Christmas in a Pine Box

 Some Christmas games of Malifaux.

First game:

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

Schemes: Information Overload, Protected Territory, Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie with the Whisper
Forgotten Marshal with the Whisper
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Protected Territory, Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman, Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa K.O.R.E
Peacekeeper
Guild Steward
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 2
Schemes: Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual

Turn 1:

For a change I did not deploy Crooligans via From the Shadows, and deployed them instead to both of my corners. There they were able to bluff Power Ritual while making Information Overload more difficult for opponent.

Guild also had Watchers to their farthest flanks, and one of them placed a strategy marker to one of their corners. 

Hoffman, Peacekeeper, Steward and Mechanical Attendant were closing in from the middle, while Hunters were also at flanks, just not as far there as Watchers.

Peacekeeper was Guild's spearhead, and Forgotten Marshal went to summon a Night Terror to engage the scary enforcer. 

Night Terror was providing concealment for Molly, Necrotic Machine and Philip. Archie thought it was safe to leap, walk and place an explosive near a trench, but Hoffman offered him some electric current. Melissa was more traditional and filled Archie with lead. Worried for his safety, Molly ran to remove one pylon near trenches and heal Archie for two by making him discard a moderate card.

Turn 2:

Turns out I overestimated Archie's survivability once again. Melissa didn't manage to do much, so Necrotic Machine went to heal Archie back to seven health. But then Hoffman himself activated, walked and charged Archie - and killed him with two strikes.

So, instead of spamming explosive markers around the board, Night Terror and one Crooligan from one of my corners went to tie up Guild Steward and Mechanical Attendant so that it would be difficult for them to come and heal Hoffman. I had plans for that guy.

And once healers were tied, Molly started disturbing Hoffman with her stories. She had to turn Archie's corpse into Lost Knowledge first, and still was able to land only one batch of three irreducible damage to Guild master. 

Rabble Riser was fighting a Hunter on the left, while Hunter did the same with Rabble Riser. Neither was doing any progress. Watchers were flying towards my corners, and one of them planted an explosive token on board. 

Hunter on right tried to shoot Forgotten Marshal, but was distracted by Philip and the Nanny's boring conversations.

After Guild Steward removed Slow from Peacekeeper that had been caused by Philip and the Nanny, Peacekeeper smacked a summoned Night Terror dead and rather walked than charged to engage the prams. 

Another Crooligan teleported to Necrotic Machine in the middle and went to place a strategy marker. 

Forgotten Marshal put on a camera and filmed his most successful boxing video ever and uploaded it to youtube - Hunter was put into Pine Box. Summoning failed, though. 

Necrotic Machine was engaging Charles Hoffman, and by then I was misremembering that Guild Steward was five points. I thought I didn't have Hold Up Their Forces secured, so Philip and Nanny didn't push away from Peacepeeker with Deadly Pursuit. 

Soo... Guild scores Sweating Bullets and strategy, Resurrectionists got Hold Up Their Forces and strategy for a 2-2 tie. 

Turn 3:

Necrotic Machine poisons Hoffman and drains his last soulstone away. Melissa shoots Rabble Riser away from board and opens way for Hunter to go and place an explosive. And it does that, but only after Molly had disturbed Hoffman down to one health remaining. 

Hired Night Terror attempts to sacrifice itself by killing Guild Steward, but only manages to bring him down to one health. I see a pattern emerging here.

Guild Steward fortunately fails his motivational speech, but poison was dispelled from Hoffman's system. 

Forgotten Marshal walked on top of hill to summon third Crooligan and shoot Hoffman with Peacebringer, thus avenging the butchering of Archie.

Hunter inside Marshal's pine box wasn't able to get out. Peacekeeper also didn't manage to destroy a baby carriage. I suppose that didn't sit well with its protocols. Although it took all of my soulstones to protect the henchman.

A Crooligan that was engaging Mechanical Attendant went back to Forgotten Marshal and placed scheme marker and third explosive for me. Another one went to hide behind building, hiding a scheme marker there. 

Both players score strategy, but Resurrectionists also snatched Protected Territory for a 3-4 lead.

Turn 4:

Crooligans began to spam scheme markers all over the place. Melissa tried to discipline the kids a little with her gatling gun, but not a child listened. Watchers essentially did the same to my corners.

Night Terror was finally able to kill Guild Steward that had an explosive token, but died itself to reprisal. 

Hunter still wasn't able to get out of Forgotten Marshal's pine box. Another one attacked Molly and dealt good enough damage if we don't take into account it was turn four already. Forgotten Master disengaged, and disturbed Peacekeeper to death. Necrotic Machine moved forward to place fourth explosive marker next turn.

Guild wasn't able to get their strategy point this round, but did scored Power Ritual. Resurrectionists got strategy, still continuing with one point lead of 4-5.

Turn 5:

Situation looked difficult for Guild. Watcher failed to kill Philip and Nanny who had only one point of health left. That could have given at least strategy point for Guild by giving Peacekeeper an opportunity to plant an explosive. 

Resurrectionists had so many vectors to score at least two of the three possible points, and it seemed unlikely that Guild would get strategy point this round that we ended the game when Molly managed to kill Peacekeeper. Victory for Molly. 

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: In Your Face, Outflank, Information Overload, Power Ritual, Take Prisoner

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Grave Golem
Rogue Necromancy
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
2x Crooligan

Pool: 4
Schemes: Information Overload, Take Prisoner (Mr. Graves)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Soul Battery
Illuminated with Silent Protector
Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 3
Schemes: Outflank, In Your Face

Turn 1:

Information Overload and Power Ritual in the same scheme pool in same deployment made for a quite similar start as last game - both Crooligans were deployed regularly to place a scheme marker to both of my corners. 

Ten Thunders had Hungering Darkness in far-left with Mr. Graves nearby. Hungering Darkness took a double walk and concentrate, guarding the strategy marker with its 2" melee range. Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror that eventually went to engage Hungering Darkness in hopes of wasting its action points, or perhaps walking away next turn to place a scheme. 

Noxious Nephilim flew to the hill on right, within walking distance of both strategy markers. 

Grave Golem inside a cloud for some concealment. Rogue Necromancy had a whopping 6" move from activating near Molly and ambushing. It walked and interacted with strategy marker, and later interacted a scheme marker past centerline

Even if I had two 10-point rather resilient models in the center, a whole throng of everything else than Hungering Darkness, Mr. Graves and Kitty Dumont looked overwhelming in a big blob like that. Kitty was going towards the rightmost strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Hungering Darkness slapped Night Terror dead and charged Rogue Necromancy, almost killing it. Scared of such a display of power, Rogue Necromancy activated, pushed itself out of melee by discarding a card with Molly, and then took a double walk away from action to protect the intel token.

Mr. Graves ran to cover the same leftmost strategy marker that Hungering Darkness had been guarding. History repeated itself when Forgotten Marshal summoned another Night Terror to block future interacts for Mr. Graves.

A Crooligan jumped to Forgotten Marshal to plant a scheme past centerline, in contact with table edge. When the Night Terror activated, it charged Mr. Graves to deny him any meaningful interaction.

Soul Battery, an Illuminated and a Beckoner all claimed an intel token from strategy markers. Necrotic Machine was also able to claim one intel, and so did Grave Golem while it was walking with pride. 

Lynch made a scary opening by taking two walks and a charge against Molly. I didn't feel like I had enough tools to deal with Luck Thief, so Lynch was now at just about the worst position imaginable. 

Another Crooligan teleported to Noxious Nephilim to walk and scheme.

Since opponent was holding Kitty's activation, I had to activate Noxious Nephilim first and bring it to guard strategy marker - just not interact with it, because Kitty might steal the intel. However, Kitty did not she walked to where centerline met table edge and planted two schemes.

Both players scored strategy, Resurrectionists got Information Overload, Ten Thunders Outflank for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

After Night Terror had clawed Mr. Graves within 1" of Crooligan, he killed the summon, but left the kid intact. 

Lynch shuffled around for a bit and summoned Hungering Darkness next to Molly, and with last action Red Jokered a damage flip to Molly. At least damage block was a severe.

Concerned for master's safety, now somewhat healed Rogue Necromancy charged Hungering Darkness and managed to deal quite a bit of damage that were all healed when Hungering Darkness activated. Hungering Darkness managed to bring both Molly and Rogue Necromancy to low levels of health, but at Molly proved to be an adept healer when she Red Jokered her own heal flip, and gave a little boost to Rogue Necromancy, too. Getting savagely mauled by a monster and a drug addict disrupted Molly's parade and she failed to connect Parade Route to Grave Golem. 

Grave Golem had been pushed into melee with Lynch's delirium, but I wasn't too worried about this turns strategy. I had intel on Rogue Necromancy and Necrotic Machine, and both Lynch and Hungering Darkness had already activated. Grave Golem flailed fruitlessly at something, while an Illuminated killed second Crooligan. Tanuki did... something? and Beckoner ran forward to bring her problematic brilliance aura to middle. 

Noxious Nephilim tried to claw at Kitty, but didn't do enough. At least opponent burned through their soulstones in the process.

