especially when the one thing that eventually, sooner or later, would have come to pass. Red Joker and Black Joker coming up in the same flip. And to make it worse, a 13 in the middle too, when Philip pram rammed Ama No Zako with three cards in the duel.

Shadow Emissary heaved Rogue Necromancy away, and entered the immediate proximity of a strategy marker. 

Crooligan had no trouble in scoring one strategy marker from Ten Thunders either, so it'd be at least 1-1 after first turn. Just not in the way I anticipated.

Dead Dandy removed the enemy scheme marker from the middle and left my own there. But opponent somehow re-applied their own scheme marker and removed mine, so they managed to score Leave Your Mark. 

But when Tengu tried to Dark Bargain Shadow Emissary, a black joker came up.

Turn 3:

Even four action points from Night Terror and Crooligan are not enough to remove a pesky Amanjaku that was guarding a strategy marker. I was overconfident with that one, and was not able to remove the Insignificant totem. I could have probably advanced with Night Terror and Interact the point, but because I first charged with Crooligan, there was no space left for Night Terror where it wouldn't be engaged with Amanjaku.

I do finally remove both Ama No Zako and Shadow Emissary, but a wild Jorogumo appeared and foiled my plans of using Premonition on Philip & Nanny, then running fast forward and then teleporting a Crooligan in to score strategy.

By the way, Shadow Emissary was my model of choice for Take Prisoner. Clever thing I did there.

Removal of Rogue Necromancy was a creative one. As it was still standing with just one hit point remaining, Asami pushed the beast with her hair, causing Rogue Necromancy to fall 2" from a wooden platform it had earlier been heaved to. That equals exactly one point of damage.

I didn't get a point in strategy, opponent got the lead with 1-2, or even 1-3 if it was this turn when he revealed Claim Jump on a Tengu.

Turn 4:

At least we both had lost a whole lot of models from the board. Since Philip & Nanny couldn't deliver a sudden child delinquent to enemy strategy markers, they tried to somehow contest the middle and perhaps deny opponent from scoring Leave Your Mark end condition.

Another Tengu had escaped so that I had little chances of catching it before it'd score my entire board half. And thanks to extra survivable Amanjaku I was not able to do the same.

Situation was so hopeless for Resurrectionists that we did not continue for a fifth round.

Holiday Sabotages

For Christmas I received a card game as a gift. The name was Saboteur, where dwarves mine a tunnel for gold and there is high chance of one being a saboteur. 

Time was running a bit short, so we, the four players, only had enough for one game of three rounds. These dwarves sure were angry and vengeful, and due to various levels of confusion, on one round we had the roles in inversed colours - it was as if there were three saboteurs and one proper, hole digging dwarf singing songs that get stuck in your head.

It was a nice little game. Quick to learn and to play, and served fun in adequate doses.

Seasonal Greedings

 We had a three player Dungeon Lords game with Festival Season and Minions Bearing Gifts, as is only proper for Christmas.

Once again randomized event was Ladies, I'm Back which is starting to become a statistical anomaly in its occurrence. 

 In this game every player got annoyance letters from the ministry. Four, three and one letter must have been one of the highest count I've ever seen I think. 

Thanks to Minions Bearing Gifts, first year fights went terribly for everyone. At least four tunnels were conquered from each player, and if I remember correctly, no player managed to capture all adventurers. 

Second year this trend only continued, and nearing the end of the year we wondered if we'd even get to positive numbers on the score board. Turned out everyone did - with eight, thirteen and seventeen points.

Baronification Continues

Christmas included two games of three players and one game of four players of Love Letter. 

Continuing tradition from last Christmas, the very first move my sister made was to guess I had the baron. 

I did.

Next round my mother did the same. 

And again, I did. It wasn't until fourth player joined us that I was no longer plagued by the baron on a constant basis. So absurd, but hey, at least it's memorable.

Only Misery Remains

 Played a 50 points game of Warmachine few days ago. 

My list was:

Cryx

 Lich Lord Venethrax [+26]
 - Defiler [8]
 - Harrower [16]
 - Helldiver [6]
 - Malice [15]
 - Skarlock Thrall [4]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [6]
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist [4]
Misery Cage [2]
Saxon Orrik [4]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]

Opponent had:

Protectorate

Grand Scrutator Severius [+28]
 - Dervish [7]
 - Indictor [14]
 - Purifier [8]
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist [3]
Deliverer Arms Master [3]
The Covenant of Menoth [4]
Vassal Mechanik [1]
Choir of Menoth (min) [4]
Deliverer Skyhammers (max) [13]
Deliverer Sunburst Crew [5]
Knights Exemplar [9]
Temple Flameguard (min) [7]

Scenario was the one from main rulebook that needed to tag all five flags on the board. Protectorate generously gave Cryx the start (this is probably one of better, or even the best, scenario to go second.)

And I don't know what the heck. I knew a big AoE was coming my way via Sunburst crew. Yet I still did not bother to check if my Black Ogruns were not practicing social distancing. Boom! One dead, two on fire. Doesn't matter though. It's not like I was outnumbered over 2:1, right?

But that's not all. One thing I also didn't bother to check was if Saxon Orrik was deep enough in the forest not to be seen at all. Turns out he wasn't. Deliverers took a shot at him and the dice just wouldn't roll 3+ for deviation. Saxon down.

I have to admit I was a bit demoralized by this, but at least Deliverers had packed themselves real tight to shoot that fatal rocket. Defiler ran forward and Venethrax cast Blood Rain on them, killing... two. But at least three more had corrosion.

Venethrax and Skarlock manage to kill some warrior models to trigger Dead Weight on both Indictor and Dervish. 

Black Ogruns miss their harpoon on Purifier, but Rat 5 against Def 15 goes only so far. With Saxon dead, only one Ogrun got in range and, ech. It was going to get ugly.

At least Protectorate wasn't able to do anything productive with his Indictor and Dervish, and opted to clog my warjacks with infantry models. All those souls for Harrower and Malice.

Allegiant neared the flag that had Gerlak sitting next to it. It was either a choice of denying me a point with no Shifting Sands, or letting me have one point and be nigh invulnerable. Sands it was, which is recommended action when you got a Mat 8 murder machine ogling you.

On my turn I'm trying to figure out how to best deliver Malice to Indictor. Only feasible way is to trample to it, buy an attack and... alright, I just slapped myself on the forehead. While writing this I realized I trampled with Malice before casting Terminal Velocity. 

Anyway, Malice triggers Vision and Possession and brings Indictor and it's back arc to face Harrower. Venethrax Dead Weights Dervish and casts Terminal Velocity. Then Harrower charges Indictor and while damage had been okay-ish, the columns were not. Damn. That one missed focus point from Malice could have dealt the few remaining damage points to various systems, say, Cortex.

Helldiver had surfaced to tease Sunburst crew. Gerlak took a free strike from Allegiant to gain back strike bonus, but 8+ wouldn't come.

At least the ratio of our forces had been kept about the same as in start.

Opponent then flooded Malice with attacks, and destroyed despite its Def 13 Arm 20. Protectorate souls don't protect that well, I guess. 

