Ornithophobia

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Guard the Stash

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Secret Meetup, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out, Load 'Em Up

My list:

Molly & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Rogue Necromancy
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
2x Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Stones: 5
Schemes: Public Demonstration (Night Terrors & Crooligans), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Colette Dubois & 3x Mechanical Doves
Cassandra Felton
Carlos Vasquez
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
2x Showgirl
Mannikin

Stones: 1
Schemes: Secret Meetup (Carlos, Rogue Necromancy, fountain in middle), Set the Trap

Turn 1:

Resurrectionists advanced in an orderly fashion to middle of board, concentrating on the go. I didn't get any meaningful crows in my hand nor with The Whisper, so there was no summon from Forgotten Marshal this round.

I had deployed both Crooligans close to table edges left and right. Colette came and Presto-ed one of them in the middle of performers. We played this a little incorrectly since the Showgirl certainly wasn't 8" from the Crooligan, but I doubt situation would have been that much different even if the target would have been someone a little closer - Angelica Durand might have actually just been that much closer! 

It somehow escaped me that I could just By Your Side out of the situation and instead hoped I might delay the activations of performers long enough to make a worthwhile death for Crooligan. But Angelica just slapped it dead with one activation. At least the kid stole opponent's only soulstone. 

Other than that Coryphee duet charged Rogue Necromancy after been distracted by the monster's projectile vomit and slowed down by Philip's one more question. Terrifying coupled with Boring Conversation made the only attack a non-issue.

Turn 2:

Second turn mistakes were made...

Forgotten Marshal manages to summon a Rabble Riser on board. Then Colette Presto-Chango swaps Forgotten Marshal and Carlos Vasquez, this time with proper rule interactions. 

Forgotten Marshal barely survives Cassandra Felton's attacks but eventually succumbs to measly Mannikin. And this, this was terrible news. I even wasted Red Joker from my hand in an attempt to save Forgotten Marshal. No more Rabble Risers or even additional Night Terrors or Crooligans to act as decoys or maybe even plant a scheme marker some time along the way. 

And while Philip & Nanny continues to be a nuisance par excellence with Boring Conversation, it was not enough to save un-activated Rabble Riser from Carlos' flaming batons. He even managed to flip tomes from top of deck to create a pyre marker on Molly. 

I had tried to tease Carlos a bit with Night Terror and to get into position to score Public Demonstration, but Carlos just danced away with flames so I was forced to adapt a new plan. A showgirl-engaging Night Terror took a double walk to Colette, thus not placing any scheme markers that turn. Remaining Crooligan had to jump to Molly, not making markers either.

Coryphee Duet was doing sorry job at fighting Rogue Necromancy and decided to split apart. The other Coryphee misplayed a rule and switched positions with Carlos Vasquez.

Both players scored strategy and I had my Public Demonstration. Opponent, however, had enough scheme markers to declare Set the Trap and had conditions right for Secret Meetup.

Scores go 3-2 for Arcanists.

Turn 3:

Colette was in a troublesome position. Nearly all of my models were getting distracted. I was able to circumvent getting stunned a bit with Molly's bonus action, but I could not stop Molly from becoming stunned. At least Molly was able to finally kill one Coryphee with irreducible damage after failing so many times. My models were dying left and right so I had to prioritize removing enemy models, and being stunned left Molly one action point short of going to contest Colette's strategy marker.

I had grand plans of pushing through wall of performers with Philip & Nanny by buying extra card and masks for my attack, but even a 12 was not enough to get through them all. 

Then I tried to seize the middle-right strategy marker by teleporting Crooligan there and finally planting a scheme marker for Spread Them Out. Necrotic Machine was healing itself (it already had Burning +4 from various sources) and trying to land a hit on Coryphee. Night Terror was doing the same, but Df 6 seems to be a tough nut to crack and even when I got a hit I dealt more than one point of damage only on a severe... sheesh...

Colette had used Presto-Chango to remove Rogue Necromancy from the big melee. It managed to land a weak bite on Showgirl, and I had a terrible decision to make. I had severe mask in my hand, which I needed for Night Terror to secure Reposition from bonus action. I decided not to cheat, and the Showgirl then ran to get a strategy marker on my side of the table. 

