Unchained Spirit

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Standard Raid the Vaults

Schemes: In Your Face, Let Them Bleed, Outflank, Protected Territory, Power Ritual

My list:

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

Pool: 3
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Protected Territory

Opponent had:

Youko, Unseen & Chiyo
Bill Algren
Hinamatsu
Kunoichi
2x Bunraku
Tanuki
Geisha

Pool: 5
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Outflank

Turn 1:

It was a map with a lot of choke points, so much so that it was rough even for incorporeal Urami! Crews were essentially split into top and bottom parts, with smaller contingents on top and the rest below. 

Top was Chiyo, Bunraku and Kunoichi against Shikome, Seishin, Enslaved Spirit and later joined by Onryo. Shikome placed a scheme marker to top-right corner to bluff Power Ritual, and was launched to center line by Seishin.

And below... huh. There was this cluster thing going on. 

Youko rushed to center-bottom strategy marker. I attempted to apply som pressure to her, and managed to land Adversary on Youko with Goryo. Datsue Ba came to weigh her sins, but didn't succeed. Hinamatsu, on the other hand, lured the granny forward, which startled me. Sure she'd be just fine this turn, but next turn there would be Hinamatsu, Bill and Youko left to activate. Datsue is a supergranny for sure, but still I thought it better to double-walk Kirai on top of a platform and swirl Datsue Ba to safety, maybe even summoning a model in the process via adversaried Youko.

Black Joker. 

Ah well. At least Bill failed his attackon Datsue Ba.

Gwisin went to guard Kirai, because, well, there was only incorporeal grandmother in between Hinamatsu and Kirai, or Bill and Kirai for that matter, Ikiryo was just concentrating hard because she was not able to get past Youko's stealth. Tanuki and Geisha were hugging Hinamatsu.

Turn 2:

Fortunately Urami got the initiative. Kirai went first, walked past Gwisin and swirled Datsue Ba past Bill, and then past Bill and Youko. Opponent had to cheat one summon check, the rest were passed au naturel. For the rest of the game, in fact. Kirai backed away into safety with masks trigger, having accomplished pretty much nothing.

Bill challenged Gwisin and charged Datsue Ba, dealing a total of four points of damage. Lost Love, who had put a scheme marker to bottom-right corner last turn, teleported to Datsue Ba and healed three out of those four damage. 

Hinamatsu charged Gwisin, but botched her activation, dealing only a total of two points. Since most of the movers and shakers of Qi and Gong had now activated, I turned my attention to top before Shikome would get engaged. She flew to left-top strategy marker. 

And that was when the damnable Tanuki activated and went to heal Bill Algren! Damn you! It was time to punish that abominable furball. Goryo charged through Youko and Tanuki, both of whom passed their summon tests. But you already knew that. Balanced sword slapped the drunkard little furry hard, leaving it at one health remaining. Violent Spirits, sorry, I mean Ghosts, finished Tanuki and even flipped a Red Joker on Youko's failure. Ouch.

Bunraku was able to lure Shikome away from a strategy marker and even stun her with a melee attack. Chiyo just ran past the centerline.

Seishin gave Onryo a walk to contest center-top strategy marker and get Kunoichi within its melee range. Kunoichi waited for a bit too long, and Onryo managed to kill her in one activation. I guess that happens now and then. Enslaved Spirit was then able to walk, chain gang Onryo forward and plant a scheme for perhaps protecting territory one day in the future.

Youko attempted to kill Datsue, and managed to do a few damage points in. Gwisin gave its regeneration for Datsue to bring he up to six health remaining and walked past Hinamatsu, who passed summon test. Threatening Bill Algren didn't do anything. 

Datsue Ba walked through Bill and Youko, prompting a check only on Youko as Bill was a little too far away. Youko passed. Bill didn't. The skinning knife, that is. 

So it almost was a pathetic turn all around, except for the couple of activations that had major implications for turns to come - death of Tanuki and Kunoichi were harsh blows for Qi and Gong.

However, scores went 1-1. One strategy point for Resurrectionists, and Outflank for Ten Thunders.

Turn 3:

Shikome was torn apart by a furious puppet, while Chiyo kept on outflanking. Enslaved Spirit moved scheme marker a little and tried to launch Onryo as far a possible with chain gang, but that was not far enough to get a scheme marker for Protected Territory. Instead, Onryo ran to hold left-top strategy marker.

Melee in the middle was a mess with nobody really accomplishing anything. Datsue Ba and Bill kept hitting each other until Geisha lured Bill away from Datsue, and charged in herself to slow the grandmother with her sharp wits. 

Ikiryo, who had been challenged by Bill Algren, took a walk and a charge at the henchman, bringing him down to two health remaining.

Goryo failed every single check it made. At least Lost Love was able to heal Datsue Ba back to full after Youko had failed most of her attacks against Urami henchman.

But there was also Hinamatsu. I kind of feel sorry for her. She landed four hits on Gwisin that had five health remaining, but failed to kill. Outflanking Bunraku tried to come and deal the last point of damage to no avail.

Kirai activated, healed Gwisin for a bit and swirled it past Hinamatsu, who passed her check. 

Gwisin was not able to get a hit on Hinamatsu, but luckily she had brought herself down to half of her health remaining. 

Scores went to 2-1 for Resurrectionists, as I opted to not reveal Let Them Bleed just yet. 

Turn 4:

Although situation seemed harsh for Qi and Gong, we decided to continue until definitive results.

And good thing we did! There was a chance of a comeback for Ten Thunders when they got the initiative, and Bill wrecked Ikiryo with two strikes. Sure, he was now at one health remaining...

I went to tie Chiyo with Seishin so that she would not be able to go and claim my side strategy marker at top. 

And then Hinamatsu copied what Bill did against Gwisin.

However, Goryo went all kinds of crazy next. First he did Violent Ghosts, that Bill and Hinamatsu passed. But Geisha didn't, and neither did Youko. Geisha took the minimum, but Youko got trashed by Red Joker on Violent Ghosts... again! Goryo was able to cut Geisha down and then charge Bunraku, scoring a severe damage which brought Bunraku down to one health remaining. 

Another Bunraku at top was able to dislodge Chiyo from melee with Seishin, so now Ten Thunders at least had a path to score strategy point.

But Kirai managed to shoot down Bill Algren. Youko was at three health remaining. Hinamatsu at two. Bunraku that was engaging Goryo at one. That was too hopeless of a situation for Qi and Gong, so we ended game. And as opponent had Let Them Bleed as her other scheme, it was indeed game over. Outflank end and any form of Let Them Bleed seemed far fetched. And this turn Resurrectionists would have gotten their both schemes.

While I got the one nasty Black Joker on turn one, opponent had received plenty of Black Jokers on damage flips. Most of the crucial attacks by Qi and Gong seemed to fail all the way until fourth turn, and by then it proved to be too late after all.

Likely scores at the end of fourth turn were about 5-2 for Resurrectionists.