To make surviving a little easier next turn, Necrotic Machine came to attack Hungering Darkness and managed to poison it for two. Yay, no more triggers.

However, very last activation was an Illuminated in the middle that had to walk over a wall. It charged Necrotic Machine, and scored severe with a +1 from sharpened brilliance.

It had been a tough situation anyway, but losing an intel point like that made me lose strategy for this turn.

At least the Crooligan on left tagged Mr. Graves a prisoner, so scores were still a 3-3 tie.

Turn 4:

Molly tried to keep me playing the scenario by letting Grave Golem walk with pride to a strategy marker, then parading Rogue Necromancy to spam some movement duels to Lynch, Hungering Darkness, Beckoner and Illuminated. That didn't have much of an impact, though. 

This turn Hungering Darkness managed to kill Rogue Necromancy before it had even activated. Mr. Graves tried to beat a kid with a fencepost, but didn't succeed. The kid then jumped to Forgotten Marshal and charged Soul Battery. Crooligan scored severe damage, but that just triggered hard-to-kill. And then it was perfect opportunity for Soul Battery to sacrifice itself. Yay. First dead honeypot model in this game where I had two 10-point and one 9-point beater. And that kill was opponent's bonus action anyway.

Forgotten Marshal hadn't been able to summon anything for two full rounds. I was running out of activation points to claim points. At least Forgotten Marshal was able to put Mr. Graves inside the Pine Box. I was considering to smuggle my prisoner to my side of the table in a casket. 

Grave Golem claimed a second intel token on its own activation and speeded away from any sources of counter-intelligence. Lynch, however, disengaged and engaged the enforcer in melee. 

Noxious Nephilim nearly killed Kitty Dumont, but "nearly" wasn't enough. Kitty's unassuming demeanor started to actually threaten Nephilim's existence. 

Both players scored strategy, but Ten Thunders also claimed In Your Face from Rogue Necromancy.

Turn 5:

Kitty and Illuminated removed Noxious Nephilim after it had failed to kill Kitty once again.

Lynch summoned Hungering Darkness on the hill so that it was able to go outflanking with a scheme marker. Forgotten Marshal brought Mr. Graves as far past the centerline as possible, and then Crooligan teleported to block Mr. Graves advance as well as possible. It removed Hungering Darkness' scheme marker and scraped two points of damage to Forgotten Marshal. 

I had planned that if all else fails, Grave Golem might distance itself from melee, charge Forgotten Marshal, kill him and thus unbury my prisoner back on board. 

But unexpectedly I was able to claim enough intelligence to get third victory point from strategy. I had also Information Overload secured. Crooligan had ruined opponent's Outflank, and Kitty had chosen to try and secure Outflank, thus Ten Thunders also missed In Your Face end condition.

Miraculously Resurrectionist managed to carve a 6-5 victory although they did not manage to kill even a single model. The only one that Ten Thunders was Soul Battery, to it's own bonus action.

McMourning For President

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Hold Up Their Forces, Deliver a Message, Espionage, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi with Killer Instinct
Nurse
Gravedigger
Little Gasser
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Rough Rider), Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
Jessie Halliday
Rough Rider
Cryptologist
Tanuki
Ruffian

Pool: 3
Schemes:

Turn 1:

Canine Remains took a bite out of Corpse Curator, and went to north-west marker. Gravedigger spammed Focust for most of my forces and took a double walk behind my crew, maybe still one day getting to a position to contribute to the game.

I had received four high masks in my starting hand, so Rafkin was able to accidentally drop four flasks of formaldehyde at his feet. Had opponent not had the ongoing threat of Sidir, that activation could have been Poison +9 for most of my crew. But I just didn't dare to bunch up like that.

Kentauroi took Rafkin along with a ride and walked within 2" of Canine Remains at north-west marker with the intention of going to top marker next turn.

Another Canine Remains went to south-west marker, and Little Gasser went to concentrate behind destructible boxes too far to walk and interact to either center or bottom marker. Nurse had earlier tried to push it here and there a little, but couldn't open the cap of the bottle.

Corpse Curator had gone to hide behind rocks near middle, and had Chihuahua with it. 

Opponent had been bunching up in the middle with Luna digging up a scrap and Lucas turning it into a Timeworn Blade for Sidir. He took Sidir for a ride, but fortunately wasn't able to place Sidir quite close enough to shoot EVERYTHING. Lucas, however, went to center ballot box and shot Rafkin staggered and slow with his net gun. Cryptologist was there in the middle, too. Tanuki had tried to motivate Sidir but failed.

Rough Rider and Ruffian were going to top marker. Jessie went to forest near center, while Desper LaRaux easily went past the centerline, within 1" of the bottom ballot.

Sidir was the last model opponent activated, and he swaggered a little forward and started shooting Rafkin. First attack was severe damage, how else. Second attack was mask triggered, so I was prepared to say farewell to Rafkin. But Black Joker saved him, and either the additional attack missed Kentauroi or all the damage was healed in the end phase. 

Dr. McMourning was the very last model to activate, and he gave Doctor's Orders for himself to go and make a health inspection to voters. And since brain is required for informed voting, he took out his skull saw to inspect Jessie's brains. Unfortunately one attack missed and another's damage was blocked in its entirety with a soulstone.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists managed to win the initiative, and McMourning tried to kill Jessie. He did get two attacks in and Jessie down to two health remaining. That's when he ordered himself to ballots in the middle to interact. Yeah. I completely forgot Precise ignores even hard-to-kill. Yay.

Sidir starts shooting Rafkin and kills him. Another shot goes to Kentauroi, making it slow.

Kentauroi then activates and shrugs off the slow. I was happily riding with Canine Remains until I realized that is also a bonus action. After some backtracking the centaur just went to interact with the ballots alone.

Luna dug up a scrap marker, and Little Gasser went to gas Jessie to one health remaining + poison from horrific odor. One health remaining and Catalyst nearby at least delayed her activation.

Lucas went next and brought Cryptologist closer with Ride With Me. He scrounged a Phantasmal Mask for Jessie and placed two votes in the ballots. So now was my chance to kill Jessie.

Zombie Chihuahua was not able to reach Jessie with its 0" melee range, but at least it could use Blood Poisoning. It succeeded with a focus, but damage was blocked with last soulstone opponent had. So, dog went closer and stank another poison for Jessie. 

I lost my chance to kill the henchman when Tanuki came to heal her next back to three health. 

Canine Remains on north-west counter placed a vote in and took hiding behind a small shack. 

Cryptologist started making cursed translations out of McMourning's prescriptions, and nearly killed Zombie Chihuahua in the process. Somewhat bothersome was Shielded +1 for Jessie. 

Ruffian and Rough Rider go to tease Kentauroi but in the end only manage to damage themselves with poison. 

Jessie disengages and tries to flare up Zombie Chihuahua and even shoot it with a harpoon, failing at both. 

Corpse Curator walks and charges Cryptologist, dealing a whopping two points through armor.Now the curator was in base contact with Cryptologist, with Poison +7 and even succeeded to leak out an additional point of poison for itself and Cryptologist via bonus action. Result: dead Cryptologist in the end phase.

Desper interacts bottom marker, leaps and charges Canine Remains. Fortunately the dog survives and even bites Desper back with four damage before healing back to full from poison.

Both players score strategy, and Corpse Curator and Canine Remains at Desper reveal Hold Up Their Forces for a 2-1 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Ruffian uses Chain Gang to dislodge himself from melee and interact to votes to top ballot box. McMourning went to finish what he had failed to do last turn and killed Jessie in two strikes. Having thus completed the health inspection, he charged Lucas to start checking if his brain is okay.

Desper killed the guard dog at south-west ballot box, interacted with it and leapt to my deployment zone.

I was afraid that Sidir would shoot Kentauroi, who was my best and only chance at scoring Take Prisoner and strategy. Corpse Curator went to attack him, and managed to make a Sidir-repellent sludge marker. 

Lucas, however, would deny that right next by hitting it with Bull Whip and moving its 0" melee range tad away from Sidir. He also tossed a timeworn blade to the henchman while dropping a vote to the box at the same time. Zombie Chihuahua had to save the Curator, and it took a double walk to shoot it with Blood Poisoning. 

Surviving Canine Remains behind hay shack tried to run to engage Sidir, but even with Mv 6 he was out of reach. At least the dog got close enough to deny any improper advances. Turned out that there were none - Sidir killed Canine Remains with a sword and started shooting McMourning and Corpse Curator whenever a random masks gave the option for him. 

Since most important Ten Thunders models had now been activated in the middle, I decided to make my gambit. Little Gasser went to interact with center ballot once. I didn't have masks in my hand for Nurse, but I waited patiently for one to come up in discard pile. 

Rough Rider started shooting Kentauroi, only getting enough damage in for Kentauroi to heal them all in the end phase. But most importantly, Rough Rider was now more than 2" away from Ruffian. Kentauroi rode to ballots to interact twice and was careful to position itself so that Deadly Pursuit would get it to engage Rough Rider. And there was a mask on top of discard pile, too, with no enemy models left that would likely give me any flips.