Since I had not progressed the way I needed, I couldn't keep up with my plan to walk out of melee with Night Terror, reposition to enemy strategy marker and place a scheme marker. My only chance to affect points this turn appeared to be to reposition out of melee, charge Mannikin and kill it with just one attack and then walk back to contest. This way nobody would have got points this turn.

Well, needless to say, the bat didn't kill Mannikin even with two attacks. But what needs to be said is how those bloody damn pigeons became the main damage dealers in performer band again! Two of them single-beakedly removed my public demonstrator and my game looked that much darker.

Performers score strategy while Resurrectionists get nothing. Scores go 2-4.

Turn 4:

Not getting attacks through when I needed them had already been the beginning of the end last turn. Opponent wasn't able to dish that much damage out any more either - miraculously I only lost Necrotic Machine this turn - but contesting and scoring strategy markers with five models against eight models that were able to reposition themselves as well as enemy models proved to be impossible.

And those birds were steadily pecking Philip & Nanny's health down despite them having Boring Conversation on.

Arcanists get their third strategy point for scores of 2-5. 

Turn 5:

Well, there were good and bad news. Good news were that those damn birds were on a killing spree. This time they killed Philip & Nanny. This was good news because now opponent needed to bring Molly down to half of her health remaining to score Set the Trap. 

So, she was the next target then. And Molly made a pretty astonishing last stand and dodged every single attack directed at her. Opponent even brought Coryphee away from the strategy marker on my right side. Molly just needed to take one hit of one damage in to guarantee 50% health. She also had Burning +4, which would tick her below half health.

I had brewed up a plan how I might at least score Spread Them Out reveal condition. The plan was to wait until as many performers had activated as possible, then walk and ambush with Rogue Necromancy within 2" of Molly and assist Distracted away from her. Then she would put the last required scheme marker next to some eligible model with One More Question trigger, but as it happened, I did not take the most direct path with Rogue Necromancy. Assist could not reach Molly.

There was no other game for me left other than point denial, and that Molly did good. She removed required scheme markers for Secret Meetup, had lured away the scoring Coryphee and flipped a severe to block damage from burning with my last soulstone.

So final scores are "only" 2-5 instead of 2-8, for Arcanists.

Casual Eighteen

A friend visited my place for a few days. It's been a few days since these games were played so details have been lost from memory.

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Standard Carve a Path

Scheme pool: Spread them out, Set the trap, Breakthrough, Public demonstration, Hidden martyrs

My list:

Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Jaakuna Ubume
Hanged with Servant of Dark Powers
Crooked Man
Dead Outlaw
Guilty

Stones: 5
Schemes:

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
2x Tanuki

Stones: 3
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Breakthrough

Turn 1:

For some reason I placed Hanged way top behind a large factory building to push a strategy marker. Well, there was a reason, though... I wanted to make staggering machine as efficient as possible and the only model I could part seemed to me to be Hanged. I also wanted both martyrs as far from each other as possible.

In the middle two bubbles were nearing each other with Jaakuna Ubume in the front of Jack Daw's side. Mr. Graves attempted to punish Jaakuna for being almost at the center point, but succeeded only in dealing damage to himself via hazardous terrain.

Turn 2:

Outcasts win initiative, and Jaakuna punts a marker even further and puts up drowning aura and lures an Illuminated into it. 

Mr. Graves then hits Jaakuna twice and she dies, just like that. I had hoped for a little more value out of her. At least Jack Daw managed to land Curse of Injustice on a few models, most notably Hungering Darkness.

Hanged continues to push one of my strategy markers far up while Kitty does the same in the middle. Hanged also managed to land its curse on her.

An Illuminated kills Guilty, thus giving me a point from Hidden Martyrs.

Hungering Darkness and a few other models try to break Jack Daw, but don't really do much with actual attacks. The real damage was this pulse that gave slow for Jack and Montresor.

Dead Outlaw gives fast for Crooked Man from a scheme marker I had planted last turn for movement shenanigans. As a last model to activate, he took a double walk and put a scheme marker close to Mr. Graves and Illuminated, while one of the earlier schemes was still close enough to Hungering Darkness.

Jack Daw reveals both schemes, and both players get strategy for a total of 1-3 for Outcasts.

