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.