Enervated

I continued my Kingdom Death solo campaign. 

Lantern Year 8 hunt & showdown - Spidicules level 1

Iper, Luma, Voxada and Laifuseus hunt the spider. 

I took a risk bringing in Voxada with her Otherworldly Luck. But at least in the hunt phase it paid off - thanks to Otherworldly Luck, survivors received The Weaver gear. 

Next Iper is surrounded by the spiderlings, but other survivors manage to pull him free. Apparently the encounter with spiderlings was so horrifying, that it gave 3/4 of the hunt party night terrors and a bunch of disorder.

Showdown was over in about five rounds, but this included Luma nearly getting eaten by feeding Spidicules. To make things faster I was overconfident and I did not play safe... well, at least it did not cost any lives. 

Vespertine Bow carried the entire game. Iper never even got close enough to the rather mobile Spidicules to train his sword mastery. Luma, Voxada and Laifuseus did succeed in training their respective weapon proficiencies.

Zoronuro was saved from Spidicules, but this did cost Iper's re-roll. 

Once again I received only trash from Spidicules, which must be a sign. I will not bother with the spider any more at least until I got some shields and perhaps leather armors going on. 

Lantern Year 9 - Lights in the Sky

Wow, Lights in the sky second time in a row. And I sure needed it. Rolls for this settlement phase were completely atrocious. I dare say I've never seen that many 1-2 rolled within the same sequence, and even when successes were being made, they were 3's or 4's. 

1: Matchmaker takes away three re-rolls for +1 population.
2: Settlement finally innovates Paint! 
3-6: Augury spends three re-rolls for +1 population. This is terrible.
7-8: Iper manages to train his sword mastery with Petal Spiral, but only thanks to Lights in the Sky. 

Since there is a fight I have a decent chance to lose, and a fight that I really want to win, I send four nobodies to defend settlement from King's Man.

Lantern Year 9 - showdown - King's Man level 1

It could have been a showdown with slim chances if Vespertine Bow would've dealt a couple of critical wounds to proper hit location on first round before Battle Tempo is not yet on the hit location deck.

Three hits gave some hope, which was utterly crushed when one of the first three was the trap card. 

Then I tried to play with Quad Strike, but before I got to go for it, Vespertine Bow user drew a reaction that messed up my formation with basic action no less. 

On fourth turn the vespertine bow user died, and I had a disemboweled spear user with four bleed tokens, and two uninjured survivors. It was all downhill from there. Full wipe.

Lantern Year 10 - Slender Blight

So. Additionally, settlement has to take on Slenderman this year. With Manhunter, that's a whole lot of nope. And it takes two re-rolls to get some other result. 

And then Necrotoxic Mistletoe kicks in. Boom. From twenty-nine to twenty-one population in one go. 

But at least there are 11 endeavors. (13 after the death of Iper)

1: Settlement innovates Hovel.
2-4: Auguries for three Intimacies, which takes away one re-roll.
5-8: Auguries for one Intimacy.
9-11: Scrap Scavenge with miserable results. Only one broken lantern was found, with the cost of two survival.
12-13: With silk mill settlement transforms 2x web silk to 2x hide. 

I was worried for the future of Enerva settlement after the whopping loss of eight survivors, but dice were merciful on me and blessed Enerva with plenty of babies with only one re-roll used. But before the year passes, survivors need to tackle level 2 Manhunter.

Lantern Year 10 special showdown - Manhunter level 2

Iper, Luma, Voxada and Laifuseus defend Enerva settlement, and what a showdown it was!

Trap card was drawn twice during the first round, with Voxada having two heavy injury levels and Laifuseus bleed token from knockback effect, and Luma knocked down thanks to her hemophobia. The feeling of dread slowly crept in when I realized I might have to face a second team wipe in a row. I did two wounds on first round.

Second round was a bit more manageable, as Manhunter kept pouring severe injuries on Voxada and Luma, but - survivors dealt six or so wounds in, which gave some hope of surviving the showdown with at least some people remaining.