Turn 3:

Well it was an intense turn.

Montresor opens by making a devastating activation, blasting two points of damage for a Tanuki, Illuminated, Mr. Graves and Hungering Darkness - and then a little more for Tanuki and Illuminated (and himself) from black blood. Attack with noose brought Mr. Graves and Tanuki down to one health remaining. 

It was certainly not to be, because then Tanuki just healed him back over hard-to-kill threshold.

Opponent really puts everything to killing Montresor - and, for the first game ever, Montresor actually dies even after triggering his demise. But at least Mr. Graves and Tanuki behind him finally die when Crooked Man makes a proper earthquake. Or, well, Mr. Graves doesn't die just yet - it takes Dead Outlaw to finalize him. 

Hanged and Kitty do their thing with strategy markers. Crooked Man also kicked one of my markers to opponent's deployment area. A Tanuki struggles with one of the Ten Thunders strategies, but unfortunately I don't have the model count to intervene.

Both players score strategy, and opponent reveals Hidden Martyrs on a Tanuki and an Illuminated. Scores go 3-4 for Outcasts.

Turn 4:

Hanged kick strategy to enemy deployment and lands in the thick of action with On Your Heels. Crooked Man and Dead Outlaw manage to kill Mr. Tannen and the Illuminated for enemy Hidden Martyrs, and killing that Illuminated brought back Guilty.

Jack Daw charges Tanuki that was delivering strategy marker, but fails to do anything important.

Then, to my horror Kitty starts spamming scheme markers on my deployment zone and thus Ten Thunders is able to reveal Breakthrough.

Scores go even 5-5. 

Turn 5:

Jack Daw gets a second try at Tanuki, but the furry little bugger just doesn't die or even get staggered. It manages to disengage, and Hungering Darkness obeys it to push last Ten Thunders strategy marker to my deployment zone. 

In the middle my useless minions fail at trying to injure Lynch enough to make Set the Trap end condition a possibility, and even worse - Hanged dies, too. I'm left with just strategy points, while Ten Thunders get their Breakthrough for a score of 7-6 for Ten Thunders.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Load 'Em Up, Secret Meetup, In Your Face, Vendetta, Catch & Release

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Grave Golem
Noxious Nephilim
Lost Love
Shikome
Seishin

Stones: 7
Schemes: In Your Face, Secret Meetup (3x3 building, Noxious Nephilim and Gwyneth)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
Illuminated
2x Tanuki

Stones: 1
Schemes: In Your Face, Load 'Em Up (scheme)

Turn 1:

Well, look at that pretty picture. From my side you can see Grave Golem, some swirly parts of a Goryo and half of Noxious Nephilim!

Well, that's because Kirai is hiding under the rectangular red roofed building, and most of my other models (Ikiryo, Datsue Ba, even Lost Love) were behind the stone wall, just behind the building.

Shikome could have been seen on the roof with Hungering Darkness if that thing didn't kill it with one hit!

Opponent knew I had blast, but apparently he did not consider it much of a threat. Truth be told - neither did I. I haven't had much of a success with blasts earlier. But I wanted to still threaten opponent a bit, give him a lesson not to bunch up like that.

Ikiryo, who had been walked into position with either Datsue Ba or Seishin, concentrated and projected her voice at Mr. Graves who was in cover. Hits. Red Joker comes up for damage. 

Ouchie. Losing Shikome to one hit suddenly didn't bother that much when that attack dealt in total eighteen points of damage if we count the two points from Mr. Graves' black blood ability! Eighteen!

Yeah, nobody died and opponent had quite a bit of healing available but still...

Turn 2:

Ten Thunders wins initiative, and goes straight into trying to save Mr. Graves with foul-mouthed motivation. First model I activate is however Goryo, who lands Mark of Vengeance on Mr. Graves. Goryo then walks and charges into the fray and promptly dies there, splashing adversary all over the place. Goryo died within 3" of Lynch, so it was In Your Face for Ten Thunders.

Another aimed blast from Kirai kills Mr. Graves and Tanuki and has Mr. Tannen reeling with one health and Jakob with not enough. Mr. Graves, however, was within 3" of Jakob Lynch, so it was In Your Face for Resurrectionists.

