Those Bright Green Fields

 A couple of Christmassy Malifaux games.

First game:

Strategy: Standard Covert Operation

Scheme pool: Sabotage, Leave Your Mark, Public Demonstration, Catch and Release, Hidden Martyrs

My list:

Seamus, Aka Sebastian Baker & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle withGrave Spirit's Touch
Bete Noire
Jaakuna Ubume
Rotten Belle
Dead Doxy
Gravedigger

Pool: 5
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Catch and Release (Dead Doxy)

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa K.O.R.E
Guild Steward
Guardian
2x Hunter
Riotbreaker

Pool: 4
Schemes: Catch and Release (Hunter), Hidden Martyrs (Attendant & Guardian)

Turn 1:

Seamus took a slice off of Madame Sybelle and raised another Dead Doxy while nearing the middle. After some movement shenanigans by various models Jaakuna Ubume was able to place the scheme marker for Leave Your Mark and activate Drowning Aura. 

I don't quite remember what was dealing damage to Jaakuna, possibly Melissa. However, she took more damage than I was comfortable with. And as it happened, Gravedigger was just a little too far from getting within healing range. 

And then I was reminded that Guardian actually had Fast from Hoffman.

I guess it's a kind of a consolation that I wouldn't have had time to heal Jaakuna when Jaakuna was attacked not once but twice by Guardian. But she didn't go down with one attack so the mech took three points of damage from hazards and vengeance. 

Bete Noire charged in to Guardian, trickling in a little damage. 

Guild side, Hoffman was in the middle with almost all of his crew within 6" with Riot Breaker and Hunter going left, Hoffman, Guardian and totem in the middle, Melissa and Hunter on the right.

Bete Noire and summoned Doxy were holding the middle with Madame Sybelle behind them. Seamus and Rotten Belle were on a hill a little to the left, and Catch and Release Doxy, Gravedigger and Copycat Killer were hiding far on the right.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists won initiative, which meant Seamus pushing out Urban Legend with Alone in the Dark. He also took Doxy by the hand, handed her a bladed bouquet and sliced a bite off of her. So Madame Sybelle in a way had now spawned both a Dead Doxy and Dead Dandy.

Mechanical Attendant came to repair Guardian a bit, and Madame Sybelle attacked Guardian and did a blast over Mechanical Attendant, but Undivided Attention was more of the thing, really.

Hoffman wasn't thrilled about the Alone in the Dark portion of Urban Legend, but activated anyway, gave Fast for Guardian and tried to attack Dead Dandy. Guardian was seriously buggering Madame Sybelle, so Gravedigger had to come to heal her.

Hunter on the right used this to its advantage and shot a harpoon to Gravedigger, dragging him to terrain hazard. Melissa, however, had to finish him and try a shoot Madame a little.

Since there was so much healing available to Guild, I didn't find it meaningful to attack Guardian with Bete Noire. Instead, she had gained Fast from Pounce so she walked to Mechanical Attendant that had three health remaining. No kill.

Catch and Release Doxy used Seduction to kill the Attendant instead.

Riotbreaker and Hunter were seriously teasing Seamus, but at least it was my master taking the heat instead of Rotten Belle, who was carrying claim token.

Copycat Killer continued with low profile, just concentrating.

Both players scored strategy, Guild both their schemes and Resurrectionists Leave Your Mark for a grand total of 3-2 for Guild.

Turn 3:

Seamus put his auras on again and tried to damage Catch and Release Hunter for a bit, but not doing much at that. Riot Breaker came to take a shot at Seamus. Madame Sybelle and summoned Dead Doxy were finally able to remove Guardian with most thanks to Seamus' aura.

But when Hunter mauled Seamus down to four health remaining and I was out of soulstones, it was time to escape the stage with Copycat Killer. 

Another Hunter took a shot at Dead Dandy and dragged him to a terrain hazard. I don't quite remember where Melissa had been shooting.

Much to my astonishment Hoffman was not able to kill Copycat Killer.

Both players scored strategy, and resurrectionists also got their second scheme, Catch and Release from Melissa.

Scores go even 4-4.

Turn 4:

Fourth round was absurd when everyone just kept failing, over and over again. Hoffman struggled to kill Copycat Killer but finally did it. Sybelle was not able to kill Guild Steward, Melissa was not able to kill Seamus and the best that Riot Breaker and one of the hunters could do was to kill Rotten Belle who had like three boxes remaining.

Despite the lack of major breakthroughs in the actual combat, points were scored. Both players received their strategies, and there were three schemes for Leave Your Mark. Now, they only needed to stay there for another round...

Scores go 5-5.

Turn 5:

I suppose Seamus was a little frustrated from not being able to kill as he pleases and had his revenge on poor Melissa, killing her against all odds. This was serious setback for Guild because now the last strategy point was out of their reach.