Third and fourth round emptied Manhunter of AI cards, but it was continuously on the verge of failure. Voxada had lost her re-roll to save her from death, and bleed tokens kept appearing faster than Iper could patch people up. When fifth round began, Luma laid knocked down with four bleed tokens, intestinal prolapse and hamstrung. Tombstone killed Iper, and next basic action would target Luma. I have some attachment to this character, so I try everything - Voxada takes an aimed shot at Manhunter, and scores a critical wound and gained Crimson Vial. 

Absurd luck, both ways. But the loss of Iper is mournful, since he was one of the starting four.

Luma removes hamstrung severe injury with the Crimson Vial, but is hampered by intestinal prolapse from now-on. 

To celebrate, settlement distills the hunter's heart into a hooch that Laifuseus drinks, mostly, for permanent luck +2. May I say "haba, haba" here?

Lantern Year 10 hunt & showdown - Screaming Antelope level 2

Luma, Laifuseus, Zoronuro and Hovelina hunt for Screaming Antelope.

Teething gives a large flat tooth. Consuming Grass doesn't do anything thanks to whip, and nobody enters putrid tunnels. Overwhelming Darkness gave evasion penalty for the evasion tank, plus accuracy penalties for extra fighters. Migration and Skittish push Screaming Antelope to starvation space, and this is one of the first times I've actually encountered the Starvation. 

Showdown was quick thanks to Vespertine Bow. Zoronuro's life was at stake when Antelope started trampling over him in diabolic fury, but other than that it was your standard Antelope fight. Nightmare Tick was a nice bonus from the bug patch.

Lantern Year 11 - Phantom

Departing survivors need to decrease the armor value of a random hit location by one. 

The Hand wants to cleave Lantern Oven in two and take four survivors with him, and that just won't do. Challenge!

Eight endeavors:

1: Settlement builds Leather Worker
2: Settlement cures leather and builds Leather Shield, Body and Boots and Counter-Weighted Axe
3: Settlement cooks Venison Oco Busco for Laifuseus.
4: Settlement innovates Pictographs
5: Matchmaker baby, this time without re-rolls!
6-7: Scavenge for Broken Lantern
8: Voxada's augury results in Intimacy, which results in twins.

Lantern Year 11 Challenge - The Hand level 1

Laifuseus, Zoronuro, Agyruu and Hovelina enter the fray to be ridiculed. 

It was the easiest The Hand fight in recent memory, since Line Up was not in the deck. Hovelina gained +1 strength, and Laifuseus got the motherlode. The other survivors needed to spend survival or die.

Lantern Year 11 hunt & showdown - Screaming Antelope level 2

 Laifuseus, Hovelina, Bulvans and Zoronuro are the hunters.

Even if survivors were hopelessly lost, Tomb of Excellence trivialized the showdown by letting to put the trap to the bottom of hit locations. However... the hunt phase was one of the longest, ever.

Migration + Lost + Weeping Faces + Feet + some other hunt event gave survivors at least eight additional spaces they needed to encounter.

Dead Antelope would have triggered a White Lion level 3 hunt, but that was out of my scope. Bulvans used his re-roll.

Dry Lands came up twice.

And finally, the showdown.

This combo of "deal 5+ wounds in one turn, then Chow Down comes up" seems to plague me as last time it was just the same.

First Laifuseus treasured the moment for +1 permanent movement, and then broke his hip, which was re-rolled from -1 permanent luck.

Then the beast even ate the newly acquired Counter-Weighted Axe. 

At least the entire resource deck was emptied. 

Lantern Year 12 - Rivalry

Zoronuro and Laifuseus are the rivals. It took one re-roll, but neither can depart next lantern year.

For a change I'll try out the Romantic conviction. 

Eight endeavors.

1: Settlement innovates Shrine.
2: Matchmaker took two re-rolls to succeed.
3: Settlement cures leather.
4-5: Augury for a baby.
6-7: Scavenge for broken lantern.
8: Shrine ritual is success.

Settlement re-develops Counter-Weighted Axe and completes leather armor set. Love Juice also turns into a baby at the cost of one re-roll.

I think I'll end this write up here, since it's been almost two showdowns per year. 