But this had been about expected. But what severely hampered the future of Cryx was when the only damage Harrower took was just enough to break melee hand. I was left with Venethrax, Gerlak, a weaponless Harrower, Helldiver far from anything, and Misery Cage. 

Venethrax butchers Dervish, and Gerlak misses Allegiant again. Harrower gave Indictor a friendly scratch. 

Opponent had steadily collected flag points, and was able to score all five. But that wasn't all.

Allegiant also killed Gerlak, something removed Harrower, Severius beat Helldiver into a wreck with a stick, and a lucky shot from Sunburst crew removed one focus from Venethrax, and still four points came in.

Three remaining Exemplars tore through Venethrax's focus camp and left him dying. Then the last remaining Flameguard charged the warcaster and dealt the killing blow.

Only Misery Cage remained to witness the crimes committed here. 

Kill Stealing Rorsh

 Although games have been a little scarce lately, I still got in one 50 point game of Warmachine.

My list was:

Skorne

Lord Arbiter Hexeris [+27]
- Bronzeback Titan [17]
 - Cyclops Savage [7]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Rhinodon [12]
Extoller Soulward [3]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Venator Dakar [4]
Void Spirit [4]
Legends of Halaak [8]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Venator Slingers (min) [8]

Opponent had:

Cryx

Iron Lich Asphyxious [+28]

 - Deathripper [6]

 - Deathripper [6]

 - Reaper [13]

 - Slayer [10]

Bane Lord Tartarus [6]

Rorsh [15]

Bane Riders (min) [12]

Bane Warriors (min) [10]

Because of some time constraints, we opted for Annihilation scenario from main rule book - that one has guaranteed six turns, so game wouldn't drag on endlessly.

Opponent deployed in a corner, giving us both a headache on terrain layout - the factory building, corrosion cloud effect and burning difficult ground made the effective board rather tiny.

Opponent brought his warjacks behind the building, Bane Riders behind rubble and Bane Warriors, Tartarus and Rorsh & Brine in the open near the board edge. Asphyxious scorched the mace wielding Legend of Halaak with Hellfire.

Cyclops Shaman positioned itself to serve as an Ashes to Ashes platform, and three Bane Warriors died. Rhinodon had Cloak of Ash and Bronzeback had Banishing Ward to fend off any troublesome Parasites. A couple of slingers took erosion shots at Slayer, but didn't do much. The naginata wielding legend tried to cripple enemy arc node, but failed to land a hit.

At least the Cyclops Shaman ate Cryxian activations - Asphyxious cast Parasite on it, and then Tartarus and a single Bane Warrior that was within charge range failed to kill the warbeast. Rorsh needed to score the killing blow by shooting into melee.

Naginata legend obviously died, but all in all not a terrible second round.

Asphyxious had been left without focus, and I knew I shouldn't try a spell assassination. But that's what I did, anyway. It's all Cyclops Savage's fault! Because I had access to future sight animus, I decided to go for it. The result was a worthless feat that dealt nine points to Asphyxious.

Bronzeback wrecked Deathripper, and Slingers continued to pepper Slayer to season. This time it lost most of its damage boxes - left claw being the only functional system. 

This time removing Bronzeback took most of opponent's turn. Bane Riders with Scything Touch, and Reaper weren't enough to bring it down - Rorsh had already distinguished itself as a finalizer, and dealt the last remaining point of damage.

Bane Warriors and Tartarus took a bit over half of Rhinodon's health away.

Had I not used the feat, I think I might have been able to get Bronzeback to Reaper with two or three Beat Backs. But there is a good chance of a Deathripper not surviving three Bronzeback melee attacks, and worst result would've been Bronzeback engaged in melee and thus not able to act as a channeler.

I would've probably tried to remove the last Bane Warriors with Ashes to Ashes, deal the last remaining points to Slayer with a Hellfire and maybe Black Spot something, or more Ashes to Ashes. 

Turn 4 I have to live with my decisions, and I lose two Slingers to free strikes from Slayer. Looking back now I wouldn't have needed to - the warjack had lost its movement, hadn't it? Remaining Slingers do manage to remove four hit boxes from Slayer, which incidentally was all it had remaining.

Last remaining Legend makes a Christmas miracle and slays Bane Lord Tartarus with a single combo-strike. Cyclops Savage clears Bane Warriors near Rhinodon, and then Hexeris uses Black Spot on Brine.

Beast Handlers enrage Rhinodon, patch it up a little and prod it towards the big pig. Retaliatory Strike fails to destroy any life branches, and things end up with one dead Brine. 

Cryx then removes Rhinodon as was expected, but no other damage was done. Asphyxious had to come and personally finish the warbeast. You know, the thing with minions and all that. 

Turn 5 Skorne has to start racking up some points. Thus Savage charges a Bane Rider, kills it and is then used to channel a Rorsh-killing Hellfire. Slingers fail their activation miserably, and Extoller manages to shoot a boosted pow 13 to Bane Rider only to trigger vengeance with minimum damage. Great job.

At least last remaining Legend removes one other Bane Rider. 

But then it's all too easy for Cryx to kill Cyclops Savage, all but one Slinger and Extoller. 

We didn't need to play the last round. Hexeris, one Beast Handler and a lone Slinger weren't going to give me the 20 points or so I needed for a win.

It's Golden

Fifty games of A Touch of Evil in this blog after this update. 

Which continues the long-running (currently at six years) campaign. And starts to look like it might one day be over.

Villain was Unspeakable Horror, to whom we had lost Katarina the Outlaw and Frederic Leon earlier. Was it to devour the souls of Heinrich Cartwright and Eliza the Witch Hunter?

Maybe, because on round two there was already one dead town elder and three (3) evil elders. All the elders of the coastal town had revealed their rotten core right from the start.

Early in the game the heroes had to suffer At Mightnight, They Come and the game saw at least the appearance of The Heretic, Matriach of Silence and The Outcast. 

Fallen demons were sprouting all over the countryside of Shadowbrook, and their 4+ to ignore a wound was a nuisance that caused a few greedy knock outs. But other than that the fight against Unspeakable Horror was rather steady. Shadow Track was surprisingly stable - probably again thanks to not too many Murders being committed. 

Doctor Manning was struck dead by the villain, then revived by Eliza, only to be killed again by her. Just wondering who's the real villain here.  

Sophie and Magistrate Kroft went mad from encountering the ancient demon, and Lady Hanbrook was seen running all around the locations until she was betrayed by, well, a Betrayer. 

Turning point for the game was when Eliza found Cross of Kandor, Family Bible, Sacred Stone and even had the Sacred Chalice - that was +8 fight dice on command. Heinrich had been keeping a collection of your everyday tools such as hatchets, axes and pitchforks - all the while being possessed by perhaps another demon, rival to Unspeakable Horror.

Half of the board was filled with summoning circles, but the rolls of 3+ were merciful. And the procession of cultists was sluggish at best, which was perhaps suggesting the heroes were hunting a greater demon of sloth after all.