In the middle, both summoned models were killed and two out of three schemes for Leave Your Mark were removed. 

So in the end it all boiled down to Bete Noire, who had a claim token and had been buried last round. She was able to secure a location within 2" of strategy marker and outside of melees, so game ended 7-6 for Resurrectionists.

Game 2:

Strategy: Corner Cursed Objects

Schemes: Spread Them Out, Public Demonstration, Hidden Martyrs, Secret Meetup, Breakthrough

Jack Daw, Ensouled & Lady Ligeia

Montresor

Yannic Waller

Hanged

Crooked Man

2x Guilty

Prospector

Pool: 3
Schemes: Public Demonstration (Yannic and Guilties), Hidden Martyrs (Crooked Man and Prospector)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness

Kitty Dumont

Gwyneth Maddox

Mr Graves

2x Illuminated

Tanuki

Pool: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Tanuki and Illuminated), Secret Meetup (Kitty and Montresor on a huge hill on my side)

Turn 1:

Corner deployment with no super fast crews meant that engagement on first turn was a bit limited. Hanged managed to land Forbidden Knowledge on an Illuminated and Jack Daw did a moderate damage on it with Inaudible Whispers.

I had Yannic, a Guilty and Prospector coming from right behind the house, with a loose blob of Guilty, Crooked Man, Hanged and Jack Daw getting to middle. Montresor and Lady Ligeia were a bit behind.

Ten Thunders were in a tight blob instead, with only Hungering Darkness and the aforementioned Illuminated a little distance away.

Turn 2:

Second round was intense when Lynch launched Hungering Darkness to Jack Daw. This act certainly dominated the entire round. I activated Hanged to put up Entropic Curse and stagger Hungering Darkness with noose.

Hungering Darkness started attacking Jack with some minor damage... except for the last attack. That one dealt whopping seven damage. At least damage block shaved a couple points off and incorporeal mitigated one, but still over 50% health gone after second enemy activation was too much.

At least Jack Daw managed to heal adequately and make a severe payback against the beast. Gwyneth wasn't able to do much, and neither did Crooked Man who tried to Earthquake the nice line of Lynch, Gwyneth and an Illuminated.

Mr. Graves moves and charges Crooked Man and Red Jokers some damage in to Crooked Man. 

A Guilty ran to protect Crooked Man and failed to stagger unpainted Illuminated. Another Illuminated tried to scintillate Hanged and Crooked Man, but managed to damage only Hanged.

Yannic walked and charged Mr. Graves with Run and Gun, giving in severe damage with negative flip which also sped Hungering Darkness' demise. Tanuki tries to heal Mr. Graves for a bit, but fails.

Even Lady Ligeia scores a blast off of Mr. Graves, so Mr. Graves is at one health remaining while Hungering Darkness is at two. Kitty Dumont pushes unactivated Illuminated a bit and goes to help Hungering Darkness and Mr. Graves.

But its too late when Montresor just pings Mr. Graves dead with Asphyxiation. Either he or another Guilty landed staggered on Kitty.

I did not try to kill Hungering Darkness because I wanted to score Public Demonstration. 

Opponent had not killed a Cursed Object model from me, and if I had not lucked out with Mr. Graves, I would not have either. Scores go 2-0 for Jack Daw.

Turn 3:

Opponent wins initiative and thus is able to heal Hungering Darkness for five. It tries to attack Guilty, but Black Jokers the damage. But that meant it lost Curse of Reckoning since no models were damaged in that activation.

I didn't want Tanuki and Lynch to continue healing the enemy henchman, so Hanged had to activate first and put Entropic Curse on. It also landed Forbidden Knowledge on Kitty and charged her in hopes of drawing a card.

Unpainted Illuminated kills a Guilty, securing a strategy point for Ten Thunders.

Lynch shot Hungering D... oh. Lynch shot Hungering Darkness to Yannic Waller, but I just realized that it had staggered! Oh well, these things happen. 

Yannic Waller fails to kill Hungering Darkness and Crooked Man fails to kill Illuminated, but Jack Daw does both. Kitty goes to place a scheme marker next to Montresor after another Illuminated, Gwyneth and what else kills second Guilty, leaving me with nearly dead Yannic for Public Demonstration.

Both players scored strategy and Ten Thunders managed to score both of their schemes so scores go 3-3.

Turn 4:

However, we quit the game. Opponent had Kitty with two health, Tanuki with one health within 6" of Montresor, and only Gwyneth was at their full health. Lynch could have healed Tanuki and Kitty for one health, but Montresor could have just pinged both of them down to one health remaining again and possibly even kill with actual action points.

Launching Hungering Darkness like that was a gamble that didn't pay off this time, although it could have had I not been able to kill Mr. Graves with such damage flips.