 Population 30, Survival limit 9 (manhunter hooch), +3 on depart, +monsterlevel on arrival

Luma
Voxada XXX
Noctamum XXX
Laifuseus XXX SKIP NEXT HUNT
4Theonous
3Zoronuro XXX SKIP NEXT HUNT
2Konahim XXX
Nodalus, hamstrung XXX
1Firbab the First Baby XXX
Lepuri XXX -1 permanent strength from Lamplighter, -1 survival
Noname2 XXX
Nossos, with Ambidextrous XXX
Kholkho, Burning Focus fighting art. XXX
Noanna XXX
Chantur XXX
Undebea XXX
Phenial XXX
Agyruu XXX
Sylch - found from silk nest XXX
Tranaloka - found from silk nest XXX
Noram
Hovelina
Mallestik XXX
Kholbab XXX
Pheruu XXX
Chanram XXX
Bulvans XXX
Hicoro
Licoro
Lojuba

Hissing Cockroach
Lonely Ant

2x Screaming Brain
1x Muscly Gums

2x Shank Bone
2x Large Flat Tooth
Spiral Horn

1x Love Juice
2x Bladder
3x Beast Steak
2x Fresh Acanthus
4x Broken Lantern
1x Monster Hide

???
2x Iron

Purgatorio settlement

 A friend visited me, and look! A sudden new Kingdom Death settlement.

Prologue almost gave us death principle via ill-placed Maul while Enraged was on. Kohtats, the sorry target, took a total of three severe injuries, but survived showdown with four bleed tokens and no permanent injuries. 

Settlement was named Purgatorio. and population became steady 14. Kohtats spoke (or perhaps her spleen did?) the first words. Endeavors were spent on basic infrastructure and stone noses. No innovation, because we had so few bones at our disposal.

Lantern Year 1 hunt & showdown - Gorm level 1

First hunt was against Gorm. Vangel the evasion tank became Prima Donna during the hunt, but otherwise hunt went fine. 

Showdown itself was a breeze, although we did have to use our last Founding Stone. This gimped the Gorm, which had the monster lose three turns total. Random points of damage were done by the mammoth-baby, even some heavy injury levels, but we pulled it through before severes started piling up. The only real casualty was the Bone Axe that shattered on Super-Dense location. Gorm had Posturing Piss going on, so we got the Ammonia.

Lantern Year 2 - Elder Council

Settlement innovated Hovel and tried to make some babies, failing at that. 

Lantern Year 2 hunt & showdown - Spidicules level 1

Foolhardy to take on Spidicules this early? Maybe, but I let my friend to make the decisions. 

Hunt went well enough, yielding even some resources. 

Showdown was odd. This must be one of the most immobile Spidicules I've seen, and least dangerous too. This was probably mostly due to one of the easier intimidate cards making multiple appearances throughout the game.

Fight wasn't without it's dangers though. When showdown ended in easy victory for the survivors, each had at least two bleed tokens. Kohtats was taken away by Spidicules. 

Lantern Year 3 - Dark Trader

Settlement innovates Paint, and gains the Silk Refining from slaying a Spidicules. Two auguries more give us finally an aichmophobic super-child Hilima and Survival of the Fittest. This triggered society principle, which was Collective Toil. 

It's all looking very good now even if this campaign might never see additional play. 

Corrupted Ley Lines, Molly vs Lynch

 Had another 50ss game of Malifaux during friends visit.

Flank Deployment Corrupted Ley Lines with Let Them Bleed, Catch & Release, Bait and Switch, Hidden Martyrs, Breakthrough

My list was:

Molly & Necrotic Construct
Philip & Nanny
Rogue Necromancy
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
2x Crooligan (Catch & Release)
Night Terror
Rabble Riser

Pool: 4

Schemes: Catch & Release, Bait & Switch (Kitty Dumont)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Tannen (Martyr)
3x Illuminated (Martyr and Catch & Releaser)
Depleted

Pool: 2

Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Catch & Release

Turn 1:

First round is bad for Resurrectionists. Ten Thunders manage to nearly kill Rogue Necromancy with Illuminated charge, Lynch shooting and Hungering Darkness doing its thing.