Situation could have been utterly hopeless for Ten Thunders if it wasn't for Hungering Darkness who harassed Kirai and tied her resources. She had tried to summon a Drowned for a bodyguard but that bodyguard wasn't very impressive. Keeping Kirai alive took just about every resource I had at my disposal.

When Noxious Nephilim went to the secret meetup building to contest the strategy marker from opponent, it was no strategy points for Ten Thunders and one for Resurrectionists. Scores went 1-2 for Kirai.

Turn 3:

Illuminated and Tanuki try to wrangle a strategy marker from Noxious Nephilim, but the beast is able to even the model count by smashing Tanuki into bits. 

Datsue Ba just endures and endures, although it takes all of my remaining soulstones and forces Lost Love to tellyport next to the granny for some spiritual healing. I was also planning to use Lost Love to plant some schemes to the secret meetup building because Gwyneth didn't seem too keen on coming there.

Even Grave Golem tried to heal Datsue Ba, but failed the bonus action with black joker. But now it was in position to run to enemy deployment for end condition of In Your Face.

My melee capabilities in the middle were also a bit of a farce, although something seems to have killed Mr. Tannen - I just don't remember what. It may have been Kirai who disengaged from Hungering Darkness after being mauled by the monstrosity. 

Drowned manages to stun-slam Hungering Darkness and took a flight to aid in the Nephilim's fight against Illuminated. Curiously enough this turn nobody scored additional points. Because of this we decided to continue play since there was a chance for draw for Ten Thunders.

Turn 4:

Well, that chance went soon down the drain when Datsue Ba continued to defy death and Noxious Nephilim finally killed the Illuminated.

What a weird game, but a victory for Kirai.

Patricide

Maurala's ancient settlement saw continuity during friend's visit. This is its story.

Lantern Year 16 special showdown - Manhunter level 3

Moldonial, Tyypi, Noitatsaved and Maxaria attempt to fight off the enslaver from far off lands. Random terrain was Dead Monster, which gave survivors a convincing headstart of, what, four or five wounds? Based on initial progress Manhunter looked easy, but then things started heating up. Moldonial was dodging stakes on 2+, but still managed to fall on his face on those with only two points of armor in each location.

Next few rounds were cautious yet useless shuffling around with only one wound per turn done to Manhunter and multiples heavy injury levels for survivors.

Hero of the showdown was once more Vespertine Bow and especially its wielder Tyypi who didn't seem to be able to roll less than critical wounds. Even more of a help was Murderous Gaze that was often picking up Tyypi, who had raised her Courage to over 9000 with Hoarder disorder and had gorm helmet with full affinities. Essentially free turn for survivors since accuracy 4+ tombstones were hitting Moldonial with 10's. 

Fight took six to seven rounds I think, and ended in triumph for the survivors not a moment too soon. Most of the survivors had spent just about all survival they had, and even Moldonial with Abyssal Sadist and Rawhide Set only had four points left.

Lantern Year 16 showdown - Butcher level 2

Same team as above finds out how Butcher is a total pushover when random target for Lantern Frenzy becomes Moldonial. The poor monster was hitting him only on 10+. The team even had time to pick broken lanterns from Nightmare Tree.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think Butcher did not land even a single hit throughout the fight. Only damage came from Butcher's Roar and the damage + bleed token part of Wild Carve. 

So, the survivors left Butcher showdown looking for more serious challenges and soon enough they found it...

Lantern Year 17: Season of the Spiderling

Twyllaria, Oda, Tyypi and Maxaria win the day and gain +1 permanent strength and weapon proficiencies thanks to Twyllaria's sanity and courage. It was a dramatic moment when Maxaria mistook his father for a giant tiny spider and slayed him, too.

1: Settlement innovates Cooking right after having to use Shank Bone to innovate Cooking. Settlement still has Beast Steak, Nightmare Tick and Fresh Acanthus, so a Screaming Antelope is going to be a priority.
2-3: Auguries for Intimacy, and settlement rejoices when a new baby Scheppo is born.
4-5: Ischmo and Scheppo dance a forbidden dance with Scheppo losing some movement and Ischmo gaining evasion.

Mortenebra vs Witch Coven

 A 50 points game of Warmachine 3.5.

