Vague Necromancy

Two 50ss games of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Covert Operations

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Leave Your Mark, In Your Face, Set the Trap

My list:

McMourning1 with Grave Spirit Touch & Zombie Chihuahua
Rogue Necromancy
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse 
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: In Your Face, Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Very Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
2x Tanuki

Pool: 2
Schemes: In Your Face, Sabotage

Turn 1:

Corner deployment, so not much engagement happened. More so than usual, when both were stacking conditions and non-conditions on their own models (Brilliance from moving Kitty and Rafkin's formaldehyde galore.)

A large building was dividing my crew, with Zombie Chihuahua, Nurse and Rogue Necromancy were aiming for top-left quadrant, while all the others bubbled up in the middle. Dogs were mercilessly biting Corpse Curator into bits, with Dr. McMourning blaspheming focus out of what was left. 

Ten Thunders were in even more coherent bubble than Resurrectionists, with only Hungering Darkness making a slight exception by being a spearhead.

Turn 2:

One Canine Remains ran to rightmost strategy marker to claim it uncontested. 

Both sides seemed hesitant to engage. The other Canine Remains took a bite off from Corpse Curator, which made it possible for McMourning to summon a Flesh Construct. It was given doctor's orders right away.

Tanukis and Illuminated had formed a nice conga line, so Flesh Construct tried to rain vomit on their parade, failing at that. This however aggravated an Illuminated enough that it charged Flesh Construct. This opened up the game a little, and Rogue Necromancy went to puke over the little furries, scoring a severe blast over Mr. Tannen, Illuminated, and a Tanuki. 

That puke was almost punishable by death. An Illuminated started softening up Rogue Necromancy, and was quickly joined by Hungering Darkness. The henchmaster would have needed a single moderate wound in its three action points to kill the Rogue Necromancy, but fortunately for the chimera, no moderates came and Rogue Necromancy was left alive with one health point. That was a relief, considering it was my model for In Your Face end condition.

Kentauroi transported McMourning a little, and proceeded to stomp one Illuminated dead with a couple lucky damages.

Both players claim a strategy point, and Resurrectionists score Leave Your Mark with a scheme marker that Nurse had planted. Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Resurrectionists cheated initiative for themselves, and didn't want Boring Conversation in middle of Willpower 4. Flesh Construct activated and went to kill already damaged Mr. Tannen.

What Hungering Darkness failed last round, it succeeded now with gross overkill. Rogue Necromancy was gone before having time to activate.

Dr. McMourning butchers last remaining Illuminated and made short work of it. It was only good and proper then to join Gwyneth Maddoxs' game table along with Kentauroi and Flesh Construct. 

Lynch takes a double walk and a charge against Nurse, reducing her to half health. 

Tanukis pump out focus and heals, and opponent spends both pass tokens too. Resurrectionists reply by making useless activations with Canine Remains. Rafkin and Corpse Curator try to tease Lynch a little, but don't do much. 

Kentauroi backs off from melee with McMourning and repeatedly charges Tanuki, but not quite getting the killing blow.

Finally Kitty Dumont activates and goes to claim the middle-right strategy marker. I have the choice of whether to go and try to claim middle-left marker with Nurse, or to engage Kitty and deny a point from Ten Thunders. I choose denial, and scores go 2-3 for Resurrectionists. Ten Thunders got In Your Face, and Resurrectionists strategy.

Turn 4:

Kentauroi stampedes Tanuki dead, but the patchwork horse is then stomped dead by either Hungering Darkness or Lynch himself.

McMourning orders himself out of Gwyneth's melee and charges Kitty Dumont, who had been severely injured by Canine Remains already. McMourning made some hideous damage flips, and is even able to come and attack Gwyneth Maddox for a bit.

Nurse and another Canine Remains engaged Lynch. Second Tanuki had taken a run towards top-left strategy marker with  Zombie Chihuahua yapping right behind.

Corpse Curator was able to secure third victory point for Resurrectionists, and we called it a game then. Opponent had realistic potential for one more point if they won initiative, and while Resurrectionists had zero plausible points coming in, the result was clear victory for Resurrectionists.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Vendetta, In Your Face, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out, Sabotage

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Rogue Necromancy
Grave Golem
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Gravedigger
3x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Vendetta (Forgotten Marshal on a Hunter), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Hoffman the Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Guild Steward
Guardian
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 3
Schemes: Vendetta (Guardian on Rogue Necromancy), Set the Trap

Turn 1:

One Crooligan was deployed to both corners of the center line, and one was within 3" of Gravedigger in the middle to get a little focus. Who started right away with blasphemous rituals, no surprises there.

Early on Forgotten Marshal provides some nice defense support against ranged attacks in the form of Night Terror. So nice, in fact, that Forgotten Marshal and Gravedigger both took two points of damage from standing too close to Night Terror after Melissa landed a moderate blast on it.

That went just fine. 

So, Molly went back to making non-activations with Crooligans and whatnot. Molly herself had activated early, too, and went to remove one of Hoffman's pylons. I was a little afraid of harpoons, though. To protect her best I figured the best place to be was on the center line. Well, actually it wasn't a bad spot - she was in base contact with a strategy marker and lamp post, meaning she couldn't be pushed towards any aspiring harpooners. 