This all culminated in a 30 fight dice attack with silver bullets against the villain when showdown began. The Ancient Evil stood no chance, and Katarina and Frederic Leon were avenged.

 Campaign statistics

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper, Dreamweaver, Werewolf, Unspeakable Horror
Villains still to be defeated: 3, +1 investigation vs Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 8

Stashed investigation: 8

Nostalgic

 A while ago I played a few board games from the childhood of Dearest. 

First one was called Taika Kengät, which apparently only has a Finnish edition. Name translates to Magic Shoes. The game had elves trying to find magic jewels from a realm torn asunder by an evil troll. Elves need to find proper shoes to travel from different area to another. Magic Shoes were the only shoes that could traverse any terrain.

It quickly dawned on us that this particular game, perhaps, had lost some of its enchantment in the latter years. The age recommendation of 5+ was there for a reason.

Another game was Sphinx, which was a bit more engaging and kept us entertained for two games. 

Burkstad Renaissance (Gwendor Thrice Cursed and Twice Lived)

 Lantern Year 21 hunt was a level 2 Gorm. 

First attempt to hunt was a miserable failure. Cat Eye Circlet wielding Vladimir got Tunnel Vision disorder, and Mortis decided to never show up in the showdown in the first place. With three underleveled survivors our forecast of winning wasn't looking all bright and sunshine. Also, it would have been a tad boring session for one of the players had we actually tried that showdown.

No, we fed Gwendor to Gorm to proc Hours Ring. 

Oh, the irony of having to use this rare item right after we built it last year. But hey, it's Burkstad after all.

Second attempt went a little better, except if it wasn't for our inept hunters Gwendor, Vladimir, Purvina and Mortis who somehow got around five extra events during hunt phase. Fortunately nothing excessively punishing showed up, since it's not like Dash is the only thing keeping survivors alive against level 2 Gorm, and Madflies giving Frenzy to Mortis locked away her survival actions. She was also the one who had +5 evasion and Rawhide Armor.

Oh well. Maybe we'd manage with 25% of our number frenzied.

In the end survivors found a strange path that had the hunters ambush Gorm.

Fetid Grotto gave also Gwendor frenzy. Half of the team without survival actions. Oh, and Gwendor had also donned Death Mask, so that was -4 to severe injuries with no possibility to dodge.

When Mortis crawled back to settlement on the first hunt attempt before Hours Ring, she obviously had seen this coming and knew what'd be best for everyone involved.

Thanks to ambush, survivors at least got some wounds in to the beast. Four, in fact, on the ambush turn. Might have been a good start, but it ended up with Gorm retching on three survivors. Miraculously no-one rolled head location, and game continued with heavy injury levels only.

Gorm does Body Check, which is almost beneficial if it damages survivors - at least it pushes you away from the end-of-turn retch. Nice in theory, but Gorm failed to score any hits. All four of us had now received a baptism of vomit. 

So, any accidental retches could prove fatal from now on, so Vladimir - now with less Tunnel Vision in this parallel universe - starts checking hit locations rigorously every turn.

Next, Gorm draws it's duration card that gives adjacent survivors severe injuries when it lands down.

For the heck of it, Purvina wounds the beast despite its +5 toughness tokens. 

Gorm wallops Purvina around a bit with a large trout, but deals no serious damage.

It was a showdown that had the potential to go south without a moment's notice - but this time that note never came. Purvina with her Lantern Halberd dealt half of the wounds, and the remaining survivors did the rest. 

Lantern Year 22

Finally the oppressive Gorm Climate subsides. Inspired by this heroic showdown, a new age of arts, sciences and strange ideas began in Burkstad. First, survivors perform a magnificent theatrical masterpiece called "The Hunt of Gorm level 2" in hunt re-enactment. Gwendor is nominated as the favorite survivor, and Lefasu was the least favorite survivor. 

Gwendor, being the Prima Donna he is, overdoes his part and slays Gorm again. Because that's what happened, right? Too bad it was played by Lefasu.

The rumors about this play had reached far, and Armored Strangers had come to silently spectate the stage play. Their review had some mixed signals though, as they impaled a survivor to a lantern halberd guidepost and left it on the outskirts of the settlement.

Settlement innovates Sculpture, so that's another category of fine arts altogether. And also groundbreaking new science was made in the form of special innovating Albedo via gormchymy. 

But what would a renaissance be without it's l'uomo universale? Love Juice blessed the settlement with it's sixth savior.

Gwendor becomes a tinker with Augury and shrine ritual is a success. Mortis hones her proficiency with grand weapons in Nightmare Training. Vladimir learn Synchronized Strike and to leave her impact to this new and wondrous age, Purvina dances the Forbidden Dance. 

Fortunately the critics had already left the settlement.

Next, Sunstalker level 2.

Population: 9

Principles:
Protect the Young
Graves
Barbaric + Ultimate Weapon


Innovations:
Language
Hovel
Ammonia
Bed
Nigredo
Symposium
Lantern Oven
Paint
Family
Bloodletting
Inner Lantern
Cooking
Shrine
Drums
Momento Mori
Scrap Smelting

Nightmare Training

Song of the Brave

Sculpture, Albedo, Guidepost


Locations:
Lantern Hoard
Bone Smith
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Catarium
Gormchymist
Gormery
Weapon Crafter
Leather Worker
Skyreef Sanctuary

Plumery

Gear:
1x Cloth
3x Stone Noses
Full Rawhide Set
1x rawhide vest, 1x Rawhide Gloves, 1x Rawhide Headband
Gorment Boots
2x Skull Helm
Bone Dagger
Bone Darts
Rib Blade
Greater Gaxe
2x Leather Shield
Cat Eye Circlet
3x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
Bandages
Catgut Bow + Claw Head Arrow + Hollowpoint Arrow
Full White Lion Suit
Scrap Sword
Flower Knight Badge
Cycloid helm + vest
Death Mask
Whisker Harp

Hours Ring

Lantern Halberd



Resources:
3x Monster Bone

3x monster hide
2x Skull
1x Broken Lantern

Dense Bone

Meaty Rib (organ, bone)

Jiggling Lard (organ, hide)

Milky Eye (organ)

Stout Hide

2x crab spider

1x nightmare tick

Sinew
2x Lion Claw
2x Great Cat Bones
4x Iron

3x small feathers

1x tail feathers

1x pustules (organ)

1x black skull

Asphyxious on Halloween

 

Had a 50 points game of Warmachine about a week ago on All Hallows Eve, which is the reason for a particular piece of scenery.

My list:

Cryx

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
 - Defiler [8]
 - Harrower [16]
 - Ripjaw [7]
 - Seether [13]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]

Misery Cage [2]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent:

Protectorate

High Exemplar Kreoss [+29]

 - Crusader [10]

 - Sanctifier [14]

 - Vigilant [9]

Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [5]

Vassal Mechanik [1]

Vassal of Menoth [3]

Choir of Menoth (min) [4]

Exemplar Bastions (max) [15]

Exemplar Errants (max) [16]

Scenario was the one from main rulebook with three flags on the centerline, and five points to win.