And with the downfall of Conflict Chamber, these lists might be incorrect.

My list, however:

Mortenebra & Deryliss
-Malice
-Desecrator
-Deathripper
-Stalker
2x 5 Bane Warriors
Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Darragh Wrathe
Gerlak Slaughterborn
Pistol Wraith
Bloat Thrall

Opponent had:

Witch Coven of Garlghast
-Desecrator
-Reaper
-Slayer
-2x Deathripper
2x 5 Bane Warriors
2x 5 Satyxis Blood Witches
2x Pistol Wraiths

Scenario was one from the main Mk4 rulebook. The cluster of 3" templates in the middle are disappearing cloud effects that would go out on 1-2 at the start of every round.

Mortenebra started and advanced in a more or less united front with warjacks in the middle, units on flanks. Witch Coven had more or less the same, except Bane Warriors emphasized left flank more. 

Second round Mortenebra tried to advance under the cover of cloud effects in the middle, and offer some trouble for the opponent by attacking Satyxis near the enemy flag with Stalker who then triggered Overrun for Desecrator. Desecrator then took a shot at Reaper.

I had tried to block a Reaper lane against Desecrator with Gerlak and Bane Warrior, which proved to be a woefully inadequate screen when enemy Desecrator shot Gerlak down with one shot. At least he passed Tough -roll, but then Pistol Wraith just took a clean shot at the general.

Reaper dragged my Desecrator next to two un-activated Bane Warrior units. Turned out just one was enough, however.

Three Satyxis Blood Witches managed to kill Stalker, so it wasn't exactly the trouble for opponent that I wanted. All in all my Bane Warriors were dying left and right and even my Pistol Wraith that had shot enemy Deathripper stationary died to the very same Deathripper after it shaked off the effect.

I guess I severely underestimated threat ranges in this game. I wonder if playing Malifaux somehow skews my range assessment. Oh well, I still had my one chance even after opponent used feat.

My two remaining Bane Warriors ran to engage a couple of Witches and Egregore. Deryliss used Tune-Up on Malice, Mortenebra cast Overrun on herself and killed an enemy Bane Warrior, then Malice advanced and trampled next to Coven. Unfortunately the two attacks by Malice weren't enough to kill all three Witches, so a focus-less Mortenebra had to endure three heavy warjacks worth of various attacks.

Spoiler: she didn't.

Battle of the Upgrades

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Covert Operations

Schemes: Assassinate, Catch and Release, Sabotage, Hidden Martyrs, Secret Meetup

My list:

Dr. McMourning, Insanitary & Zombie Chihuahua
Rogue Necromancy
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 6
Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage (House in enemy deployment)

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Jessie Halliday
Rough Rider
Cryptologist
3x Ruffian

Pool: 6
Schemes: Assassinate, Secret Meetup (Cryptologist & Rafkin and box pile in the middle-left.)

Turn 1:

McCabe advanced in a strict line formation in the middle, I don't think I've seen such a straight-ish line in Malifaux before. It was Ruffian, then Lucas-Jessie-Cryptologist-Luna in almost base contact conga-line, two Ruffians, Sidir and Rough Rider. 

Luna dug up a scrap marker which Lucas turned into Timeworn Blade for Sidir. Most opponent's models were raining lead on Kentauroi, which caused it to lose its extra legs - a sacrifice I wouldn't have had to make!

Resurrectionists started slow with Rafkin spewing Poison all over the place and then Canine Remains wreaking havoc on Corpse Curator for corpse markers. McMourning used Desperate Plot on Rogue Necromancy (no upgrades), Kentauroi (legs) and Corpse Curator (legs). McMourning also tried to craft projectile vomit on Zombie Chihuahua, but failed.

Unfortunately Sidir had managed to land Slow on Kentauroi, and I had to use Ride With Me instead of Shrug-off to get McMourning away from the place called Stuck. 

Catalyst from Rafkin, Nurse and Perverse Metabolism had Kentauroi at full health when turn ended and I regretted giving up on extra legs so easily... but that's what hindsight tends to do.

Rogue Necromancy and Zombie Chihuahua take a walk behind my building to form up a formidable rightmost flank. Rogue Necromancy even tried to puke over the enormous gathering of wastrels, but didn't get a hit.