But then Tanuki activated. That stupid little furry drunkard charged Zombie Chihuahua, killing it in one inebriated strike, and continued to wobble through forest near middle. Aaaargh! No more masks on top of discard pile.

Well, at least Nurse got two focuses, so she tried to offer Little Gasser painkillers with focus. And so I lost my strategy point for the round - no masks for Pushed Here And There. Tanuki would pay for this! Nurse charged the drunken furball with anger issues to sedate it for good. First attack with focus hit for two points, and Tanuki was stunned. Second attack, now with negative modifier thanks to beer goggles, also somehow hit and gave me masks - making Tanuki also staggered.

Luna charged Corpse Curator and dragged it around the board with You're Coming With Me. 

So, I lost the scenario point but at least I did get Take Prisoner with Kentauroi's deadly pursuit.

Funnily enough, that deadly pursuit also gave Ten Thunders Take Prisoner, as they had it on Kentauroi.

Scores even out to 3-3. 

Turn 4:

McMourning starts the turn getting out of Lucas' melee with Doctor's Orders, and goes to check Sidir's brain. I would have really needed him to die and surely enough I got a stellar hand. But sadly so did opponent - Red Joker made Sidir to go only down to three health, with poison +1. 

Sidir activated next and while he didn't manage to kill McMourning just yet, the damage was serious. Opponent wasn't too scared of my 

Corpse Curator went into shenanigans mode, and put up its bonus aura, making Lucas not engage him.  Then he charged Lucas and brought Sludge Marker on top of the relic hunter and McMourning. It also tried to kill Sidir with its own Blown Apart -marker, but didn't score a hit. Oh no.

Fast Lucas activated next and finished what Sidir couldn't - it went to very last attack Lucas was able to make, but Doctor went down. He did get quite a few poison from that, though, until he was able to ride like the wind away from sludge marker. He also threw Timeworn Blade for Tanuki, presumably to make it fast to come and heal Sidir. But that was out of question - Nurse concentrated and put the final dose in to Tanuki healing it from breathing. 

Desper failed to leap. I don't know what he was planning, but at least now he just took a walk and a charge to middle, engaging Little Gasser. That was devastating, because Desper had no poison and was too far from Corpse Curator's aura anyway. No interacts for me this turn. Instead, Little Gasser disengaged and charged Sidir. Sure, Sidir would die to poison even if Little Gasser did only minimum damage of one. But, the gasball had taken lessons from Tanuki and slapped Sidir dead with frantic flailing. 

On top of things, Rough Rider and Ruffian had been shooting Kentauroi, bringing it as low as one hit point. The undead horse charged Ruffian dead with just one blow, and almost killed my Take Prisoner target with another charge. Whoops. 

Lucas dismounted when his horse collapsed from all the poison.

Thanks to Desper I didn't receive another strategy point even this turn. Ten Thunders also managed to surprise me with Let Them Bleed reveal, gaining a nasty 3-5 lead.

Turn 5:

It was quite the final round of voting in the middle, when Kentauroi first charged Rough Rider dead and rode like the wind away, then rode with itself a bit more and walked within 1" of center marker after Lucast had escaped from there. 

Corpse Curator also made sure it was in the position. 

Looking back now, I should have tried to scare Desper away with Little Gasser, but I had been saving it up for a potential Hold Up Their Forces grab. But it was not to be. Nurse made an exceptional activation when she gave two interacts for Kentauroi and healed Corpse Curator back to full, pushing herself to engage Lucas. 

Had I activated Little Gasser first, Desper could have only tried to kill Nurse. But now Desper was able to take two interacts and leap away - too far for Little Gasser to reach, and one vote from Gasser wasn't worth anything.

So, nobody scored anything in the last turn. Ten Thunders won 3-5. 

Dominar Wildborne

It was time for monthly game of Warmachine, again over War Table site.

 My list:

Skorne Unlimited
Dominar Rasheth
-Titan Gladiator
-Aradus Sentinel
-Agonizer
Venator Reivers
Tyrant Commander & Standard
Paingiver Beast Handlers
Extoller Soulward

Arcane Forces, Breakthrough, Careful Recon, Infiltration, Power Swell

Opponent had:

Circle Unlimited
Kaya the Wildborne
-Feral Warpwolf
-Winter Argus
-Wild Argus
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters
Warpborn Skinwalkers
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove

Power Swell, Blessing of Gods, Breakthrough, Infiltration, True Inspiration

Circle started game, and had arguses on the left with Lord of the Feast and Gallows Grove, both units, Kaya and Wilder in the middle and Feral Warpwolf holding rectangular area with objective. 

Rasheth cast Carnivore on Titan Gladiator and wobbled forward, about one walk away from my rectangular objective area that was held by Gladiator and Agonizer. I had Beast Handlers with Infiltration in the middle with Tyrant Commander and Aradus Sentinel contesting circular zone. Extoller Soulward and Venators were going towards flag. 

Circle advanced cautiously, with Gallows Grove teleporting to flag and Lord of the Feast hiding behind forest on the left. Warpborn Skinwalkers with Occultation were contesting circular zone, with both argus a little behind. Kaya and Nyss were hugging for cover in open graves templates, and Feral Warpwolf received Infiltration to protect it.

Extoller ran to flag and Venators shot objective off the board. Aradus Sentinel managed to spray one Skinwalker and one Nyss down, and just about the only model realistically in sight for Circle. Tyrant Commander and Beast Handlers were hiding behind the forest. Rasheth got to rectangular zone and continued to proccastigate, while Titan Gladiator and Agonizer just walked for a bit. 

And hot damn that Warpwolf still charges far! Fortunately it had to warp for movement to reach Aradus Sentinel, and thus failed to kill. Skinwalkers didn't have a chargeable line for them, so they just walked into melee and got the last remaining six points of damage in with a single strike. Yeah, that's dice -6. Oh well. Happens.

Nyss charged Venators and killed a couple of them. 

Both arguses went behind Skinwalker screen, and Kaya called Feral Warpwolf back with Spirit Door. Lord of the Feast missed with his bird and was left awkwardly standing in the open.

Rasheth used his feat and shot Breath of Corruption onto Skinwalkers. One was left with one damage point, another had a few more. Castigate was cast again because there was that scary tree behind a forest. 

Tyrant Commander and his sidekick managed to kill Winter Argus, and even Beasthandlers handled the Skinwalker that had a single point of damage left.

Titan Gladiator removed remaining Skinwalker and Lord of the Feast. Agonizer contested enemy flag. Even Venators managed to do some damage to Nyss, although Cylena who was shot down by Extoller Soulward passed her Tough -check retroactively (because we forgot they had True Inspiration on) and as such is missing from the picture. 

Skorne took a two point lead.

Nyss Hunters charged Extoller Soulward, but were not able to kill him. Feral Warpwolf had to tear through Venators to secure a control point. Wild Argus and Kaya manage to kill Tyrant Commander, but not the standard. Kaya uses her feat trying to kill Agonizer, which thankfully fails even after Druid Wilder comes to help with Spell Slave. 

Kaya teleports away from action, and tides of battle seemed to turn against Skorne, despite looking so good just a turn ago. But, they had lead in victory points.

Extoller shot Cylena dead for a second time, and Rasheth managed to clear the remaining two Nyss with the command card that gave +5" range to spells. Agonizer continued to contest enemy flag, and Tyrant Commander standard ran to contest enemy zone. Paingivers dealt respectable damage in to Argus, but not enough for it to matter.

Game entered a phase of cat and mouse, with both players trying to contest something relevant. Circle did gain the upper hand eventually and started catching up in points, but so was game nearing end. When Feral Warpwolf ran to contest both the circular zone and Rasheth's rectangular zone, it was either draw or victory for Skorne, depending whether Rasheth manages to clear zone. And with Agonizer's animus he did. Close game, and probably the first Mk4 game that ended in rounds running out. 

Ghost's Horror Show

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Plant Explosives

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Information Overload, Hold Up Their Forces, Espionage, Ensnare

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
2x Shikome with Killer Instinct
Onryo
2x Enslaved Spirit

Pool: 7
Schemes: Espionage, Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Colette & 3x Mechanical Doves
Carlos Vasquez
Cassandra Felton
The Firestarter
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
Showgirl

Pool: 2
Schemes: Espionage, Information Overload

Turn 1:

Both Shikomes were deployed to different table edges, but their activations were mirrored - place a scheme and walk, and later chain ganged even further and also deadly pursuit in the end phase.

Opponent was also spamming scheme markers to their deployment zone. I was waiting for opponent to activate the dreaded Coryphee Duet, but he just wouldn't do that. So, Kirai had to activate to summon an incentive for opponent to bring models to middle. Goryo did just that, and fortunately neither Carlos or Coryphees were able to kill it. Lost Love had to teleport to Kirai to heal it, though, so that it wouldn't burn off the board.

I had Kirai, Lost Love, Ikiryo and Onryo going to middle, with Datsue acting as a Lost Love beacon a little to the right.

Performers had Cassandra, Carlos and Coryphee there in the middle, iwth Colette a little behind them and Angelica Durand to the left. A Showgirl had been left behind, who was apparently going towards top-right corner. Firestarter was on top of a walkway, biding his time with two explosive tokens.