First rounds are pretty straightforward. Cryx advances behind Caustic Mist clouds. Exemplar Errants spread out and take random shots, mostly at Bane Warriors who defy death a second time. 

Vigilant with Defenders Ward is contesting middle flag, Crusader flag on the right and some errants the flag on the left. 

Harrower, Tartarus and Bane Warriors maul the Vigilant, but the light jack just refuses to go down. Well, of course there was this ARM 23 thing going on, too.

Bile Thralls, Harrower and Defiler remove all but two Errants. I could have scored a point with Swamp Gobber River Raider, but I had already activated it before the opportunity arose.

Protectorate secures flag on the right. Kreoss uses his feat, and Sanctifier charges Harrower to get through caustic mists in order to attack Seether. Opponent doesn't bother attacking Bane Warriors all that much, as Kreoss had come to a rather vulnerable distance in regards to Asphyxious' feat. 

Bastions charge in, and while Harrower and Seether both are severely beaten up, neither lost Cortex. This was a big turnpoint in the game, because now I was able to remove Sanctifier and what was left of Vigilant. 

However, Kreoss and Bastions were next going to remove both of my warjacks, too, and Crusader was unscathed - at least until Tartarus charged in to die himself in turn. 

Cryx managed to even out the advantage opponent had in scenario, but that likely was too late - I was had a couple of Ironmongers left, plus the feat. Kreoss had cast Defenders Ward on himself, and had been keeping up the Lamentation throughout the whole game - six focus Hellbound sure feels costy.

But.

Kreoss was within charge distance of Asphyxious, and there were six Bane Warriors waiting to take a dive into Caen once more. 

So, Asphyxious used feat and charged the Protectorate warcaster. Asphyxious did well enough, but Kreoss was not dead. Only two Banes got to his back arc, so those went first. First one hits, and Kreoss fell to only a few damage boxes remaining. Another one lost. 

So, next four attempts to score 10 on 2d6 and win the game, or miss them all and go home. So, better hit since we were playing in my apartment.

No Banes hit, so I'm currently looking for a new home I guess... or?

Opponent had to leave to not get a parking ticket so the grande finale was never actually rolled. I added the game to my spreadsheets as a loss anyway, since opponent would be doing damage with -2 to dice, and would be able to do two fully boosted attacks, and one attack with a hit boost.

Time For Classics

Played a 50 point game of Warmachine. My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Inflictor [13]
- Ripjaw [7]
 - Slayer [10]
Iron Lich Overseer [5]
- Desecrator [14]
Swamp Gobber River Raider[1]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent had:

Baldur the Stonecleaver [+31]

 - Gorax Rager [7]

 - Megalith [20]

 - Woldwatcher [8]

Gallows Grove [2]

Lord of the Feast [6]

Shifting Stones [3]
Gatorman Posse [16]

Warpborn Skinwalkers (max) [15]

 - Warpborn Skinwalker Alpha [4]

Scenario was the point scoring Annihilation from main rulebook.

Circle had Gatormen approaching from the right and Skinwalkers from the left. The obstacle in the middle was a nasty table divider, and I sort of did a mistake by directing Slayer and Desecrator to go from the right side.

Neither player had no LOS to anything, thanks to Ashpyxious's Caustic Mists and Baldur's forests. But when Lord of the Feast ran behind the center obstacle, Cryx opened game by running Ripjaw to get arc node into position. I wanted to get rid of the solo before it had the chance to do any major damage. 

Excarnate, however, didn't do much.

Swamp Gobber River Raider, however, did. That little fellow scored a hit with it's harpoon against a Gatorman, and - killed one of the Posse members. 

In retaliation I lost the arc node and a couple of Bane Warriors. Baldur also used his feat, which obviously wasn't going to be all that impactful.

But my next turn isn't that big either. Bane Warriors and Inflictor manage to destroy all but two Skinwalkers and Slayer ate one Gatorman. So it was Circle who got to make the first major turn.

Woldwatcher, remaining Skinwalkers and Lord of the Feast remove all but two Bane Warriors. Megalith deals with Inflictor and Gorax comes to cuddle with Desecrator. Gatormen charge Slayer. Shifting Stones annoyingly teleport in front of Megalith.

Time to draw out the toolbox. Oh right, I haven't got one.

Deathripper succeeds to kill Lord of the Feast. Desecrator also makes Gorax problem disappear, while Slayer takes down two Gatormen. Two remaining Bane Warriors kill last Skinwalker. Only their Alpha left now. 

Asphyxious walks and teleports next to Desecrator so that he might be able to flank and shank Baldur with his feat.

Circle wouldn't have any of that, and Megalith, Gallows Grove and Shifting Stone all come to block the charge from any possible feat Banes. Woldwatcher and Skinwalker Alpha remove last Bane Warriors from the unit. 

I have my chances to "win" the game now. Random models (Desecrator, namely) removes Gallows Grove from blocking charges. And I believe it was Iron Lich Overseer who shot the last remaining Shifting Stone.

Asphyxious advances. Megalith benefits from cover, so it is def 14 against shooting. I can either cast unboosted Parasite on it and teleport away to safety, or secure the spell and leave my warcaster exposed. I choose the latter. Ironically the Parasite would have caused a hit on any combination of the rolled dice. Oh well.

Parasited Megalith goes down like butter, which kind of surprised me. The Banes could have probably done it without Parasite, too. Now Circle has only their warlock, Woldwatcher and a lone Gatorman around.

And when the measuring starts, Asphyxious is found to be within charge distance of Baldur. He just straight up butchered the Lich Lord, not even needing to expend all of his Fury points.

Had I placed Asphyxious exactly within 8" of Megalith, this would not have happened. Had I teleported, this would not have happened. I suppose you can call a game end like this "classic".

Overconfidence is a sudden and insidious killer

Alright, time to tackle this one. This one is a few years of Kingdom Death from the start of this month when a friend visited. Fortunately I made some notes about what happened.

Year 8 hunt: Snellana, Ursa, Sven and Pudge took off to hunt for a Gorm level 1 to get rid of Gorm Climate. Hunt phase was a challenge when survivors got stuck in a never-ending mudslide. We lost monster grease and skull helm that way.

But the showdown itself was a triumph. Execution was flawless - I think we got only one retch over us. And we got both Active Thyroid and Pure Light Bulb from death blow location. We had good feelings about the King's Man fight. 

Lantern Year 9 - Weird Dream.

So, we had a giant butt, realizing the thing from first list doesn't exist, and dying a pointless death.

Dream was about a giant, shining butt in the sky, lighting up darkness. The butt sings melodiously, enticing the survivor to follow the Devil's Symphony. Mesmerized, our dreaming survivor travels into the darkness. He doesn't pay attention to his surroundings, and on the edge of a cliff, in the middle of a step, the butt disappears and survivor realizes he had just conjured up the image from his subconscious. Too late to reverse the step, he falls down and dies. This wicked dream gave us only 1 extra endeavor.

We include Dung Beetle Knight. 

Two matchmakers give two intimacies, which came out as Sibylla and Watson.