Electric current, harpoons and explosions certainly were coming at her, with Molly always dodging behind the lamp post just in time. 

Crooligan on top-left marker was harassed down to three health by a Watcher. Mechanical attendant was also coming that way.

A Hunter had come a little too close with its harpoon, and Rogue Necromancy was able to ambush, walk and charge it without much of an effect. And then turn ended and the robot just walked away with deadly pursuit... doh.

Second Watcher came suspiciously within 2" of both Rogue Necromancy and Molly and placed a scheme.

Turn 2:

Second turn was intense. Guardian charged Rogue Necromancy and brought it down to one health remaining and revealed Vendetta. Gravedigger who was supposed to go and control bottom-right marker pressed panic button and came to stitch the beast back into shape. 

Hunter then charged it, but didn't make an exemplary activation and only brought Rogue Necromancy down to two. Necrotic Machine ran to offer some emergency syrette, but that was a bummer. It healed only one and ended Poison +3. 

Hoffman tried to shoot Molly, but lamp post was a non-alternating target of alternating current. 

Crooligan that was teased by Watcher teleported to middle to place a scheme marker close to middle-left marker. Mechanical Attendant tried to shoot the kid, but missed.

Somehow Rogue Necromancy was able to tear Hunter into shreds with nothing serious to threaten it any longer. Second Watcher went to place a scheme marker near Rogue Necromancy.

Turn was nearing end, so my it was time to unfold my grand plan. Opponent refused to activate Guild Steward, so I had to go with a slightly different route. Molly removed Watcher's first scheme marker near herself with Lost Knowledge and had vendetta Hunter real disturbed with her stories - the thing went down to one health remaining. 

Idea was that even with a heal of three, Steward wouldn't be able to heal Hunter enough for Forgotten Marshal not to score his vendetta, provided that he'd hit.

He did, with severe damage on negative modifier to boot. Hunter was back at one health.

One Crooligan placed a scheme in bottom-right corner, and another teleported to Rogue Necromancy to place third scheme for Spread Them Out.

Scores go 3-3 when both players scored both their schemes and strategy.

Turn 3:

Guild wins initiative, which spelled doom for Rogue Necromancy. Two weak damages from Guardian would do the trick. I had Red Joker in my hand, so I was optimistic Rogue Necromancy would survive. First attack was too high for Red Joker to matter, so Rogue went below hard-to-kill threshold. Second attack... opponent flips Red Joker and Rogue draws a "1".

Molly was my first model to activate, and she disturbed vendetta Hunter to death and claimed the resulting scrap as lost knowledge. 

Melissa shot a nasty grenade that caught Necrotic Machine, Forgotten Marshal, Molly and Night Terror in its blast. She also shot Night Terror dead. Damn these bats, they just don't last long enough.

Crooligan in the middle placed scheme and walked behind barrels, safe from the dreaded Mechanical Attendant. Nice. Except now he was half an inch move away from Hoffman's melee range, so I suppose the threat of Mechanical Attendant was resolved for the Crooligan for all eternity when Hoffman tried to pat his head with construction claw. 

Crooligan in the bottom-right corner placed a scheme, and the one Crooligan past center line placed scheme and continued to walk towards enemy strategy marker. 

Forgotten Marshal tried to shoot Watcher in the middle and did some damage, but didn't kill. He then went to summon another Night Terror who discarded a card to get to engage the Watcher.

The mechani-bat, however, disengaged all too easily and flew to contest middle-right marker that I was trying to claim with Gravedigger. Night Terror shrugged and charged Guardian. 

Guild Steward healed Guardian and ran to contest middle-left marker that also had Hoffman, Mechanical Attendant and Grave Golem within 2" of it. 

Both players scored strategy for a tough 4-4 situation.

Turn 4:

It's the eternal cycle of life, where Hoffman continues to beat Molly, Gravedigger and Necrotic Machine continue to heal Molly. 

Night Terror had come to engage Melissa and Guardian. Melissa dispatched Night Terror, and Necrotic Machine went to block Guardian's potential charge against Molly.

Forgotten Marshal, being my Vendetta point, started to sneak away from the action and acted as a homing beacon for a Crooligan that charged Watcher dead.

Guild Steward starts to walk towards middle of board, still contesting middle-left marker. Unfortunately he did so within 1" of Grave Golem, which scored its first and only useful actions in the entire game - killing steward and taking only four damage in reprisal.

Molly started to disturb Guardian with her stories and brought it down to one health.

Crooligan deep in enemy table half ran within 2" of their strategy marker, and Resurrectionists clawed a 4-5 lead from strategy.

Turn 5:

Hoffman didn't want to listen to Molly's stories any longer and finally smacked her dead. However, that was essentially a point loss for Guild. Grave Golem was too firmly lodged in place, and Guild was not able to control bot top-left and middle-left markers with only two models. 

Crooligans were able to place enough scheme markers 10" away from each other, and Forgotten Marshal was at full health and hard-to-kill. Guild had Guardian at one health an no healers, so Necrotic Machine, Grave Golem or Forgotten Marshal just needed to land one hit doing whatever damage. We ended game there in 4-7.