Kentauroi takes a charge at a Ruffian and killed it with Rear Up trigger.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists won initiative, so Kentauroi charged Lucas McCabe. Both hits landed and dealt respectable damage, but Lucas used a stone to block three damage out of the six. Another Rear Up was nothing to write to blog about. But, Lucas also received poison +2 from a lucky crows. 

Lucas then did seven damage with three attack, gaining three more poison.

Zombie Chihuahua runs to engage Sidir and tries Blood Poisoning on Kentauroi, obviously failing at that. Opponent didn't prioritize killing Kentauroi, though, and instead dragged Sidir away from melee with Rough Rider and started shooting McMourning.

Nurse goes to heal Kentauroi but does that only for one, but at least she got tomes for Shielded +1. And even now opponent didn't take care of the horse and was shooting McMourning with Sidir instead. This lead me to suspect opponent might have Assassinate. Sidir also triggered Quick Reflexes and tried to shoot Zombie Chihuahua. At point blank range. With a machine gun.

McMourning then activates, pushes Rafkin a little forward with Desperate Plot, heals Kentauroi with bought trigger on Plastic Surgery, and then he took a double walk behind Rogue Necromancy. Looking back at that choice it was a horrible mistake to do. 

Luna and Cryptologist then whack Kentauroi dead.

A Canine Remains runs to engage a Ruffian that was looking suspiciously claimative. Another ran within 2" of  leftmost strategy marker. Both Ruffians shoot Nurse off the board, and had it not been for one Black Joker, Rafkin would have lobbed three formaldehydes over Jessie, Luna and Cryptologist. But only two happened. 

Rogue Necromancy takes an aimed vomit at Ruffian and scores moderate damage. That's even more poison, distracted and damage for Cryptobiologist and Jessie. 

Corpse Curator charged Luna and dealt two damage, enough to secure kill in the end phase. It also tried to attack Lucas through a corpse marker but failed the attack. And failed the Cursed Sludge, which I would've needed to claim marker with Corpse Curator...

Sidir had tossed Timeworn Blade first to Ruffian who was shooting Nurse, and Ruffian tossed it to Jessie, who came to shoot Corpse Curator with her harpoon. 

Both players score strategy, Resurrectionists with Canine Remains and Ten Thunders with Jessie. Ample poison on Lucas also gave Resurrectionists Assassinate for 2-1 scores.

Turn 3:

Resurrectionists wins initiative, so Corpse Curator activates before it dies to wreak maximum havoc annoyance before it curates itself. It fails to land a hit on Cryptobiologist, but does score moderate damage on McCabe even with two negative modifiers. But the most important thing was to get a Sludge marker below Cryptobiologist and Lucas.

Ruffian in the middle failed to kill Zombie Chihuahua, so to make itself even more annoying, the totem doggo activated Annoying and went to engage Sidir.

Rough Rider walked for a bit, then rode Cryptologist out of melee with Corpse Curator and healed the target for three. Then it shot Zombie Chihuahua dead. 

Jessie Halliday was only on three health remaining, so I wanted her dead. Rafkin charged, and since he had metallic arms, he was able to make three attacks - one of which hit - and dealt one damage after opponent used soulstone to block damage. Still two health remaining and Hard to Kill.

Jessie activated, so I discarded a card for Catalyst on Rafkin to trigger. Jessie failed to disengage, and did some archeological digging on my sludge marker instead. 

McMourning walked a bit forward and desperately plotted on Rogue Necromancy and Rafkin. Rafkin's hidden bombs dealt a point of damage on Cryptologist. Plastic Surgery gave the doctor a bit of poison before Sidir started to rain death on the master. Machine gun brought him down to six health, but he had enough poison to heal himself back to eight, so no Assassinate for Ten Thunders this round.

Canine Remains without claim token charged a Ruffian in the left, dealing no less than three points of damage. This prompted Ruffian to kill the second Canine Remains that had claim token and which had not activated yet.

Rogue Necromancy walks and ambushes forward to place a scheme marker near my sabotage target. It didn't feel good to use a ten point beater enforcer as a scheme runner, but you do what you gotta do.