I do what I can to protect the beast, but when the end phase began, it had three hit points left. 

If I lose my only serious beater on turn 2... I don't want to think about that.

Otherwise not much happened. Gwyneth had some fun by trying to shoot kids I had deployed to hopefully divide enemy forces, but failed to do damage. 

Turn 2:

Necrotic Machine slaps poison in on to Hungering Darkness, which immensely helped the survival of Rogue  Necromancy - so much so, that Hungering Darkness considered it a better option to smash in to Rabble Riser, who had earlier charged the Illuminated who had dealt four damage in to Rogue Necromancy with double negative flip. 

Rabble Riser was a valuable piece this turn, as another Illuminated and Mr. Tannen spent their activations to finally kill the murderous hobo. 

Forgotten Marshal summons a Night Terror and shoots with Peacebringer one Illuminated down. Still two to go. 

Middle board failed much of their activations, but at least Molly made opponent lose most of his high cards to protect Hungering Darkness from 3x3 irreducible damage. 

Philip & Nanny slow Hungering Darkness and speed to another strategy marker after getting the lodestone from a Night Terror that held it on turn 1. 

Crooligan #1 engages Gwyneth and scores Catch & Release.

Turn 2 scores: 2-1 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Violent round where both Hungering Darkness and Rogue Necromancy perish, the first mentioned to Rogue Necromancy and the latter to conjoined efforts of Illuminated and Mr. Tannen.

Catch & Release Crooligan teleports to Philip & Nanny, but is immediately pursued by Jakob Lynch, which gives Philip & Nanny an unfortunate obstacle to get through. They move around Lynch, losing precious inches of movement in the process.

Forgotten Marshal summons a Rabble Riser, who attempts to intervene Lynch.

Rabble Riser in the middle dies, too, but still there is a huge clump of Night Terror, Necrotic Machine, Gwyneth, Kitty and Mr. Tannen.

Both players score strategy for 3-2 points, Resurrectionists still in lead.

Turn 4:

Inadvertently I kill opposing Martyr this turn, but at least Philip & Nanny secure me one more strategy point from top-right side of the board. 

Mr. Tannen, the second martyr, is below half of his health remaining, so he's of no consequence any longer. Especially when Lynch set out to kill my Catch & Release Crooligan - failing at that, and then the Crooligan just teleported back to Philip & Nanny who were securing the marker far up.

Molly moves with three walk actions to poison cloud in the enemy table half so as to catch the lodestone last turn.

Ressers score strategy and Ten Thunders score Hidden Martyrs 4-3

Turn 5:

Lynch heals Mr. Tannen back to over half hit points remaining, and Mr. Tannen had charged Forgotten Marshal. And neither Marshal nor a Crooligan managed to punch that last point in to def 4 model. Drats. Opponent would gain a point from Hidden Martyrs.

Moreover, not two Crooligans plus Necrotic Machine were enough to hold Kitty Dumont from disengaging. Or maybe they would have, but Gwyneth yanked two of the three to her table. 

To my content no random Jakobs entered my deployment zone, so I got Bait & Switch from there. Also the Catch & Release Crooligan was so deep embedded into enemy territory that he scored for me. 

Ten Thunders score strategy and end condition of Hidden Martyrs, Ressers score Bait & Switch and Catch & Release end condition for 6-5 for Resurrectionists.

Year of Utter Devastation and Misery

 A friend with whom we have an ongoing Kingdom Death campaign visited, and this is what happened.

Lantern Year 11 hunt: Sunstalker level 1

What's the worst that could happen when you begin a showdown? Would it be something like losing your Vespertine Bow user on the first attack he - himself - makes? Because that's what happened.

It didn't even take that many rounds until Padoral the Twilight Sword user died, too. 

A team wipe looked certain when remaining Baby of Silence had two bleed tokens and Moldonial with destroyed back had five (with unconscious fighter) and there were still around four AI cards to chew through. Baby of Silence frenzied and as a consequence was soon killed. 

