Palm Beaches or Lava? Everyone chooses lava!

 Strategy: Wedge Plant Explosives

Schemes: Ensnare, Take Prisoner, Let Them Bleed, Death Beds, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Dr. McMourning, Insanitary & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Carrion Emissary
Kentauroi
Nurse
Bone Pile
Guild Autopsy
Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Death Beds (Corpse)

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
2x Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Tanuki

Pool: 4
Schemes: 

Turn 1:

I got to choose deployments, and decided to force opponent to split his crew. However, this didn't work quite so well, as opponent had three ride-with-me's and chain gangs available, as well as Desper's unparalleled mobility. 

Carrion Emissary opened my game by bringing zombies on board, which Canine Remains chewed to bits, and the bits were built into another Canine Remains that went to chew even more zombies. All in all, shuffling about like that gave me a Flesh Construct that had Emissary's Rot and Rend attack on the first turn, and extra legs for Kentauroi. 

All this took quite a few activations, and after Rough Rider and Ruffian had moved Sidir to mid-field behind center lava pool, I decided to launch Kentauroi missile to engage Sidir and maybe damage an already activated Ruffian. Well, it did not only that, but killed Ruffian with a single blow. I figured Kentauroi would survive at least one round with Sidir. It could have charged somewhere, but with second action it instead placed a scheme marker for possible Death Beds later on.

Tanuki and Luna had already activated, and Rough Rider in the right had shot summoned Canine Remains dead and dealt some damage to Flesh Construct, too. However, I had completely failed to take into account  that Lucas was able to charge over Luna without needing to resort to call his dog on the horse. So... Lucas severely damaged Kentauroi with two attacks, armed with Timeworn Blade. Which was then tossed for a fast Sidir. Two attacks was enough to beat the dead horse off the board even after Bone Pile had ran to toss a bone for heals. 

Sebastian had been shot by Ruffian and another Rough Rider, but was healed by Nurse. Flesh Construct was able to land a Rot and Rend on Sidir, but no blast over Lucas. Boo.

Desper relocated to center, ready to dominate left side. 

Turn 2:

Intense turn ensued. Ten Thunders won the initiative, and Tanuki was able to heal Sidir for a bit. That was the only move that deterred me from walking and charging him with Carrion Emissary with heal denying aura on. 

In the hindsight I probably should have done that anyway, but Emissary next to unactivated Lucas and Sidir seemed like a bad idea when removing Sidir most likely would need at least a few activations.

Instead, Flesh Construct walked and charged. It missed the first attack, parried by Sidir. The construct was now at three health remaining - it might actually die to second parry! It attacked anyway, and Sidir actually would have parried if I didn't cheat my highest card in. And look at that, Red Joker for damage. Unfortunately Sidir managed to block three of the six damage. 

Worried about Carrion Emissary's aura, Sidir was quick to activate and heal himself back to eight. He killed the Flesh Construct and started to shoot around, dealing two points to Carrion Emissary and two to Sebastian. 

Ruffian and Rough Rider to the left began to drain my soulstones away by shooting Sebastian repeatedly with success. Situation got so dire that Zombie Chihuahua had to blast Sebastian for all of his four Poison, and even Nurse was forced to open her bottle of painkillers for him. The Rough Rider even had the audacity to go and heal Sidir back to full with a lucky trigger for Ride With Me. 

Nurse did what nurses do best, and went on a killing spree. Ooops. That doesn't look quite right, but I can't figure what's wrong. Anyway, she walked and assisted McMourning's distractions away, charged Sidir, even catching fire. Sidir was stunned and pushed into lava. 

McMourning had, by the way, earlier walked on top of rocks and summoned another Flesh Construct. He grafted rusty bone saw for the Construct and pushed Carrion Emissary forward with Desperate Plot. 

The reason I didn't commit Carrion Emissary to heal and soulstone denying activities was that I was waiting for Desper to activate first. If Desper would engage Sebastian, I would be able to place strategy with Emissary. And if Desper would not, well, all the easier to score with Sebastian and kill Sidir at my leisure. 

However, that was a recipe for disaster. While good news were that Ten Thunders had to use all of their soulstones to block damage, bad news were that the damage blocks were never less than two. Flesh Construct with bonesaw managed to only trickle one point of damage in at a time.

Then, much to my horror, Rough Rider charged Carrion Emissary and Bone Pile that had walked to heal Emissary and shoot Sidir with a bone javelin. Now I had one attack to Sidir and the chance to plant a strategy marker.

But, I still had my hopes up to at least score Let Them Bleed even if Desper engaged Sebastian. Which he didn't. Instead, he went to place a strategy marker and concentrate.