Then a kind of a miracle happened, when Lucas failed to kill Corpse Curator with four attacks. He did remove Curator's extra leg and punch it down to two. I had been so certain I would lose the Curator especially when Lucas had Timeworn Blade. I guess I needed to figure out a new target for the pretty gravestone I had already carved.

Anyway, lastly Lucas rides with Cryptologist past Corpse Curator. Cryptologist beats Rafkin for a bit, most notably getting rid of his poison. And five health. 

Opponent had put everything into making sure Secret Meetup would trigger this turn. Well, everything except measuring how far Rafkin was from the terrain piece. To make matters worse, Ten Thunders had already claimed the strategy marker that he could have claimed this round, so it was a zero point turn for Lucas. McMourning got one from strategy, so scores went 3-1 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Sidir activates first and makes a couple devastating attacks at McMourning, bringing him down to three health remaining, and a trigger shot at Rogue Necromancy dealt six damage. Such a flip was certainly worrisome, but the thing had hard to kill at least. 

So, McMourning was more of a concern. He took a nudge walk to get within three corpse tokens, created a Flesh Construct and walked the heck out of there. Well, not out of 2" from strategy marker, though. Next?

Freaking Rough Rider shoots Rogue Necromancy. Terrifying? Nothing! Three negatives on damage flip from accuracy? Moderate on four cards! Which means only one health remaining. What is happening in here? Second shot, that's what happening, which scores a hit and kills Rogue Necromancy. 

I guess that Sidir and Rough Rider thought that "if you're acting like a 5-point scheme runner, we're going to act like you're a 5-point scheme runner, too!" Even Zombie Chihuahua survived more attempted attack actions than Rogue Necromancy.

So, there went at least one sabotage point. At least the pretty gravestone got a target.

Corpse Curator charged Lucas and managed to dismount him with a severe damage. Then it placed another sludge marker. Replacing the model removed Lucas from melee, so he walked for a bit, placed a scheme marker close to secret meetup terrain and shot Rafkin down to one health remaining.

Then something went wrong with the meetup. Rafkin killed Cryptologist.

Ruffian failed to kill Canine Remains, who then disengaged and took a bit at Lucas, even making a point of damage. Flesh Construct killed Rough Rider, and we called it a game. 

For last round, even in pure theory it was game over for Ten Thunders. Canine Remains denied strategy point for opponent. While Ten Thunders did score Assassinate, Resurrectionists got their third point from strategy for a total score of 4-2. Even in most unlikely circumstances scores would go 5-4. 

Brutal Verbal Abuse

A 35ss game of Malifaux on Vassal. 

Strategy: Corner Plant Explosives

Schemes: Vendetta, Power Ritual, Outflank, Harness Ley Lines, Claim Jump

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy
Flesh Construct
Dead Dandy
Dead Doxy
2x Rabble Riser
2x Mindless Zombie

Stones: 2
Schemes: Vendetta (Flesh Construct on Kabuki Warrior), Harness Ley Lines

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki & Chiyo
Bill Algren
Kabuki Warrior
2x Bunraku
Geisha

Stones: 2
Schemes: Power Ritual, Outflank

Turn 1:

The abundance of severe terrain made for poor choices on my part. Majority of my crew parked in one big clump in the middle, while Madame Sybelle was racing towards bottom-left. I also didn't really think much about the placement of my explosive tokens - Madame really should have taken two of them. 

Also Ten Thunders was struggling with the terrain, but at least they spread their crew more over the board. A lone Bunraku was coming to greet Madame Sybelle, Kabuki got stuck in enemy deployment zone and Youko, Bill and Chiyo had their own little bubble about six inches away from centerline. One Bunraku and Geisha looked like they were trying to reach top-right corner.

Turn 2:

Madame Sybelle places one explosive marker and a scheme marker within 3" of bottom-left corner. Bunraku got scared of her and backtracked a little. The other Bunraku took a double walk to top-right corner.

Rabble Riser went to place a scheme marker on the centerline and was then lured by Geisha closer so that Bill was able to beat it down to one health remaining.

Flesh Construct places a scheme on centerline and an explosive past it. Kabuki Warrior however manages to move the scheme off the line. Doxy runs to centerline and Effigy fails to heal Flesh Construct. 