But Moldonial had bitten in two wounds, which meant that Sunstalker would fade away to solar track. Moldonial only had to tank through 9+ hitting basic actions while having zero armor and plenty of heavy damage levels. 

But hey. We don't need Vespertine Bows here in Maurala. It was a win, after all. Finally things are looking... well...

Lantern Year 12 - Gorm Climate

Aaaaugh. Gorm Climate ate Round Stone Training, because we didn't want to lose our hoarded resources. Now we need to hunt Gorm again. And at least Gorm Climate isn't Murder...

Conviction - Barbaric Principle ate away our resources anyway.

Necrotoxic Mistletoe killed four survivors.

WHEN WILL THIS MISERY END??

From a healthy population of fifteen, down to eight, lost one innovation and all resources. Gg wp. Table flip. Sob in corner. 

At least our two (2) endeavors gave Intimacy with Augury, and gave us twins. 

Moldonial ate the Hunter's Heart to cure his broken rib and destroyed back, and Sibyllaria cured her back with the leftovers.

Well hello Gorm level 1, some bitter and angry survivors are coming for you next.

Lantern Year 12 hunt - Gorm level 1 

Twix, Noitatsaved, Fatalia and Tyypi engage in Gorm Hunt, and hunt phase was more lethal than the actual showdown - all survivors received a few disorders along the way. Aichmophobia on King Spear using Twix was perhaps the most annoying.

Showdown itself was no big deal, although most of our wound rolls were 2-3... fortunately that was enough to actually wound a level 1 Gorm. Easy victory.

Lantern Year 13 - Dark Dentist

Dark Dentist pays a visit to check how Moldonial's operation has gone - which is very well indeed. Hands of Heat starve our settlement of resources even further - and we're having another go at it on the same year as Butcher level 2. 

Settlement innovates Heart Flute, breeds Twillaria and gives Synchronized Strike for a few survivors.

Lantern Year 13 Showdown - The Hand level 1

Twillaria, Butrifice, Moldonial and Fatalia challenge the Hand once more. 

We had the Diversion Tactics, which made the showdown even more of a breeze. If by breeze you mean a blood tornado.

Twillaria receives Apathetic disorder from Soft Chuckle, and because of this dies to Line Up via head explosion.

Then, The Hand has had its fun and starts to applaud. Butrifice just can't take it, and dies.

At least Moldonial, the shining star of Maurala, received the best result of +1 accuracy, strength and evasion,

Lantern Year 14 - Haunted

Moldonial and Fatalia sing a little song with the chorus of the dead. Twix finds the silver city and becomes stark raving as a result. 

Settlement innovates Petal Spiral, which was deemed the least trash of a rubbish pile of choices. The another endeavor was to put Synchronized Strike back to Moldonial.

Moldonial, Tyypi, Twix and Fatalia set out to hunt for level 2 antelope... somewhere in the future.

The Rise and Fall of Dr. McMourning

 Had a 50ss game of Malifaux.

Flank Symbols of Authority, Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs, Let Them Bleed, Research Mission, Spread Them Out.

My list was:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy (Claim Jump)
Flesh Construct
Guild Autopsy (Martyr)
Gravedigger (Martyr)
2x Mindless Zombie

Pool: 4

Schemes: Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Tannen (Martyr)
Mr. Graves
2x Illuminated
2x Depleted
Tanuki (Martyr)

Pool: 2

Schemes: Hidden Martyrs

Turns 1-2:

First turn resurrectionists advance as a big blob in the middle of the field. Gravedigger delays Doctor's summons for a turn because I rather used Blasphemous Rituals. A building in the middle forces Ten Thunders into dividing their forces as they see fit. Otherwise their advance is cautious and concentrated.

Second turn action begins. Flesh Construct charges Mr. Tannen and Mr. Graves, and kills the cardshark with two strikes. Mr. Graves avenges his partner-in-crime and casually negatively flips moderate damage... twice. Flesh Construct is dead!

Dr. McMourning gives doctors orders for Guild Autopsy and summons a Flesh Construct before charging off to the middle of the board where Depleted and Tanuki lie. Long live the Flesh Construct!