Turn 2:

Colette activated first and went to sword-trick Goryo off the board. So now there was Carlos and Coryphee Duet with only a little terrain between Kirai and Lost Love. Ikiryo went to sacrifice herself and even managed to deal four points of irreducible damage to Coryphee Duet.

Coryphee Duet healed a bunch of vengeance damage from various models nearby, took a swing at Ikiryo and danced apart to form two Coryphees with two health each. 

Both Shikomes went to place a strategy marker, and both Enslaved Spirits chain ganged Shikomes forward, and one of them even managed to place a scheme marker to center line. 

Angelica, Carlos and even a tiny little dove were beating Ikiryo and managed to bring her down to one health remaining. This was unfortunate, as I had been saving enough cards in my hand for a nasty double-summon this turn. So, Kirai healed Ikiryo a little instead, summoned a Drowned and launched a Spirit Barrage over the unactivated Coryphee. 

Cassandra went to breathe fire on Lost Love, who took one attack and and protected itself from one by redirecting the attack to Kirai. Reason for such over-protectiveness was the fact that I had placed two of my explosive tokens on him. 

Sword-tricked Goryo popped up from one of my scheme markers in my deployment zone and took a double walk. Lost Love was thus able to heal Goryo and Kirai a little. Onryo went to assist Burning away from Goryo. Datsue Ba gave a charge to summoned Drowned, who managed to stun a Coryphee, but not kill. Datsue Ba was able to startle the puppet before walking a little to perhaps become relevant for scenario next turn.

Firestarter flew recklessly into a position to place a strategy marker, so both players were able to score strategy this turn. No reveals.

Turn 3:

Board state looked really good for Urami. But... somehow... things change.

Angelica tried to cane down an Enslaved Spirit but failed to do so. However, she did drop a strategy. 

Datsue Ba and Onryo tried to kill Firestarter, but didn't do much else than receive Burning and giving Adversary to the wildfire henchman. Firestarter disengaged, took fast and went to place a strategy marker, which was an accidental misplay. No interact action after disengaging. 

Presto-Chango brought Lost Love to middle and Coryphee to Kirai.Center was not such a good position for Lost Love, so he had to be activated next, move to Datsue Ba and go place a strategy marker. 

A showgirl took a charge to Lost Love, and just like that poked a hairpin to Lost Love's brain, killing him instantly with a Red Joker on damage. Then she picked up my explosive marker. That was concerning, as I would have to steal one of opponent's markers now to score four from strategy. Maybe next time I shouldn't put 40% of my eggs to an easily killed basket. 

Shikomes continued closing in the enemy deployment zone, but the one one the left got bogged down by a Mechanical Pigeon and Mannequin that dealt four points of damage with just one moderate. Or, more accurately, that was before tits ransition from Coryphee that took a point of vengeance. Dove and Coryphee brought Shikome down to one health remaining. Yikes.

But, at least Hold Up Their Forces was looking good when Angelica Durand had not managed to kill an Enslaved Spirit, who then went to engage her. 

Goryo from first turn killed Coryphee and/or Mannequin that had Colette had shuffled around.

Kirai summoned a Goryo to middle, took a walk and tried to shoot Firestarter off the board, which just didn't happen. Goryo wanted to keep Carlos engaged, so it just walked and tried to use Violent Spirits for damage. Spirits were not so violent.

But Carlos... Carlos on the other hand was. 

He breathed fire on Goryo and scored severe damage, which meant that both Ikiryo and Drowned died. Goryo was beaten down to two health remaining, but had four points of burning. So yeah. Just like that. Twenty-two points worth of models, gone. And to make it a lot worse, I had been counting on Drowned continuing to engage Colette for Hold Up Their Forces. Nope. Not anymore.

Thankfully no-one scored schemes, so scores went 2-2.

Turn 4:

Kirai upkept Adversary on Firestarter, and so Onryo was able to kill the henchman with a charge attack. 

Colette walked, dropped explosive and used Presto-Chango to switch Kirai and Carlos. Or at least their places on board. There was then a brief comical moment when Goryo tried to land Mark of Vengeance on Carlos, which missed and triggered Butterfly Jump. Then it charged Carlos and missed, which triggered Butterfly Jump. Then it charged Carlos and missed, which triggered Butterfly Jump. I hope Carlos appreciated 9" free movement. 

Mechanical Dove failed to kill the Shikome with one health remaining, but Mannequin didn't. 

Kirai was able to summon Ikiryo back, and with a soulstone even an Enslaved Spirit to engage Colette.

Ikiryo shrugged off her slow and charged Angelica Durand that had already killed another Enslaved Spirit. Damage was too weak to affect the last one and a half turn.

Showgirl had walked and charged Enslaved Spirit on top-right, but this was still not enough for Hold Up Their Forces, because the Enslaved Spirit to Colette had been summoned this turn. I had the difficult choice of going to plant a strategy marker with Datsue Ba, or run to engage Colette. Datsue placed explosive, as I might not have the chance to do that next turn.

Then a Goryo and Onryo burned into crisp sheets. 

Both players scored strategy and Espionage for an excruciating 3-3 situation.

Turn 5:

Murder Dove was not able to kill Enslaved Spirit at top-right, and Showgirl went to place a scheme marker instead of poking holes into ghosts with hairpin. Enslaved Spirit walked to engage her.

Colette used Sword Trick on Enslaved Spirit next to her and went to place a scheme marker. I was worried Cassandra and Carlos might remove both of my scheme markers in my deployment zone, Kirai had to walk and charge to summon third Goryo to engage Carlos.

Fortunately Carlos was more into spamming scheme markers to my deployment zones, and Cassandra came to help him.

Ikiryo didn't bother to attack Angelica and went to sit over one of my scheme markers instead. Angelica? Scheme markers!

Datsue Ba and Enslaved Spirit gave me Hold Up Their Forces, and Shikome had prepared Espionage end condition.

Performers managed to overload Urami with information and still get Espionage, too. They had also enough strategy markers to cleave a one point victor, 6-7 for Arcanists.

We Have Been Trying to Contact You About Your Horses Extended Warranty

Second Gaining Grounds 4 game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Outflank, Power Ritual, Sweating Bullets, In Your Face, Deliver a Message

My list:

Kirai, Envoy of the Court & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
Goryo with Grave Spirit Touch
Gwisin with Grave Spirit Touch
Shikome
Enslaved Spirit
Seishin

Pool: 6
Schemes: Deliver a Message (Datsue Ba), Power Ritual

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
Mr. Ngaatoro
2x Rough Rider
Ruffian

Pool: 5
Schemes: In Your Face, Ouflank

Turn 1:

Sidir in such a central position was scary to me, so I started by laying schemes to both of my deployment corners, activating Shikome, Ikiryo, Enslaved Spirit, Seishin and even Datsue Ba before even starting to consider my wedge front of Gwisin, Goryo, Kirai and Lost Love. 

Opponent, however, was equally waiting to activate Sidir. Rough Riders at both table edges placed a scheme marker to top-left corner and center-right outflank area. Ruffian was holding left flank. Luna dug up a scrap marker for McCabe to dig up a Timeworn Blade for himself. To my relief Lucas didn't go and toss it to Sidir and held a strategy marker instead. 

This gave me confidence to activate Kirai, put a concealment on her and swirl Gwisin, herself and Goryo up a little. She managed to land Adversary on Sidir and Mr. Ngaatoro before walking outside of Sidir's machine gun range. 

Ngaatoro had taken a double walk to get almost to the centerpoint. Desper was desperately trying to pull Datsue Ba with hooks and chains, not doing much.

I had Gwisin, Goryo and Lost Love left to activate, opponent had Sidir. So I had to bring either Goryo or Gwisin to killing range if I wanted to have access to healing. Goryo went to pick an intel token, and was blasted with a severe damage from Sidir. Yeaaaah. So close.

Lost Love teleported to Datsue Ba and managed to heal Goryo back to full, but this took a 13 from my hand. Gwisin charged Mr. Ngaatoro, but didn't do even a single point of damage. 

Turn 2:

Explorer Society won the initiative, and Lucas charged Goryo who had my only intel token. Fortunately he wasn't able to do much damage. Concerned about the fate of my intel, Kirai activated and climbed on top of a boulder. She tried to shoot adversary to Lucas, but failed. Then she did Swirling Spirits twice, moving Goryo to safety and triggering four TN 12 Wp duels on Explorers. Kirai didn't manage to summon any models, but at least opponent had to burn all but one card from his hand. 

Lucas had tossed Timeworn Blade to Sidir, who now began to shoot all around the board. Five machine gun attacks could have been a lot worse - only two points to Lost Love and two points to Datsue Ba. But this also left me with only one card in hand. Three models activated in total, and both players had one card. Remaining round had the potential to become what I have heard termed as: crapshoot.

Datsue Ba went to deliver a message to Lucas McCabe, tried to carve it in his flesh with a skinning knife, but missed.