Settlement innovated Saga,

1: innovated Saga, and a couple survivors get new fighting arts from Settlement Watch. Someone also receives Synchronized Strike.

We should be ready for King's Man level 1.

Ursa, Stratogda, Sven, Snellana and Butcher's Axe wreck the King's Man so hard that the survivors all die. Well, this particular settlement has been living the dream on Kingdom Death. Every showdown has been either a light challenge or a breeze. 

Heck, we even got Tall Grass terrain. I was certain the worst we'd get from this fight would be King's Curse. Well... maybe we needed this lesson in humility. 

We lost all of our best survivors, as well as the irreplaceable Butcher's Axe.

Lantern year 10: Hunt Re-enactment

Moldonial and Nameless Eetu play the showdown against Butcher. Both participants gain Fated: Butcher ability.

As we had only one Endeavor from Collective Toil, we spent it to innovate Storytelling.

And then right after the heavy loss against King's Man, we get this Manhunter level 2 knocking on our door.

Watson, Butrifice, Sibylla and Tyypi challenge the pro wrestler.

And on the second or third turn Sibylla dies. We had done like two wounds to Manhunter.

"Not this again" was thick in the air. 

But then something happened. It wasn't like the Manhunter didn't manage to do any damage - the fight was one of the more exciting ones in recent memory. Plenty of severe injuries were rolled. Tyypi got Broken Back and Butrifice got his arm broken. 

And yet survivors gained Manhunter Hat and Crimson Vial. However, Watson had to use Crimson Vial to get rid of his four bleed tokens. If we lost the Vespertine Bow user, fight would have been hopeless.'

Wounds trickled in to nemesis, and showdown ended in victory - Watson even scored Killing Blow. Two killing blows in three showdowns is rather good track record.

It's been a year and a half since Maurala was last played, so this campaign might take a while.

Honeyed Rats

A friend visited me for a few of days. For starters we had a couple of games of Malifaux.

First game. Strategy: Turf War.

Kirai Ankoku + The Whisper & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
2x Onryo
Gaki
2x Seishin
Shikome + Grave Spirit's Touch

Pool: 7

Schemes: Deliver A Message, Outflank

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness (Claim Jump)
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Tannen
Mr. Graves
3x Illuminated

Pool: 1

Schemes: Claim Jump, Outflank

Turn 1

We had an action packed game right from the start. Hungering Darkness, after being pushed by Kitty Dumont, went and interacted with the middle turf marker. Mr. Graves came to offer his bulky presence as emotional support.

Ikiryo charged Hungering Darkness and accomplished little. Shikome with upgrade, on the other hand, went for Mr. Graves and flipped a red joker on damage, cutting right through Mr. Graves's Hard to Kill.

Lost Love and Gaki interacted with turfs on my side, and two Illuminated did the same for enemy.

Kirai summoned a Shikome and fired & forgot it against an Illuminated.

Turn 2

Ten Thunders wins the initiative, which is unfortunate since Tanuki was able to heal Mr. Graves back to Hard to Kill threshold.

Shikome and Onryo die in the middle, while Ten Thunders only have to grieve the passing of Mr. Graves.

After enemy deals with the Shikome that was summoned last turn, Kirai summons another one which gets an extra Walk action from Datsue Ba. Enough for it to score Deliver A Message.

Gaki and Onryo place themselves to score Outflank. 

Scores go 3-1 for resurrectionists.

Turn 3

Summoned Shikome gives opponent a headache on the top-left quarter of the board. Eventually an Illuminated dislodges itself and manages to charge Kirai, who redirects one attack to Lost Love.

Kitty Dumont and an Illuminated tease Gaki, who survives. 

Opponent forces Kirai to activate before Hungering Darkness does, so she only summons a Shikome this turn. The one Illuminated who charged Kirai survived attacks from the master herself, the summoned Shikome, Datsue Ba and even a Seishin. Talk about wasted action points.

Then Hungering Darkness butchers Ikiryo. 

Ten Thunders scores Claim Jump and a strategy point, evening scores to 3-3.

Turn 4

Kitty finishes Gaki and speeds towards turf marker on bottom-left, that had earlier been neutralized. Illuminated closes in towards a turf marker on bottom-right.

And why not. I managed to get only one summoned Onryo even remotely close there.

But at least I had the numbers advantage on top, where Kirai had also summoned a new Ikiryo.

Datsue Ba gave walk action for both Ikiryo and Shikome, who then orchestrated a neutralizing of top-left turf marker and claiming it for Resurrectionists. 

Mr. Tannen charges Ikiryo, and due to some amazing flips he manages to shank the spirit down to two health remaining. 

Resurrectionists score their second strategy point, going 4-3 in their favor.

Turn 5

Ten Thunders won the initiative, and an Illuminated went and interacted with a turf marker on my table half. Kitty Dumont walked up the hill and interacted with the marker I had twice already neutered. And opponent had kept the center since turn 1, so strategy looked grim.

Shikome tried to tie up Lynch for other models to deliver a message to him. Lynch, however, disengaged and shot Ikiryo dead. But, most importantly, Lynch had now activated. If only Mr. Tannen wasn't engaging Onryo, who'd be able to place the required scheme marker for Deliver Message...

Datsue Ba charges Tannen. Manipulative foils her plans, but at least she manages to scare Hungering Darkness and give him -2 Mv. This way the beast was pretty much guaranteed to stay in the middle to score Claim Jump end condition.

Kirai moves closer and uses Spirit Barrage on Mr. Tannen and succeeds to kill him. Unfortunately I had wasted my last soulstone on giving this attack masks. Because now I wasn't able to summon an Urami to deny point for Claim Jump.

Game looked like a draw.

Then Onryo close to the Illuminated on my table half activates. It uses the adversary action on Illuminated and succeeds. Then it charges and does three points of damage.

So now it only needed a severe injury to finish the Ten Thunders minion. With two negative modifiers to damage flips I can guarantee it wasn't a severe injury. It was severe+1, neutralizing the strategy marker.

The other Onryo interacted close to Lynch, and scores went 5-4 for Resurrectionists. And all thanks to this one lucky Red Joker.

So. In the end opponent had killed two Shikomes, two Ikiryos, two Seishin, one Gaki and one Onryo. Eighty percent of my starting number.

Second game. Strategy: Corrupted Idols. Corner Deployment.

Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Mad Dog Brackett + Wanted Criminal
2x Rat Catcher
Rat King
2x Malifaux Rat

Pool: 6

Schemes: Ouflank, Harness Ley Lines

Opponent the same list as earlier, except for chosen schemes of course.

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness (Claim Jump)
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Tannen
Mr. Graves
3x Illuminated

Pool: 1

Schemes: Breakthrough, Harness Ley Lines

Turn 1

Pretty much only positioning happening here, as the crews are so far between, and all of the strategic points are also on the middle line. Hamelin had a nasty bottleneck with difficult terrain, but at least the rats jumped easily over with Rat Catcher and Unclean Influence.