To secure Claim Jump, the Flesh Construct charged enemy flank where there was an Illuminated and another Depleted. The charge does nothing, but the retaliation has the construct standing with one hit point remaining. But the endeavor succeeds and Rogue Necromancy secures its position as a victory point grinder.

Hungering Darkness flies on top of the building where Guild Autopsy had sneaked about for interacting with a strategy marker, but fails to score a kill.

Remaining Ten Thunder forces (Lynch, Illuminated mostly) attempt to harm Dr. McMourning, but he survives with only three points of damage taken in (with a stack of six poison) - although he had to expend half of my soulstones.

Resurrectionists score Claim Jump, and Ten Thunders Hidden Martyrs.

Turn 3:

Lynch and pals turn all their attention towards Dr. McMourning - Depleted, Illuminated, Lynch and Hungering Darkness aim towards his head, but Organ Donor and hefty stack of Poison +8 kept him alive. 

Since Hungering Darkness abandoned his position with Guild Autopsy, the zombie got into position to interact with strategy marker in later turns. Gravedigger takes the strategy point for this turn on the right next to Mr. Graves. 

Kitty Dumont takes a strategy marker, and Mr. Graves ran to another.  

Illuminated and Depleted on the left remove the summoned Flesh Construct, and Rogue Necromancy is like "why not" charge Illuminated (as I didn't quite remember you can't move with Ambush if engaged...) and bring Illuminated down to two hit points and Depleted down to one.

Scores go 2-2.

Turn 4:

Lynch and pals turn all their attention towards Dr. McMourning - Depleted, Illuminated, Lynch and Hungering Darkness aim towards his head, but Organ Donor and hefty stack of Poison +7 kept him alive. Albeit in a far poorer condition than last time around when I wrote these lines.

Dr. McMourning manages to slay the Illuminated and use Doctor's Orders to reach Tanuki, whom he brings below half of its hit points remaining, thus denying opponent the end condition of Hidden Martyrs.

Mr. Graves takes two interacts - one for strategy marker, and another for scheme marker. Kitty Dumont puts a scheme marker and advances deeper into Resurrectionist lines. Guild Autopsy takes a strategy marker around the middle of board.

Gravedigger charges Jakob Lynch only to move closer to another strategy marker with Deadly Pursuit.

Scores go 3-3.

Turn 5:

Kitty Dumont navigates through Zombie Chihuahua to place third marker for Spread Them Out. Rogue Necromancy stays close to center point. Jakob ties up Gravedigger and Hungering Darkness finally kills Dr. McMourning.

Opponent reveals Spread Them Out and resurrectionists score end of Claim Jump, making the game second draw in a row.

Baits and Switches

 Had a live game of Malifaux for a change.

Fifty soulstones, Flank deployment Break the Line with scheme pool: Detonate Charges, Hidden Martyrs, Let them bleed, Research Mission, Bait and Switch

My list was:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy (proxied with Snowstorm, because it's hard to check relevant mini containers when packing models)
Flesh Construct (Martyr)
Guild Autopsy (Martyr)
2x Kentauroi

Pool: 4

Schemes: Bait & Switch (Ama No Zako), Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

Asami & Amanjaku
Ama No Zako
Shadow Emissary
Wanyudo
Obsidian Oni
Tengu (Martyr)
Yokai (Martyr)

Pool: 6

Schemes: Bait & Switch (Rogue Necromancy), Hidden Martyrs

Turn 1: 

Both players go and interact with the outermost strategy markers; Ten Thunders with Ama No Zako and Resurrectionists with a Kentauroi who rode with Guild Autopsy. In the middle we have Shadow Emissary, Obsidian Oni and Asami versus Flesh Construct, Kentauroi, Rogue Necromancy and Dr. McMourning. 

Turn 2: 

Shadow Emissary charges Flesh Construct and brings it down to two hit points remaining. The construct, along with Rogue Necromancy and McMourning kill the dragon - thanks to me having Red Joker in my hand to cheat for damage. 