Luna started trekking through a forest to center of the board. Since most threats in the middle had activated, Lost Love started to leisurely heal Goryo, and healed it for two. Still it remained at two, because of a burn-out. 

Mr. Ngaatoro was beating Gwisin with his paddle sort of thing but scored only minimal damage. Gwisin took a double walk through Mr. Ngaatoro and Lucas, and then Lucas and Mr. Ngaatoro. Still no fails. 

Ruffian pushed Rough Rider a bit forward and took a double walk to a strategy marker. Seishin gave Shikome two walks, and she went to the same strategy marker with Ruffian.

Rough Rider rode to shoot Shikome, but missed. To deter enemy from chasing Shikome, I decided not to interact with the marker and instead take a full 14" move towards top-left corner. 

Another Rough Rider tried to shoot Lost Love, who miraculously survived. Goryo had concentrated and took double walk away from the middle and behind rocks. 

Desper LaRaux interacted a scheme marker and went to secure Outflank. Ikiryo, however, charged Desper and took away its intel. Enslaved Spirit just shuffled Lost Love around a little.

Scores went 2-1 for Resurrectionists thanks to Ikiryo who denied victory point from strategy.

Turn 3:

Opponent started by engaging Shikome with a Rough Rider. Kirai healed Datsue Ba and Lost Love, gave Adversary to Sidir and Lucas, plus triggered Chained Spirit tests for Mr. Ngaatoro and Lucas with Gwisin. No fails. 

Luna dug up a scrap marker, while Shikome spent all of my high cards from my hand and killed Rough Rider with one activation.

Lucas dug up a Phantasmal Mask from scrap marker and tossed it to Sidir. Then he started whipping the living hell out of an innocent grandmother. It took just about all of my cards and most soulstones to keep her at four health remaining. But still the onslaught was so concerning, that Lost Love came to heal her at least to six.

Next Sidir charged, and I had to spend all of my remaining resources to give Datsue Ba a chance to survive. Unfortunately she was left with one health remaining, and Sidir had the Phantasmal Mask. 

I did figure out an escape plan - Gwisin took two walks, past Ngaatoro and Lucas. Both failed once, and Kirai summoned... Seishins. This way Datsue Ba would heal first and then take a damage point from Phantasmal Mask. Otherwise a solid plan, but Desper activated and went to deal the remaining damage to the grandmother. And no wonder he did - opponent revealed In Your Face. So that was why killing a granny had been so important - to rub it in Kirai's face. 

This opened up right flank somewhat, and Ikiryo charged Rough Rider. First attack dealt severe damage, but second attack missed. Rough Rider then escaped and started practicing shooting against innocent Seishins who had already lost their function.

Ruffian took an intel token, and Goryo took its second intel aided by Seishin.

I had eleven cards in my deck and Black Joker hadn't come up. Rough Rider was at two health remaining. I just didn't dare to walk and charge Rough Rider with Enslaved Spirit and declare Doomed trigger to kill it. So instead it walked to Ikiryo, chain ganged her forward and picked up intel.

Losing Datsue Ba was a serious blow, and now I pretty much had only Gwisin and Kirai in the middle, while opponent had their master plus three henchmen.

Also, scores went 3-3 when opponent got their scheme and first point from strategy. 

Turn 4:

Situation looked grim for Urami, but when Kirai won initiative there was a glimmer of hope. Finally she managed to summon some ghostly meat shield! Surely enough that took the entirety of her action points. First Gwisin passed through Luna and Mr. Ngaatoro, then through Mr. Ngaatoro and Luna, and then through Sidir, Lucas and Desper LaRaux. Luna was passing the tests like a champ, and so did Ngaatoro although he had to cheat to pass them. But Sidir and Lucas who had Adversary failed, and so did Desper. Two Gakis and an Enslaved Spirit eased my position in the middle a lot. But still... if we discount the fact (we shouldn't, but still let's do it) that Chained Spirit tests made a heavy toll with opponent's hand, it had taken me at least twelve action points (and double the amount of Wp tests!) to summon two cost 4 models, one cost 3 and two cost 2. My impression of Kirai2 certainly wasn't powerful, but annoying for opponent for sure. 

Luna bit Seishin engaging Mr. Ngaatoro to pieces and dug up a scrap marker. Enslaved Spirit on the left chain ganged Ikiryo forward as much as possible and then walked to interact an intel token.

Rough Rider didn't approve, and rode to a better position to start shooting Enslaved Spirit that had two intels. It took me high cards from hand, but the Spirit was left alive with one health remaining. 

Ikiryo charged Rough Rider, but missed first attack. Second attack was enough, but she would have needed an additional walk to go closer to top-right Power Ritual corner.

Desper interacted an intel, leaped away from melee and charged Enslaved Spirit dead. Good bye, strategy point for this round.

At least Lose Love was able to deny a point from Wastrels, too, by teleporting to Ikiryo, stealing Desper's intel and even frantically flailing a point of damage. 

Mr. Ngaatoro, who had been released from melee engagement, ran to my deployment zone to secure In Your Face.

Shikome schemed Power Ritual, and McCabe dug up a Faded Mirror for Sidir. He started whipping Enslaved Spirit, but scored only a single hit which dealt one point of damage. Thus, Enslaved Spirit was able to chain gang a Gaki into contact with Sidir and go there itself, too. 

Sidir killed Enslaved Spirit and scratched Gaki a little, while tossing Phantasmal Mask to McCabe. Gaki tried to eat McCabe's horse, but managed only to heal it thanks to the mask.

Gwisin was a little more successful when it slapped McCabe for a severe damage, but second attack failed to dismount.

Seishin gave a walk for Goryo, who walked next to strategy marker that had a Ruffian standing nearby. Opponent kept using his pass tokens, so Goryo had no other options than curse Ruffian with Adversary and charge him dead. However... no matter how little options there seems to be, you must always remember that it's impossible to see the grand picture and the strands of fate that fork into unseen paths. There are always options. This time it was Goryo missing with two plus modifiers for attack. At least second attack missed, but scored only moderate damage which was not enough to kill the Ruffian.

Ruffian disengaged and swaggered off, nearer an as of yet untouched strategy marker and outflank end condition.

No strategy points were scored by either player, but Resurrectionists finally got Power Ritual for a lead of 4-3. 

Turn 5:

Desper tries to attack Lost Love, but he transfers the attack to Ikiryo. Good then he did, because opponent scored double rams with critical strike. He did not continue attacks and instead placed a scheme marker and leaped almost wholly on top of it. 

Ikiryo runs to top-right corner before anyone engages her. 

Ruffian walks to outflank position on left and picks up intel. 

Lost Love teleports to Ikiryo and secures Power Ritual end condition with Shikome. 

After whipping grandmothers and sad, enslaved spirits, Lucas ditches his entire crew and rides away into sunset, far away from any messages Urami might want to deliver to him.

Goryo picks an intel and tries to kill Ruffian with Violent Spirits, but Ruffian is unimpressed by their display. He has seen worse. He had been worse.

Seishin gave a walk to Gwisin, who went into contact with strategy marker. After Gaki went to engage Sidir, game was finished. Sidir wound not be able to score a point alone and neither player had any more options to deny a point from the other. Gwisin picked up intel, and game ended in 6-5 victory for Resurrectionists when they got Power Ritual end and third strategy, and Wastrels got Mr. Ngaatoro In My Face and Outflank. 

A tough game, and a fresh experience. This strategy plays so unlike any other from any of the earlier Gaining Grounds. 

Guards! Guards! (with added rats)

 I gave a Malifaux demo. edit: Actually two, with the other one week-and-a-half later. So I'll slap it here instead.

This time opponent had own figures, so I couldn't go with my usual setup. 

Instead, we had:

Taggart Queeg
The Dispatcher
2x Rifleman

And my team:

Sebastian
Zombie Chihuahua
2x Flesh Construct

So, we broke the rules with totems! How horrible. 

I was a bit worried how a demo would turn out against such a shooty team.

However, a real simple scenario of "gain a victory point if you killed an enemy model this turn" worked wonders, as it kept the death count in check. Guild could have easily shot off one of my Flesh Constructs off the board first turn thanks to a lucky severe damage from a rifle shot, but since you couldn't score during first turn it was advantageous to keep the thing alive. This gave me some time to poison up the Flesh Construct and heal it with Blood Poisoning, thus demonstrating how situation on board is in constant shift. 

Taggart shot an enemy scheme off my Zombie Chihuahua, and was able to turn it into a friendly scheme with his bonus. 

We played with open schemes, so I knew opponent had Dig Their Graves. Since the Flesh Construct, now at four health, had been right next to Zombie Chihuahua, this was an excellent move that I did not even especially point out. 

Next turn opponent obviously shot the Flesh Construct away. This left time for an angry puppy to charge a rifleman, essentially dealing three points of damage via two poison from Infect, turned instantly to damage with Blood Poisoning. And after activation ended, the doggo stank one more point of poison.

Taggart would have none of it, and whipped the puppy dead since it was insignificant and didn't count for scenario. He walked a bit closer towards Chihuahua's corpse, which made it possible for a reckless Flesh Construct to do a double walk and interact for Deliver Message.