Turn 2

Kitty throws a corrupted idol on my side of the board to a position I can't possibly reach. But I try to make the enemy models (Kitty, Mr. Graves, Illuminated) to at least pay for their actions. Focused Mad Dog Brackett and charges, toting his Chesterfield Shotgun. I even spend a soulstone to get extra blast markers. Nope. Nothing.

And second action, nothing. At least he blew up some destructible terrain. Woo hoo. Thirteen soulstones well spent.

Lynch shoots Hungering Darkness into melee with Mad Dog Brackett, which forces Hamelin to activate before Darkness does. He lures the incorporeal monster nearby, advances and then charges the beast just to save Private Brackett.

A Rat Catcher runs into base contact with the idol on top-left, but is unable to throw it anywhere.

Ten Thunders score strategy, Outcasts nothing. 

Turn 3 

Nix lodges itself within range of Kitty, Illuminated and Mr. Graves.

Lynch shoots Hungering Darkness into melee with Mad Dog again, and again Hamelin lures it away from melee with Mad Dog to melee with himself. "I guess", thought Hungering Darkness and began to maul Hamelin, taking some half of his hit boxes away.

Rat King gnaws at a scheme marker and walks to the strategy marker Kitty threw on second turn to lob it back to the side it belong. Rat Catcher on top-left throws another marker on Ten Thunders' side, and puts also a scheme marker. Malifaux Rats that had been accompanying him tried to slow down the Illuminated.

Despite Mr. Graves, Lynch and even Tanuki attacking Mad Dog Brackett, the bandit didn't go down. Well, he was at one hit point remaining and had spend two thirds of my saved up soulstones... 

Outcasts score a strategy point.

Turn 4 

Mad Dog dies this turn, and so does Nix, but I believe the doggie bought his points back by wasting a lost of action points from opponent. Sweet Taste of Failure is rather infuriating rule, at least for the opponent.

Hamelin decides to try and save the "flanks" so to say, and engaged Lynch, Mr. Tannen and lured Hungering Darkness into melee with him. And strangely enough, Hamelin endured. 

Round had relatively few attacks going on, because both players were laying scheme markers down like it's the end of days. (Although... Why would you lay down scheme markers during end of days?)

Both players score a strategy point and Harness Ley Lines.

Turn 5 

With toil and trouble Ten Thunders remove all of Hamelin and all of his children from the board. My Rat King scurried to table corner bottom-right, as it wasn't feeling exactly safe with its one hit point remaining.

Rat Catcher on top had to disengage from Illuminated, and succeeded eventually and reached that hallowed 3" from the corner edge to score Outflank.

Opponent didn't have the action points to deal with these two, because he wanted to secure end condition of Harness Ley Lines.

Which he did. 

There it is. 

First draw of my history with Malifaux. Scores went 4-4. Outcasts had killed zero models from Ten Thunders, while Ten Thunders had removed all but two Rat Catchers and a Rat King. 

That Particular Effect

 I suppose I'm liable to report this in. For I had three rounds of a game of... Domino. Double 9 set to boot, with 55 slabs.

Sigil of Hell

 Had a 75 point game of Warmachine in Vassal.

My list:

Cryx

 Black Industries
Asphyxious the Hellbringer [+24]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Leviathan [16]
- Slayer [10]
- Stalker [8]
Machine Wraith [2]
2x Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Mechanithralls (min) [6]
 - Brute Thrall (3) [0(6)]
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls [4]
Soulhunters (max) [18]

Opponent:

Legion

Children of the Dragon

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight [+30]

 - Archangel [35]

 - Seraph [14]

 - Typhon [20]

Annyssa Ryvaal [8]

Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]

Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]

Blighted Nyss Warlord [0(5)]

Blighted Nyss Warlord [0(5)]

Forsaken [0(4)]

Blackfrost Shard [9]

Blighted Nyss Raptors (max) [18]

Scenario was Anarchy. 

I made the mistake of letting the house on my side of the board divide my forces. Seraph was able to shoot my Stalker dead, and Archangel shot a couple of good deviations, killing a Soulhunter and setting two on fire, and damaging Deathripper.

Turn 2

One of the Soulhunters burned to death. I spread them out on the circular zone so that opponent would have to bring at least something in to contest the zone. 

Deathripper positioned itself so that Asphyxious was able to arc Calamity on Seraph. I decided it would be my best interest to shoot Seraph with Leviathan instead of leaving all of my warjacks within charge range of Legion. Much to my surprise, Leviathan single-handedly shot the beast dead. I was planning on using Vociferon to finish the beast, but instead the solo went to my flag to possibly score it next turn.

Opponent used Rhyas's feat and fully closed in. Typhon tickled Inflictor with some sprays, after which Nyss Warlord charged Inflictor and did the feat jump to engage Deathripper and contest flag. 

Archangel then wrecked Inflictor and Deathripper. 

Anyssa shoots her prey, a Pistol Wraith, dead. Raptors charge Slayer and Leviathan, and considerably damage the Slayer. Leviathan not so much. Another Nyss Warlord finishes up the Slayer, and I'm left to deal with the situation that I just lost two heavies and arc node. Opponent scores a point from flag.

Turn 3

This is my ambush turn, and Mechanithralls are able to both run to contest enemy flag and remove both contesting Raptors. 

Bile Thralls remove remaining raptors as well as a Nyss Warlord. 

Asphyxious casts a spell to remove a Raptor in frond of him, and walks a bit forward to use his feat. He has only one focus, and I was almost expecting to lose because of this.

Leviathan shoots the Kiss of Lyliss trooper from Blackfrost Shard. Remaining Soulhunters charge the flag contesting Nyss Warlord and Archangel. Warlord dies, Archangel much less so.

Cryx scores two points, for 2-1. 

Legion has a bad turn, failing to kill any of the Brute Thralls. They do kill Vociferon and all but one Soulhunter. My scorers are dead or contested, so Legion evens the scoreboard with 2-2.

Turn 4

With 13 focus, Asphyxious casts Calamity on Archangel and Cloak of Ash on himself. He's in a vulnerable position, so I play it safe and camp five focus.

Bile Thralls remove Anyssa, and Mechanithralls aided by Bile Thralls melt the rest of the zone contesting Blackfrost Shard. 

Ironmonger and the last Soulhunter remove contestants from my flag, and Machine Wraith jumps in to get the point. Leviathan tries to shoot objective, but rolls only one shot which isn't enough.

But still, scores go 4-2 for Cryx.

Typhon failed at its activation terribly - it took all of the three sprays and even some melee attacks to destroy two mechanithralls and two brute thralls. Legion gets no-one to contest my circular zone, but Archangel clears zone on the right and contests my flag. Saeryn rushes to score a point from the zone, and scores go 5-3.

Turn 5

If I get three points this turn, I win. However, I decide to play the long game and secure two points and deny opponent from having any.

Asphyxious casts Calamity on Typhon, and Mechanithralls charge and soften the heavy beast a little. 

Then I figure out a clever way to destroy objective - Ironmonger with Dismantle is within charge range! Too bad that the damage roll isn't nearly enough. The objective is not my objective now, though.

But somehow Bile Thralls succeed to spray the enemy objective dead.