Ama No Zako finishes Flesh Construct, which would bring in a point for me. But little did I guess that when a Kentauroi in the middle charged and killed Tengu, I returned the favor for Ten Thunders. 

Before McMourning went to deal with Shadow Emissary, he interacted a scheme marker next to Ama No Zako.

Wanyudo and Sebastian were playing sort of a ball game with strategy markers.

Both players score strategy, both players reveal Hidden Martyrs and Resurrectionists reveal Bait and Switch for a total of 2-3 points.

Turn 3:

Wanyudo was started driving towards Guild Autopsy, but failed to kill my martyr. Same happened with Rogue Necromancy and Yokai, although Rogue Necromancy dealt some three points in. 

But then that blasted monkey started doing its thing again. It charged past Rogue Necromancy and Sebastian to interact with a strategy marker, and then leaped behind Obsidian Oni's back. 

Doctor's Orders brought McMourning within charge range of the martyr Yokai, but even after two attempts with Focused condition the minion was still standing. It took Kentauroi's activation to finally remove that nuisance off the board. Kentauroi itself was eventually removed after receiving violent attention for two rounds. 

Asami yanked Rogue Necromancy to herself, which I presumed was to prevent me from getting to strategy markers on the following round. Which, I guess, did that too.

By now Ten Thunders had dominated the strategy side of things, with three markers on my side of the table and me having one over 8" into enemy side. 

Both players scored strategy, and opponent reveals Bait & Switch on Rogue Necromancy. So that was the reason for that unexpected pull... 4-4 points-wise. 

Turn 4:

Unfortunately Wanyudo takes out my martyr, so we had both now lost a scheme end condition. Supporting Kentauroi shrugs its shoulders and takes a deep dive into middle of the board, charging Obsidian Oni that was holding mid-ground with Ama No Zako and Asami. 

Rogue Necromancy runs towards enemy deployment zone in an attempt to block a point from Bait & Switch. 

This, however, left Dr. McMourning pretty much all by himself after Kentauroi was wrapped up by Obsidian Oni and Asami, who also had the time and the stones to summon a well-placed 2" melee range Jorogumo to block Sebastian from tossing strategy marker anywhere. Sebastian then ran just to engage Ama No Zako, who in turn was pushed by Jorogumo's frightening reminder.

McMourning kills the Obsidian Oni and still had action point left to charge Ama No Zako, and casually flipped a Red Joker to damage. 

Ten Thunders score strategy and take the lead at 5-4.

Turn 5:

Asami pushes Dr. McMourning and Ama No Zako apart with her hairs, bringing Ama No Zako closer to denying me a point from Bait & Switch, but Sebastian comes charging in to the henchman. Ama No Zako then tries to disengage, by failing with first and succeeding with second try. But the flying goblin-thing was still within charge range of Dr. McMourning, who arrived at the scene and used Skull Saw on Ama No Zako to admirable effect, removing it from table. 

End result was a tough draw 5-5. 

Malifaux vassal tournament part II

Tournament ran its course, and here are the last remaining two games. 

Game 4:

Gaining Grounds 2 scenario Corrupted Ley Lines with Wedge Deployment. Scheme pool: Claim Jump, Spread Them Out, Vendetta, Let Them Bleed, Detonate Charges 

I had:

Kirai & Ikiryo (Vendetta target)
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
Rogue Necromancy (Claim Jump)
2x Seishin
Shikome + Killer Instinct
Crooligan

Pool: 7

Schemes: Claim Jump, Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Basse (Lead Linen Coat) & Bernadette
Dr. Grimwell
Jonathan Reichart (Lead Linen Coat) (Claim Jump)
Guild Steward
Pathfinder
Austringer (Vendetta)

Pool: 8

Schemes: Claim Jump, Vendetta

Turns 1-2:

I didn't know what to expect of Basse, and when he had been parked right into the charge range of Rogue Necromancy, I decided to give it a go. I quickly learned my error and paid a heavy price for it. Basse started tossing Rogue Necromancy around like a ragdoll, and it somehow ended up in the melee range of Dr. Grimwell. Well, I suppose Rogue Necromancy at least dominated opponent's first turn by having him use Basse, Grimwell, Austringer, and Reichart to finally kill my Claim Jumper. 