Rifleman and Dispatcher were softening up Flesh Construct, and Sebastian walked and tossed formaldehyde over a bunch of models. Only one test failed - the one that Flesh Construct relented. Boo.

Next turn Flesh Construct was able to score a kill from Rifleman that had a single wound remaining. Guardsmen butchered the thing up, and suddenly there was only Sebastian left of my crew. Next turn he did manage to kill second Rifleman, but was brought down to two or three health remaining. That was Assassinate reveal for Guild. And last turn they scored Assassinate end condition. 

So, there was enough action going on after all, and casualties on both sides. Good game as far as demos go. 

Demo 2:

During last demo I grew fond of the idea of using totems without a master for demo purposes. I also shook up my own list to:

Benny Wolcomb
1x Stolen
Obedient Wretch
2x Prospector

and for the demo player:

Sebastian
Zombie Chihuahua
2x Guild Autopsy
Flesh Construct

I didn't spam soulstones with Prospectors or even take Rat Kings with me when I left home. I felt those might skew demo too much. But otherwise I liked the dynamic of my team having three Manipulative and one Serene Countenance model, while opponent had one Ruthless model. 

Starting from second turn onwards, I diverted one Prospector towards Experimental deployment zone, which left me struggling in the middle. Benny, Obedient Wretch, Stolen and Prospector just weren't much of a threat to Guild Autopsy, Flesh Construct and Sebastian. Especially when opponent received Assassinate point on turn two, and first activation on turn 3 killed Benny. 

But  I did manage to kill one Guild Autopsy for a strategy point, and Deliver a Message to Sebastian. The lone Prospector was able to spam scheme markers to opponent's deployment enough to score Breakthrough reveal and end. Opponent, however, received full points from Assassinate, one from Dig Their Graves and a total of three from strategy when they managed to kill even the last Prospector. Not much of a breakthrough, now wasn't it? 

And now we just wait if the planted seeds come to fruition. 

Bleak Joker

A 50ss game of Malifaux with the new Gaining Grounds season four.

 Strategy: Corner Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Espionage, Ensnare, Sweating Bullets, Death Beds, Protected Territory

My list:

Hamelin, the Piper & 3x Stolen
Benny Wolcomb
Nix
Catalan Brawler
Midnight Stalker
Obedient Wretch
Rat Catcher
Winged Plague

Pool: 3
Schemes: Ensnare, Protected Territory

Opponent had:

Lynch Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Tannen
Wanyudo
Samurai
2x Illuminated

Pool: 5
Schemes: Death Beds (Strategy), Ensnare

Turn 1:

Outcasts were the attacker, and for whatever reason I picked corner that had a nasty bottleneck. Okay, the reason was ease of access, but why didn't I take left corner on my side of the table? I somehow managed to block Hamelin so badly that he had to obey Benny and Catalan Brawler out of his way. But that was one of my last activations. Before, Benny's rat factory yields four rats that would not be able to combine because I had not bought a Malifaux Rat to my crew.

So, I had Catalan Brawler, Rat Catcher, Nix, Hamelin, Winged Plague, Stolen and a bunch of rats around my un-scorable strategy marker. Benny was there too, but was obeyed to walk forward by Hungering Darkness. Fortunately Illuminated were just about farthest models there was.

Remaining Stolen were going top near table edge, with Midnight Stalker as their vanguard. Obedient Wretch was going bottom-left. 

And damn that double delirium dipping looked scary. Majority of Honeypot were within one walk away from contesting center markers with Kitty already at centerline... in corner deployment!

Wanyudo and Hungering Darkness were going towards center-left marker, Mr. Tannen and an Illuminated toward center-right. Lynch and another Illuminated would be able to divert anywhere. Samurai seemed to be going towards top marker. How would the situation unfold?

Turn 2:

Hungering Darkness started by charging Benny, and punched a rat out of him with a Red Joker for damage. Fortunately damage block was a severe, but still four points in... At least the remaining attacks didn't do much else than made me spend high cards from my hand.

I figured Benny was as good as dead unless he would get the benefits of Condor Security. Thus, Catalan Brawler walked and planted a scheme marker. Target Benny now, Honeypot!

Or not. Wanyudo walked and charged Catalan Brawler through Hungering Darkness, Benny, Malifaux Rat and Catalan Brawler. The rat took 50% damage and was set on fire. Wanyudo's attack hit, which meant another roll through the three of my models. This time Benny failed and the rat failed check, but at least a new one popped out of Benny. There was such sorrow and grief over the death of the Malifaux Rat that a funeral pyre was assembled in loving memory.

Benny and Nix were doing all they could to remove Wanyudo and even Hamelin tried to play a merry tune, but the burning wheel was left with three health remaining. Hamelin had also tried to push Obedient Wretch into range to go and place a scheme marker for Protected Territory, but my enforcer was slightly out of range to do that. So instead she threw Jakob Lynch with a rat. 

Lynch had come to contest center-left marker to place a scheme marker, and with all the Hungering Darknesses and Wanyudos about it looked like I wouldn't be able to deny opponent a strategy point. But at least Wretch was holding a sure point for me, too.

Stunned Kitty Dumont along with Samurai went towards top-right marker, but Samurai stopped for a shot against Midnight Stalker before getting within 2" of the strategy. Midnight Stalker did leap, walk and interact a scheme marker. 

Mr. Tannen and an Illuminated went to center-right marker and placed a scheme marker, with Illuminated also one-shotting a Stolen with Scintillating Cloud. Another Illuminated went to reinforce Hungering Darkness & pals. 

Rat Catcher went to look for a chance to start scheming next turn. It was his Dark Bet. 

A Rat King had been formed early in the turn, but it couldn't move anywhere because of all the models in front of it. Fun fact: opponent had seven pass tokens at the start of round two.

Winged Plague went to take two blight tokens away from Wanyudo to place a second scheme marker for ensnaring Honeypot. Then it took a random charge at already activated Mr. Tannen but managed to give only a point of blight during end phase. 

Scores go 1-1 with both players getting strategy.

Turn 3:

Benny got fast from Lynch's scheme marker and started to dismantle Wanyudo. And - managed to do exactly that. Although it was kind of costly, since Benny now had Burning +7 thanks to a rats funeral pyre. That later turned into Burning +8 before it was quenched by a mud puddle Catalan Brawler managed to find somewhere. Brawler walked within 2" of center-left strategy marker to contest it. 

When Hungering Darkness eventually activated, Outcasts got their Ensnare scheme. Catalan Brawler was mauled down to one health remaining. Mr. Tannen would walk closer to start a TN 11 Boring Conversation and made some despicable promises to Catalan Brawler. They must have been despicable indeed, because Catalan Brawler died from delirium just from hearing those.

Nix charged to nibble Mr. Tannen, but those Boring Conversation checks... bloody hell. I'm not sure if Tannen took even a single point of damage. 

Lynch had activated his aura and charged to mutilate Rat Catcher. He had plenty of actions left after doing that, so he was able to place a scheme marker, near bottom-left strategy marker. He was too far away from contesting the marker, so Obedient Wretch went 2" away from it and placed a scheme for Protected Territory. Then she failed Lynch's aura and delirium struck her away from getting a victory point. Ah well. 

Both Illuminated were flinging Scintillating Clouds while there was still an impressive four model gathering for the Wp-check. Only a rat died, but that was rat Benny might have needed for shield. 

Stolen had given Rat King Fast, so that thing was able to do a double walk, gnaw at Lynch's scheme marker and even nibble his feet - successfully! What a hero.

North side of things, Kitty Dumont had managed to activate before Midnight Stalker and place a scheme and another scheme close to my enforcer. Surely enough he was ensnared. 

Midnight Stalker didn't have much of a choice after Obedient Wretch had botched scoring for this turn. Stalker became Fast, and that 6" leap is... extreme. He was easily able to take a double walk to top-left strategy marker and place a scheme marker for Protected Territory, and even had some millimeters to spare!

Hamelin obeyed Samurai away from strategy marker, but that didn't help too much as there was still one Illuminated within 2" of it. He failed to remove pyre marker, too. 

So, scores went 4-4 when both players scored both of their schemes and a strategy.

Turn 4:

Finally Benny died to Hungering Darkness' tentacles, and even Hamelin took some four points of damage. 

Kids manage to puke Mr. Tannen dead. I'm no longer even surprised.  Nix uses Loose Bowels and charges an Illuminated, not doing much other than contesting center-left marker. 

Lynch murders Rat King and places a scheme marker while contesting bottom-left strategy marker. Obedient Wretch does the same sans murdering anyone.  

Hamelin takes a double walk and this time succeeds to remove the pyre marker. Only after taking a happy walk through it, but hey. Got to be impressive flutist in the middle of raging inferno.

Once it became apparent that opponent would not score strategy this round, Kitty Dumont placed a scheme marker to top-right strategy marker, walked and was drawn to Hungering Darkness' brilliance. Samurai tried to take cover and also placed a scheme to center-right strategy marker. 

Midnight Stalker had leaped out of sight of anyone and placed a scheme while contesting the two point strategy marker. 