And Leviathan charges and does the same for Typhon.

Swamp Gobber River Raider runs to enemy flag, and Machine Wraith goes to contest enemy circular zone. Whoopsie. Did get three points anyway.

Gwendor the Thrice Cursed

 Burkstad does another lantern year. The year 20. 

We were thinking about hunting a level 2 Phoenix, but doing some quick math on our chances to wound a Toughness 12 monster had us quickly downgrade our hunt to a level 1 bird instead.

Level 1 hunt on year 20 is... less than optimal.

Vladimir, Mortis, Purvina and Gwendor equip themselves to catch a Phoenix, and the hunt phase quickly assures us that the choice to hunt a level 1 quarry was the correct one. Three quarters of the group decide to get themselves sick from sickening mess, and a -1 strength token would have had a drastic effect on our ability to wound Toughness 12. Gwendor on 8+ with her bow, Mortis on 6+ with Rib Blade, and Vladimir on 9+ with Scrap Sword. 

Hunt phase also places Lights in the Sky on the timeline for year 21, and Recurring Nightmare has two of our survivors halve their survival and one to lose them all. Mortis with his Insanity of 24 found a new crab friend from path of the insane - and then the Phoenix ambushes survivors.

And what a showdown it was.

First few rounds are a struggle-ish affair that depletes survivors of their already meager resources. Gwendor manages to break the Phoenix's beak, but the bird of prey has its revenge by killing all of Gwendor's future children.

And then Life Pattern comes up when survivors have done four wounds to the monster.

Considering we just had a permanent injury, had -1 strength tokens and a few bleed tokens to boot and Vladimir was already at zero survival ... why not let the Life Pattern kick in?

Refreshed, the fight began anew and survivors were doing damage consistently. Time Stop was a breeze. Soon, however, the Phoenix's true intentions behind Life Pattern were revealed. It pushed the "reset" button just to be able to kill all of Gwendor's future children again. 

Phoenix didn't seem to be especially aggressive, with all the Pitying Sighs, Ancient Stares, Ripples and Excrements, but last few cards left in the AI deck was the one that dooms it's target and causes 4 damage on 2+. 

When Age tokens started piling up, it became increasingly difficult to navigate through Rewind and Displacement locations. This ended up with Gwendor being last threat to wound on multiple occasions. 

Unable to escape his fate, Gwendor was ragdolled by the master of time and eventually had to take a severe injury. Which didn't combine well with his Death Mask, that gives -4 to severe injury rolls.

Location: waist. Result: 10 lowered to 6, which is... Destroyed Genitals. 

So. Gwendor had all of his children deleted from the future twice by this bird... and then it even mutilates Gwendor's physical genitalia. Seriously, Phoenix... what did Gwendor do to you? 

Showdown had been going on for a while now, and Purvina was just one disdain off from fading into nothingness. However, earlier in the fight she had one age token transformed into hunt xp, and received Transcended Masochist as her milestone. 

Well, at least she now had a way to generate survival.

Mortis in his rawhide armor spent about 20 points of survival throughout the fight, possibly even a little more. So that's a new record of sorts, at least for the unlucky survivors of Burkstad.

Finally Purvina deals the killing blow, and we got a total of 6 basic resources, 9 phoenix resources and 2 vermin resources from the fight. Impressive.

Lantern Year 21

Settlement event is Open Maw, and there were Lights in the Sky and Gorm Climate on the timeline. Once again settlement had to dismantle an innovation to protect their precious resources. Burkstad has lost at four innovations this way.

Five endeavors gave Burkstad Lantern Halberd, a successful shrine ritual, and finally Song of the Brave. Gorm Climate has terrorized us long enough!

Gwendor is struck by a column of light during Lights in the Sky, thus adding a total of +4 armor points to each location when he next departs for a hunt.

Mawilina took a trip to the Open Maw, and found two extra vermin resources and some courage.

Settlement develops Hours ring and Hollowpoint armor. 

Next quarry is most likely Gorm level 2.

Population: 10

Principles:
Protect the Young
Graves
Barbaric + Ultimate Weapon


Innovations:
Language
Hovel
Ammonia
Bed
Nigredo
Symposium
Lantern Oven
Paint
Family
Bloodletting
Inner Lantern
Cooking
Shrine
Drums
Momento Mori
Scrap Smelting

Nightmare Training

Song of the Brave


Locations:
Lantern Hoard
Bone Smith
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Catarium
Gormchymist
Gormery
Weapon Crafter
Leather Worker
Skyreef Sanctuary

Plumery

Gear:
1x Cloth
3x Stone Noses
Full Rawhide Set
1x rawhide vest, 1x Rawhide Gloves, 1x Rawhide Headband
Gorment Boots
2x Skull Helm
Bone Dagger
Bone Darts
Rib Blade
Greater Gaxe
2x Leather Shield
Cat Eye Circlet
3x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
Bandages
Catgut Bow + Claw Head Arrow + Hollowpoint Arrow
Full White Lion Suit
Scrap Sword
Flower Knight Badge
Cycloid helm + vest
Death Mask
Whisker Harp

Hours Ring

Lantern Halberd



Resources:
3x Monster Bone

2x monster hide
Skull
1x Broken Lantern

2x crab spider

1x lonely ant

1x nightmare tick

Sinew
2x Lion Claw
2x Great Cat Bones
4x Iron

3x small feathers

1x tail feathers

1x pustules (organ)

1x black skull

The oldest adversary

Had a 50 point game of Warmachine at the end of last month.

My list:

Cryx

Master Necrotech Mortenebra [+24]
 - Desecrator [14]
 - Harrower [16]
 - 2x Stalker [8]
Machine Wraith [2]
Misery Cage [2]
Bile Thralls (min) [9] - Skarlock Commander [3]
Cephalyx Overlords [8]
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls [4]

Opponent:

Protectorate

High Exemplar Kreoss [+29]

 - Castigator [12]

 - Vanquisher [17]

Allegiant of the Order of the Fist [3]

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon [6]

Paladin of the Order of the Wall [4]

Vassal of Menoth [3]

Choir of Menoth (min) [4]

Daughters of the Flame [10]

Knights Exemplar [9]

Temple Flameguard (max) [11]

During mk2 Kreoss had been my opponent number one, with games against him more than some factions in their entirety. Curious that it took over one hundred games to face him in this edition. But here it was, the very first game of mk3 against High Exemplar Kreoss.

We had Mosh Pit scenario from main rulebook. Cryx started. Stalkers take both flanks and Bile Thralls start huddling into the middle. Machine Wraith enters mid-field as there doesn't seem to be that many magical weapons around. A lucky deviation puts scather template right in front of Temple Flameguards.

Daughters of the Flame had ran forward far enough for Harrower and Cephalyx Overlords to kill all but one of them. 

Paladin of the Wall managed to tie up some Bile Thralls with Righteous Vengeance and walk, getting to ARM 21 in the process, and the last Daughter removed one Cephalyx Overlord. Protectorate warjacks had been cautious because of Machine Wraith, but after their activations Kreoss got a Cleansing Fire off to kill the Wraith.