But all was not lost - a Mindless Zombie ran near centerline and Dead Dandy turned it into Ten Thunders scheme marker. Thanks, Chiyo. 

Well, at least Ten Thunders wouldn't be drowning in pass tokens just yet.

Scores go 0-1 for Resurrectionists when Ten Thunders fail to bring any explosives to my side.

Turn 3:

A big melee happens in the middle. Bill kills Rabble Riser and interacts an explosive on my side. He challenges a second Rabble Riser who then cannot do much else than beat Bill - which it does rather well with a total of four damage through armor. Later in the round I was planning to score Ley Lines this round and I didn't want Bill to heal, so Carrion Effigy walked to bring some Aura of Decay for Bill.

Well, Youko tore Carrion Effigy to shreds with her cutting words. 

Dead Doxy walks Flesh Construct a little forward in the middle forest and seduces Bunraku and its unrequited love, Kabuki Warrior. Flesh Construct then charges Kabuki Warrior, not landing even a single hit thanks to opponent's cheats. That was rather annoying, but Kabuki Warrior giving Red Joker to Flesh Construct in damage flip was critical. 

For Kabuki's second attack I flipped Black Joker for Flesh Construct and was prepared to say goodbye to my two Vendetta points. Opponent hit, but evened out earlier Red Joker by flipping Black Joker to damage this time. Of course New Horizon succeeded and moved another scheme marker to a bad position for me. 

Madame Sybelle walked and interacted a scheme to centerline, and tried to save Flesh Construct by using Beckoning Call on Bunraku. Well, she failed to land Beckoning Call but miraculously both attacks by Bunraku missed Flesh Construct, too.

Dead Dandy fails to turn a corpse marker into scheme marker, which means no scheme reveals for me this turn. Good news? At least Bill wouldn't heal this round from revealed schemes. 

Bunraku on top-right interacts and places explosive marker.

Scores go 2-2 when both players score strategy and Ten Thunders reveals Power Ritual.

First two turns looked so good, but there were a few hardships too many this round so it all looked grim now.

Turn 4:

Ten Thunders won initiative, but activated Youko first, but I'll get to that later.

So I had one more chance of getting a point from Vendetta. Flesh Construct activated, concentrated and attacked Kabuki Warrior. Well look at that, Black Joker my old friend.

Bunraku kills Flesh Construct and engages Dead Doxy with bonus action. It dealt a couple points of damage before Madame Sybelle came forward and used I've Got Your Back on her. This secured me third point from strategy.

Bill Algren went to take a swing at Dead Dandy, and did something I'll get to later.

Mindless Zombie goes to hang around near center line followed by disengaging Dead Dandy. Kabuki Warrior kills Mindless Zombie.

Geisha lures another Bunraku away from top-right corner, and the puppet then runs near duel between Youko and Rabble Riser. 

But yeah, that Rabble Riser. I feel sorry for him. First Youko acts all nicely and offers him some Backroom Dealings, immediately followed by 3x Cutting Words. Bill Algren goes "Well aren't you a pathetic weakling if you can't fight me in a duel" before leaving the melee entirely. Chiyo misinforms nasty lies what Bill went to do with Rabble Riser's momma and ends with a biting insult how Rabble Riser's momma is dead. 

Poor Rabble Riser.

But Kabuki Warrior delayed Harness Ley Lines no longer, so scores go 3-4 for Resurrectionists with both players scoring strategy. 

Turn 5:

Youko continues to torment Rabble Riser with her cutting words, but the zombie murderer wants to get even with Bill. He disengages and tries to challenge Bill, failing at that. Bill then kills Rabble Riser, escalating to physical violence from the verbal abuse of last round.

Dead Dandy makes a scheme marker out of a corpse, but can't interact one because he was in melee with Kabuki Warrior. Kabuki - third time in this match - manages to dislodge my scheme marker.

Dead Doxy pushed Madame Sybelle out of the forest with Take By the Hand and interacted a scheme. But then a wild Bunraku appeared and it doing nothing at all was super effective. Had Madame been able to activate, she could have placed two more scheme markers for Harness Ley Lines end condition.

Chiyo places third explosive for Ten Thunders. Resurrectionists score no points this turn, so game ends in draw, 4-4.