Datsue Ba ran to engage Reichart in an attempt to save Rogue Necromancy, but in the end, Reichart had Bring It ability. 

Ikiryo and Bernadette claimed a strategy marker. 

Turn 2:

Dr. Grimwell and Reichart try to beat the scary granny with the lantern, and do well enough - it's just that Kirai's activation was spent on healing Datsue Ba back to full. Reichart's blasts, however, killed a scheming Drowned and a Seishin. 

Ikiryo runs to strategy another strategy marker near my table edge, and Austringer throws its bird at Ikiryo, dealing some serious damage and revealing Austringer had vendetta towards Kirai's soul. Not good. 

Bernadette tries to taunt Crooligan to attack her, but fails to Bring It the kid a second time.

Both players score strategy, and both players reveal one scheme: Spread Them Out and Vendetta.

Turn 3:

Datsue Ba receives the full activations of Reickhart and Dr. Grimwell once more and survives. Kirai heals her. Rinse & Repeat. Kirai also summons a Drowned. 

Basse shoots Kirai and Lost Love and deals some damage in, which is worrisome. My master is down to eight hit points remaining, and Lost Love takes a hit for two. 

Shikome and Crooligan just scheme around.

Bernadette takes a dive towards the middle strategy marker, and a well placed miracle happened: Drowned charged Bernadette and Dazed her away from the marker. Ikiryo then runs to middle zone.

Ressers score strategy, which is the only point from turn three.

Turn 4

Datsue Ba weighs Guild Steward's sins and judges him to death with two actions. Impressive enough, and yet she still survives Dr. Grimwell's attacks. 

Cornelius Basse ruins my plans by bringing Kirai down to one hit point remaining, and Austringer flying in for the kill. I had originally planned to summon a Seishin into contact with Bernadette, who had been removed from melee with Drowned by Pathfinder. This way she'd have been unable to toss Lodestone marker to Basse.

Ikiryo had ran towards the enemy strategy marker on top-right and lives, securing me full points from strategy. 

Reichart removes himself from melee somehow and runs to middle. Opponent scores strategy and Claim Jump, evening scores to 4-4.

Turn 5:

I manage to survive with Ikiryo and had enough scheme markers to score Spread Them Out again. Opponent was able to bring Bernadette to my top-left strategy marker and have Basse to toss the lodestone for her. 

It's a draw 6-6.

Game 5:

Apparently, this tournament was Kirai's when I picked her for the last game, too.

Strategy was Break the Line with standard deployment. Scheme pool: Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs, Death Beds, Catch & Release, Bait & Switch.

My list was:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
3x Seishin
2x Shikome
Night Terror with Killer Instinct (Catch & release)

Pool: 8

Schemes: Catch & Release, Bait & Switch

Opponent had:

English Ivan & Mordrake
Gibson DeWalt
Winston Finnigan (My bait)
Eva Havenhand
Tannenbaum
Intrepid Emissary

Pool: 6

Schemes: Claim Jump, Death Beds

Turns 1-3:

This game was brutal. Brocken Spectre was able to catch Ikiryo, Datsue Ba and Kirai within it's spells of certain doom, and it wasn't until third round when I finally managed to remove the spectre - after most of my forces had been decimated.

I had a Catch & Release running Night Terror and one Shikome on both sides of the map, and Seishins and Lost Love in the middle. 

Next time maybe I won't bunch up in the middle so, although that might happen anyway since Brocken Spectre bunches you up on its own. 

But it wasn't all on Spectre, no. Eva Havenhand and Mr. Mordrake were both amazingly mobile and got to toss strategy markers around before I had the chance to contest. 

At least opponent's speed gave me one easy point in the form of Catch & Release, but still... opponent was controlling all strategy markers, had revealed both of his schemes and would easily get at least one end condition. I gave up at the end of third round. 

All in all it was a nice tournament experience. I learned a couple of new tricks along the way, too, such as charging past melee range. And that it is relatively bad idea to let opponent summon a Brocken Spectre that ties up all of your important models.