Now there were plenty of targets for Bile Thralls to purge over. But first Stalker needed to get rid off of the paladin that was engaging cryxian Thralls. Needed to roll 14 with three dice to kill the solo, and that's exactly what the dice came up.

Harrower triggered Overrun by killing some Knights Exemplar, and a Stalker advanced to make a leap attack against Kreoss. Didn't really do anything, but at least the warcaster was tied up now.

Vanquisher frees Kreoss, who then charges Harrower. Not killing the warjack left Kreoss in a terrible position - repairable Harrower and fully functional Desecrator, plus Mortenebra who hasn't used her feat yet were all staring at the protectorate warcaster with murder in their eyes. 

Stats!

 Some time ago my game count for Warmachine 3rd edition for the Cryx faction numbered a nice, round one hundred.

So let's break that down in numbers. Basics: 49 victories and 51 losses, so pretty even win rate on the surface.

Factions

Against other Warmachine factions that's 33 wins and 24 losses, which makes Hordes my tougher match-up with 16 wins and 26 losses.

Especially Skorne seems to kick my butt more often than not with only 4 wins and 7 losses.

Trollbloods are #1 faction I've played against with 16 games. 

Second place is for Protectorate with 15 games, and Cryx for the third place with 14 games.

Game size

10 pts: 11 games, 8 wins 3 losses.
25 pts: 4 games, 3 wins 1 loss
50 pts: 20 games, 13 wins, 7 losses
75 pts:  65 games, 25 wins, 40 losses

I suppose the distribution is not that surprising, considering 75 points is the standard tournament size, and competition is at it's toughest there. Also, 75 points tends to mean practicing tournament lists, too.

Warcasters

Deneghra3 is my most often used warcaster with 20 games. Nine victories, eleven losses. 
Next is Scaverous with 19 games, 11 victories and 8 losses.
Goreshade1 has 13 games, Asphyxious3 has 12 games and Mortenebra1 has 11 games. 
Then there is a drop in the games with remaining warcasters. Aiakos2 has only seven games, Asphyxious2 and Venethrax have five, Deneghra2 has four and the rest are one or two games each.

Models

These numbers are the most useless ones when removed from their context, so they're my favorite!

Light warjacks offer no surprises. Deathrippers have been present in 39 games, which includes six games where I had two of them. Nightwretch comes in second with 27 games.

Stalkers have been used in 23 games, where 9 has seen two of them. Both Defilers and Ripjaws sit at 16 games, and to no-one's surprise least used bonejack is the Helldiver. But still it's been present in 11 games, and on two occasions I've used all three of them. And twice there have been two on board.

Heavy warjacks, on the other hand, give a shocking anomaly right from the start. Most used helljack is the Corruptor with 36 games. There was a time when I always had it with Deneghra3 for surprise channeling. I don't remember I ever actually used the channeling ability, though...

Reaper was included in 29 lists, and Slayer in 21 where it was a double choice in five games. Relatively interesting to note that all the three "prime" helljacks are also the most often picked for me.

Leviathan sports in with 21 games and is closely followed by Erebus with 20. 

Seether and Inflictor both have been used 19 times.

Nightmare 17, Malice and Harrower 15. 

Least used heavy warjack is the Desecrator with 14 games. Which isn't that bad, but I have this tendency to try and use all of my models at least once in a while. 

With colossal warjacks, by far the least used model is the Kraken with 16 games. That's my only colossal, though. Har har.

Units betray my most used theme, I suppose. In a whopping 37 games Mechanithralls were included, and on 36 times of those they were accompanied by Brute Thralls. Favorite Brute counts was 2, with 26 occasions.

Then we have 31 games with Bile Thralls. Skarlock Overseer was included only 13 times.

Necrosurgeon accompanied thralls in 27 games, and Soulhunters have made an appearance 23 times. 

Withershadow Combine has been in 28 lists, so it's the 3rd most used unit I have.

Although a relatively new investment for me, Black Ogrun Ironmongers have been in my lists 18 times. But they work in multiple themes and offer great support for warjacks, which I have a tendency to use far more than in your average Cryx list.

Scourge of the Broken Coast dominates next, with 17 uses of Satyxis Raiders (who were led by Sea Witch a total of sixteen times), and even Black Ogrun Boarding Party has been involved in action 14 times. 

Dark Host is very much underrepresented in my choice of themes mostly because I own only a single unit of Bane Warriors and that's it. Hard to make a functioning list with that only. But nonetheless, they've been around for 16 times, and have had the command attachment 13 times.

Least used unit is Cephalyx Overseers with only 9 games.

Solos have also a statistical anomaly in the form of Soul Trapper, who has been in over half of my games. Sure, they're a one point filler, but 22 times I've had two of them. I guess I really like my soul trappers.

Next in line is the Warwitch Siren, who has been present in exactly half of the games. Ten times I've used them both.

Necrotechs were in 48 lists, with three times two of them huddling around. When you combine these numbers with Iron Mongers, it's exactly 2/3 of my games where I've had warjack repairers. That's a trend, I'd say. Of course I don't know how much other people bring these options, but 66% seems... a lot.

Pistol Wraiths have been in 44 games, where 18 times they've been at full allowance. It's obvious where these numbers come from. Theme bonus from Black Industries and it's predecessor.

Machine Wraiths were in 23 games, and why not. They're cheap and useful models. I only have one of them, though.

Darragh Wrathe has ridden in 19 battles.

Blood Priestess, Satyxis Captain and Scrap Thralls have all been used in 13 games. Blood Priestess is one of the more recent purchases, and I expect to see the relative percentile go up when (if ever) I get to do a 200 game update on these numbers.

Axiara Wraithblade goes for the same, as she has only 12 games as of yet.

Bloat Thrall and Bane Lord Tartarus are also less often picked choices with 11 games both. Tartarus goes without saying, as I don't have the models for a proper Dark Host list.

Aiakos1 has 8 games, and I'd wager a guess most of them with Scaverous.

Skarlock has surprisingly few uses with only 7 uses. Theme lists and expanded support options have all but removed the former mainstay of Cryx. 

Misery Cage has been in 6 games, while Gerlak Slaughterborn in 5. But they're my newest models, so there's that.

And last... and least... who could have guessed that Iron Lich Overseer has been in 4 games? Though maybe this is somewhat surprising. I mean, it's not one or zero...

Wraith Engine has been on board 6 times, but I still haven't finished painting it, which explains this a little.

Mercenaries are few and far between because of the theme restrictions. Swamp Gobber River Raiders have the first place with 14 games. Before they were updated to cost only one point each, I had already used the package of three seven times.

Then we have Ragman, which surprises me a little. I don't remember him having been in my lists for a long, long time... and yet he has been picked 12 times.

Gorman makes sense with his 9 appearances.

Orin Midwinter has found his way into my lists 7 times, and Saxon Orrik 6. 

Madelyn Corbeau and Ogrun Bokur both sit at 5 games.

And last but not least comes Wrong Eye & Snapjaw. Somehow I've managed to fit them into my list only 3 times.