Scores went to 5-4 for Hamelin. However, Outcasts were killing Honeypot at a steady pace of one model per two rounds, while Plague was running low on relevant models for strategy. Game was far from over.

Turn 5:

Hungering Darkness was greeted by a screaming, frantic kid whose purpose was to deny potential Interacts. Kitty went to bottom-right marker for two point strategy. She tried to dislodge Stolen kid with reaching tendrils but failed. 

Lynch walked for a bit to interact and call Hungering Darkness away from such a bothersome child. 

I charged with Nix to an Illuminated, although now I wonder why wasn't I trying to get end condition from ensnare? Who knows, but at least Nix used Loose Bowels second time in a row. That has to count for something.

Hamelin removed a scheme marker next to center-left strategy marker, interacted one of his own and shot an Illuminated dead with a Bleeding Disease. I cheated the attack to hit with my last card in hand although I wasn't in a desperate need to kill the minion... and obviously that was when Lynch's delirium struck Hamelin, who was forced more than 2" away from center-left strategy marker, making that poin moot. 

Hungering Darkness walked and interacted a marker. It bought and additional card to obey Nix within 3" of the two scheme markers still around. The additional, bought card was... Black Joker. That was harsh, but I guess that epitomizes the slogan "bad things happen."

Because of that Black Joker game ended in 6-6 draw, when Outcasts got only end condition of Protected Territory and opponent got Death Beds and strategy.

Deep Satisfaction

 Had a couple of 50ss game of Malifaux. Both of us have been getting weary of Gaining Grounds season 3 - it's been going on for, what, fifteen months now? - so we decided to shake things up a little with season 1.

Strategy: Flank Symbols of Authority

Schemes: Vendetta, Leave Your Mark, Research Mission, Take Prisoner, Runic Binding

My list:

Hamelin with Servant of Dark Powers & 3x Stolen
Mad Dog Brackett
Benny Wolcomb
Nix
Disease Containment Unit
Prospector
Winged Plague

Pool: 4
Schemes: Research Mission, Vendetta (Benny and a Hunter)

Opponent had:

Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa
Peacekeeper
2x Hunter
Guild Mage
Riotbreaker

Pool: 2
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Vendetta (Peacekeeper and Mad Dog Brackett)

Turn 1:

Nix, Prospector, Disease Containment Unit and Winged Plague place the scheme markers for Benny's rats. I was afraid that various enemy long range shooters would be able to snipe off one of the rats, so I waited and waited until they activated - and surely enough Melissa almost killed the Winged Plague as she was speeding towards marker I had placed to bottom-right corner.

Guild Mage, Mechanical Attendant, Hoffman, Riot Breaker and Peacekeeper were stomping towards Plague in the middle. Benny's Vendetta Hunter was going to harass Mad Dog Brackett on left side of the board, and another was hiding behind the lower building on the right. 

I had a horrible hand, no card higher than seven, so Loyal Rats with Tiny Hats was a bit of a gamble. And once Benny failed the first attempt, I decided to buy an extra card with a soulstone. Lucky I did - would have failed without it!

Hamelin was then able to craft a Rat King out of the cute lil' rats, take a double walk and place a scheme for Mad Dog Brackett. He took Fast from it, and ran near top-left corner where there were two symbols of authority, and tossed Blasted Away at one of them.

Winged Plague charged Melissa with Hamelin's bonus action, missed but managed to give her a blight token with end phase movement trick.

Turn 2:

Benny's vendetta Hunter was barely able to charge Mad Dog Brackett, which pretty much tied Hamelin's hands for that round - the hound-cat-robot-thing needed to be lured off for Outcasts to get any strategy points this round.

Winged Plague Scraped a super tainted claw attack at Melissa. Since every other model than Mechanical Attendant would kill the Winged Plague with weak damage, I thought to try and slow down Melissa by making a scheme marker out of her blight tokens. In the end, opponent didn't take the bait, but at least it took both of Melissa's actions to kill the minion.

But, Hunter from behind a building emerged and claimed one of my strategy markers. Whoops. Didn't realize that was so easy.

Prospector became stunned and charged the Hunter, dealing random singular points of damage. 

Hoffman had overcharged proxied Peacekeeper, and went to telegraph Leave Your Mark by placing a scheme in the middle. 

Rat King gnawed it away and went to offer Diseased aura for Hoffman and proxied Riotbreaker in the pond. Unfortunately Riotbreaker and Guild Mage were able to kill the king. Also Peacekeeper landed its harpoon on Disease Containment Unit and charged it dead. 

Nix placed a scheme marker for Benny and walked to drink Peacekeeper's and Hunter's spirit. Only Peacekeeper had anything to drink.

Since most enemy models had now been activated, it was time to make my gambit for strategy points. Hamelin walked and lured Benny's Hunter away from Mad Dog Brackett. He charged it too, but attack failed to connect.

And there appears to be something going on with vomiting kids and Hunters... Two Stolen were able to inflict four points of damage on the Armor +2 minion with three attacks.

Benny was now free to get Fast from scheme marker that Nix had placed, took a double walk and shot the Hunter with his trusty derringer. Unfortunately he had no vomit bullets in his gun, and the attack missed. But he did score vendetta with his bonus action. Phew!

The Hunter still had two points of health left. Last kid activated, walked and took a vomit on the Hunter. Dead Hunter. So it is again one of these games, where insignificant totems are the main damage dealers? Who knows, maybe.

Mad Dog went to claim a strategy marker, bringing scores to 1-2 for Outcasts when opponent revealed no schemes.

Turn 3:

Hoffman didn't want to leave free reign for Hamelin at the western flank and went to charge him, dealing a couple of damage points. 

Prospector charge Hunter that had escaped his reach with deadly pursuit, chipping steadily through Hunter's plating one damage point at a time. 

Scary, scary Peacekeeper nearly killed Nix - and in return Nix wasn't even able to scratch the Peacekeeper even once to make it fail some duels. 

So, it was time to call in the kids for help. 

They started throwing up on Peacekeeper so aggressively that Guild Mage had to reposition itself to heal the big guy. Feverishly absurd, those damn kids. And thanks to them, Nix was back online.

Hamelin beat the heck out of Hoffman, but was not able to kill him. Neither were the only kid who attacked the guild master despite his injured +3. 

Mad Dog Brackett went to place a scheme near Blasted Away marker and strategy marker. Mechanical Attendant tried to shoot the bandit, but wasn't much of a nuisance.

Last but least, even Benny Wolcomb charged Hoffman, but could secure the last few points.

Riotbreaker had been able to place the scheme marker for Leave Your Mark without contest this time around, but so did Mad Dog reveal Research Mission. Melissa had been too far from my strategy marker, so neither player scored strategy points this turn. Scores went to 2-3 from schemes alone.

Board state looked really strong for Plague.

I had Benny quite far from other threats than Hoffman, so he'd be able to escape and run far from any- and everything next turn, thus guaranteeing a point for me. Nix might be able to screw Hunter over with Loose Bowels so that it would not be able to score strategy when that would be relevant. And Hunter wasn't that far from dying. And Hoffman himself was just about dead. Melissa wouldn't contribute to anything else than strategy point next turn.

Turn 4:

... and then, things just happened. What I love about this game is that the situation is rarely if ever as clear as it seems. Guild won the initiative, and Hoffman started to beat Benny. And surely enough, my end point from vendetta disappeared despite me having two soulstones to protect Benny. Well, my mistake for even putting Benny in a situation where bad luck would even be able to kill him. But sheesh... Hoffman is a grown up man in an exoskeleton, not a vomiting kid. He should not dish out damage like that.

Prospector goes to do his daily work of clipping a point of damage in to Hunter.

And then Peacekeeper clobbers Nix into oblivion. Two such unlikely deaths was... not ideal, to say at least. But at least Hoffman had spawned some rats around. Hamelin activated and started beating Hoffman, but somehow didn't manage to land even a single severe damage despite multiple attacks with plus modifiers for damage - injured +4 from first hit tends to do that. With last action Hamelin buys tomes with the soulstone Prospector had spawned, got an extra rat and formed a Rat King.

Kids had emptied their stomach, and somehow weren't able to do score the last damage point in to Hoffman. In the end that duty fell to newly formed Rat King, who happily obliged. 

Melissa took a strategy point and runned and gunned Prospector dead.

One of the kids had to go and charge Hunter now, and actually hit with frantic flailing. Hunter had two health remaining. But that started to look too much when Hunter killed the Stolen with one hit, and the resulting Malifaux Rat with another. 

Mad Dog Brackett took a strategy marker while Riotbreaker and Guild Mage were spawning scheme markers in the middle. 

Scores went to 3-4, still in favor of Plague, but how had the tables turned!

Turn 5:

Hunter went to take third strategy point, so there was little I could do to help that. So, instead, a frantic kid with frantic flails went to charge Peacekeeper instead in an attempt to stop if from placing a scheme marker. But let me tell you. Those heartless Peacekeepers don't care if there is a child on the spot where they need to plant a scheme marker. 