Carrion Emissary flew to Sidir to take its one and only peck, and scored an impressive hit with double poison. Would've been nice to actually get that poison in, because Black Joker turned up at damage. Ah well. At least it managed to surround Tanuki with Mindless Zombies. Wait... why was Tanuki surrounded by zombies? Don't they crave fresh brains?

Lucas charged Nurse. So let's add nurses to Lucas' whipping portfolio of children, grandmothers, doctors and geishas. Or maybe not. Nurses probably were there already. Sadistic as only Lucas can be, he didn't even kill the Nurse, leaving her to slowly burn alive.

Sebastian was in range to charge Sidir, but Sidir was still at five health. To score Death Beds, both attacks needed to hit and deal at least one moderate or critical strike. Failing that I was looking at possibility of not scoring strategy this turn and Sidir dying to poison and burning, thus me not getting Death Beds. 

I deemed Sidir-removal important enough to not score strategy on first turn. But when Blood Poisoning missed Sidir, I just couldn't take the risk and charged Rough Rider instead, and placed strategy marker. Moderate damage and double poison on the Rough Rider helped a little. 

Canine Remains had walked to place a scheme and corpse marker to close right table edge for Death Beds end condition. 

So, both players did score strategy and no reveals were made. Scores went 1-1.

Turn 3:

Well, it was Resurrectionists that got the initiative. Carrion Emissary activated Aura of Decay just in case, and proceeded to butcher Sidir - failing at that. But he was now down to one health remaining. 

Lucas removed Sidir from Emissary's aura, killed a Nurse and dug up a Phantasmal Mask for Sidir. 

This was not enough to save Sidir, as Sebastian charged him and killed the henchman, scoring Death Beds. He also managed to saw some damage in to Rough Rider.

And just like that game turned rough for Ten Thunders. And it didn't exactly help that Resurrectionists kept passing their defensive flips with impunity. Luna dug up a Timeworn Blade for Rough Rider, who went to pick up my only explosive on the enemy table half, and charged Sebastian, managing only to remove my soulstones. 

Ruffian set himself on fire attacking Sebastian, and another Rough Rider on the right rode away from melee, shot Carrion Emissary with his rifle, and charged back.

First Mindless Zombie that Carrion Emissary had summoned last turn traumatized Tanuki down to one health remaining. Second Mindless Zombie felt pity for Tanuki, as the poor furry imagined itself as a teapot. 

Guild Autopsy scored a lucky severe against Desper, which looking back now was a bit of a game-changer. Now I had the option to reach for Let Them Bleed. 

And as I had pretty much lost the strategy for this turn, McMourning removed Flesh Construct from melee range of Lucas, and took a double walk to centerline far right.

Bone Pile charged Rough Rider that was engaging Carrion Emissary, but failed to do damage. In shame, it buried itself with second action point. Flesh Construct came charging in next, and succeeded in slapping the two required points in. Just for giggles the Flesh Construct attempted a Projectile Vomit over Ruffian engaging Sebastian, and managed to land two blasts, injuring another Rough Rider and Lucas McCabe. Drats. I could have just killed the melee target, but I was afraid to, because I needed one of them alive with half or less health remaining.

Desper went to place a strategy marker. 

Ten Thunders got the lead when both players scored both schemes, but Resurrectionists missed on strategy. A 3-4 lead for Ten Thunders.

Turn 4:

Sebastian butchered a horse and took its explosives. Tanuki was able to smash a Mindless Zombie dead, but Carrion Emissary came to avenge Mindless Zombie. Oh, what am I talking? Emissary for sure didn't come to avenge Mindless Zombie, it just wanted to peck Tanuki dead. Which it did. Dead. Tanuki died to death. Hahahaha. Ha.

Anyway... Luna dug a Timeworn Blade for Lucas, and the Ten Thunders master started whipping a hunchback for a bit before he got bored and went to place a third explosive for Ten Thunders. He tossed Timeworn Blade for Desper LaRaux. Guild Autopsy went to see if it would luck out a second time in a row against Desper, but no such luck.

Flesh Construct was able to kill another Rough Rider, and went to place it's explosive deep into Ten Thunders territory. McMourning did the same, and so did Bone Pile that emerged from Mindless Zombie. 

Both players secured strategy for a 4-5 lead for Ten Thunders. However, it was clear from the board state that Resurrectionists had won anyway, and we didn't play the last turn. While there was a desperate possibility for a fourth strategy point for Ten Thunders, schemes were unlikely. Resurrectionists, however, had three points 99% secured.