Opponent had Red Joker in hand, which was unfortunate because that way he was able to stun Mad Dog Brackett. I had had plans of taking scheme marker for Fast, then taking a double walk to get to another strategy marker and drop a Blasted Away marker with bonus action for Research Mission end condition. 

Eventhough Research Mission looked rather secured, I ultimately decided that a strategy point was 100% guaranteed if picked up. So Mad Dog ate the scheme marker anyway and charged Mechanical Attendant. Idea was that I might get Research Mission anyway from its scrap marker, but attack failed. Boo. But he did get the strategy marker. 

Another kid went to enemy table side and sacrificed itself to make a corpse marker... for science. Hamelin took a double walk and placed a scheme marker on top of the kid's corpse... for science.

Then he commanded the rat that had emerged from the kids body to charge Mechanical Attendant... for science. And look at that, the stat 3 attack hit and even got a Red Joker for damage. Shame that their damage track is 0/1/1 when alone, because that didn't change a thing. 

Guild Mage had quite a way with words, as he spoke Mad Dog Brackett dead, making all of Plague's efforts with science for naught. And to make it worse, it soon came into my attention that Peacekeeper was still very much alive, and had vendetta on Mad Dog Brackett.

Well, if I didn't get points from my scheme, then opponent wouldn't, either! Rat King gnawed one of the required scheme markers from Leave Your Mark, and that was the last consequential action for the game.

A rather exciting 5-5 draw!

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Recover Evidence

Schemes: Sabotage, Catch and Release, Take Prisoner, Leave Your Mark, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Jack Daw with Servant of Dark Powers & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Auguste Hart
Hanged with Servant of Dark Powers
Crooked Man
Drowned
Guilty

Pool: 4
Schemes: Sabotage (large cloud on bottom-left), Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Graves
Kara
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 2
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Guilty), Sabotage (a rock formation in top-right corner)

Turn 1:

Opponent picked left table edge for deployment.

Herald move enabled Jack Daw to walk to middle, plant a scheme and expose some suppressed memories for Mr. Graves. Lady Ligeia and Drowned had the ungrateful duty of removing some hazardous terrain markers from Montresor's way. The Guilty in electric chair had even more ungrateful duty of diving into water. But the keyword isn't Tormented for nothing, I guess.

Auguste Hart and Hanged were doing flanking maneuvers below. Hanged especially was horrified of Mr. Graves' fencepost, so it kept its distance until the bouncer was finally staggered. 

Kara, who had no intel token, was coming to greet Hanged and Auguste, so my sabotage didn't look so easy after all.

Hungering Darkness charged Jack Daw, and Montresor offered emotional support by charging Hungering Darkness back. Nobody was really doing anything in the melee. But the important bit was getting that sweet suffocation aura to center point.

Mr. Graves, and Illuminated and Jakob Lynch were only a tad behind Hungering Darkness, with Tanuki being the only one of the bunch over 6" away from Montresor.

Another Illuminated and Gwyneth Madddox were hiding between the two buildings north-west. Beckoner had been biding its time in activation order, and eventually launched herself rapidly towards rock formation at top-right corner of the map... surely it wasn't going to sabotage my rock formation?! Damn them! I'm gonna sabotage their smoke formation, then!

Turn 2:

Then came the second turn... where nothing happened. Nothing at all. 

Every plan and attempt was foiled, and nothing worked for either player.

Ten Thunders had a little more luck in beating an intel token off from Montresor, but did not manage to claim it or kill Montresor. 

Jack Daw unsuppressed the memories of an Illuminated next to Mr. Graves, and Hanged was able to unlock some forbidden knowledge in Kara, making it have a psychotic break.

While it wasn't apparent yet that whatever we tried would fail but too many models had already failed activation, I decided that having Tanuki heal those precious damage points I had managed to cause would be catastrophic. So Hanged activated Entropic Curse.

And yet the Tanuki healed Mr. Graves. Only one point with a severe, but still that was an insult to injury, or, well, heal actually.

Beckoner went to place a scheme marker to the rock formation, but that wasn't quite enough to sabotage it yet. 

Only point that was scored this turn was Leave Your Mark from the scheme marker placed on first turn.  

Turn 3:

Last turn it had looked like everybody and their pet was highly resistant to dying. But that was about to change in one of the most brutal turns I have seen. 

Montresor activated and was cursed to watch how Crooked Man would fail its first earthquake, but blast spectacular damage on Mr. Graves and Jakob Lynch. I had no crows in hand, so it was a lucky shot when Montresor did his bonus action and flipped crows straight from the deck, killing both Mr. Graves and Illuminated. 

Joy was for such an action was short lived, when Jakob Lynch activated and succumbed Montresor to darkness, turning the resilient henchman into an insignificant Depleted. 

Auguste went to pick Illuminated's intel.

Another Illuminated who had hanged with Gwyneth started flinging absolutely horrifying scintillating clouds that were able to reach Drowned, Jack Daw, Crooked Man, Lady Ligeia and Guilty. I was lucky to pass most checks naturally, but Drowned fell down to one health remaining. 

I had Black Joker in my hand, and so Hanged was able to teleport to Tanuki with Horrifying Whispers. First attack missed, so I lost hope of killing the miserable furball. Which wasn't exactly a bad thing, because I also wanted to draw cards - I had not received even a single crows to my starting hand or at any other point I drew cards. And Crooked Man needed those to place third scheme marker for Leave Your Mark. Anyway, Hanged declared Weigh Down trigger for +1 damage, and flipped a Red Joker for damage. I can't quite describe the deep, sincere and transcendental satisfaction of killing an uninjured Tanuki with a single strike. 

Gwyneth shot Drowned dead and charged Jack Daw, which started to look like a critical mistake when it became apparent that no other model was able to reach a strategy marker and claim a victory point for Ten Thunders that turn. It was probably. I don't remember who in the end killed the Depleted that once had been Montresor - either Jack Daw or Lady Ligeia. 

Guilty placed a scheme marker and walked on top of it. 

Kara charged Auguste, and Hungering Darkness and Lynch probably kept mauling Jack Daw. He was down to two health remaining when turn ended, which made next round's initiative quite of a concern.

Crooked Man charged Kara and failed to place a scheme marker with Malifaux Mining Law. 

Beckoner was not able to place the required second marker for Sabotage. 

Scores went 2-0 for Outcasts, when they got strategy.

Turn 4: 

I had two unspent pass tokens from last round, and I got a 13 to my starting hand. I cheated fate with that to activate Jack Daw first.

Fun fact: this was second time in row I received no crows in starting hand.

And Jack Daw had to heal himself - he spent all three action points to activate Hungering Darkness' suppressed memories and thankfully succeeded with the last. Thus, thanks to Kara's psychotic proximity, he was able to heal two with bonus action and one when activation ended. 

Illuminated didn't wait to get engaged and walked to pick strategy marker for a victory point.

Hanged did the same with Tanuki's remains and walked to Outcast sabotage target. 

Auguste survived what Lynch was able to throw at him, but wasn't as lucky when Hungering Darkness abandoned its position and tickled Auguste dead with his tentacles. 

Kara attacked Crooked Man, leaving him with three health remaining. I was afraid that Kara would be able to kill Crooked Man next turn, so the cat's psychosis lead it into contact with intel dropped from Auguste, trying to persuade it to spend an action point before charging Crooked Man.

Guilty charged Illuminated, not doing anything. Gwyneth continued to play card with Jack Daw. 

Beckoner was finally able to sabotage rocks.

Crooked Man failed to place a scheme marker - but he did flip the correct suit. But card value was five, when the action needed a six.

Both players scored strategy, and Ten Thunders got sabotage for a situation of 3-2.

Turn 5:

Third turn in a row I received no crows in starting hand. Why, why was I Tormented like that? 

But in the end it didn't bother as much, because Kara activated first and killed Crooked Man before it had a chance to activate. So even if I had had crows, I could not have used them.

Then something of an unexpected turn of events happened. Hanged placed a strategy marker after Lynch had secured a strategy point for Ten Thunders.

Hanged flipped Black Joker on terrifying check against Hungering Darkness. Nice, some mileage out of Forever Doomed. Then it attacked the beast with Horrifying Whispers - and opponent flipped Red Joker on defense. I was able to cheat a Masks 1 to teleport back into action.

My grand plan was to attack Hungering Darkness, score a tomes and drop third scheme marker. Well, highest tomes in my hand was a four, and Hanged had spent all of his luck already. No scheme for me.

Ten Thunders weren't doing anything of consequence with their last actions except for Beckoner, who scored Sabotage end.

I did consider it somewhat excessive, when opponent cheated a severe card when Guilty tried to disengage from Illuminated and Gwyneth. But soon enough it would make all the sense in the world - I mean, he was Guilty, and opponent had Take Prisoner as their scheme.

But fortunately Guilty had gone far enough that Jack Daw was able to teleport to him with Suppressed Memories, place the third scheme marker and walk over it to protect his final mark.

So, Outcasts did not receive strategy point this turn while Ten Thunders did. They also received end condition from both of their schemes, but so did Outcasts. It was a 5-5 draw, although it feels like a victory for Ten Thunders because they missed one point just from a slight lapse of attention.