Double Dealing Lovelace

 A 50ss game of Malifaux. We took part in the global Fractured Futures campaign.

Strategy: Wedge Plant Explosives

Schemes: Protected Territory, Take Prisoner, Let Them Bleed, Ensnare, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Midnight Stalker
Catalan Brawler
Auguste Hart
Dead Outlaw
Guilty

Pool: 5
Schemes: Protected Territory, Hold Up Their Forces
Thread: Dead Shot objective 1

Opponent had:

Von Schill & Steam Trunk
Hannah Lovelace
Arik Schrötterdammerung
Drachen Trooper
Freikorps Librarian
Freikorps Engineer
Freikorpsmann

Pool: 5
Schemes: Protected Territory, Let Them Bleed
Thread: Dead Shot objective 2

Turn 1:

So, both players had picked Dead Shot as their thread thing. 

I was kind of worried about Arik and his Shockwave 3. Sure enough, that what Arik did right away and blasted Catalan Brawler, Jack and Lady Ligeia. Only Lady Ligeia got the damage and distraction after cheating with Jack. Why not? He'd have to discard anyway. Arik also took a walk closer to centerpoint.

Catalan Brawler went to place a scheme marker near Nia, both to protect and maybe score fractures. 

I was planning on cursing Arik next, but Freikorps Engineer came to strengthen Arik's armor - along with giving him concealment until the end of round. I supposed I was no longer in hurry, so Lady Ligeia went to reach Arik with betrayal aura. 

Freikorpsmann took a double walk forward, and was soon given Reinforced Shield by Steam Trunk. I had tried to remove some shielding from Arik with Dead Outlaw without much success. Jack said screw this, Curse of Injustice does not require damaging. So he just walked, concentrated and unsuppressed some of Arik's memories with the help of focus. No damage done. Montresor was pushed towards Auguste, who had been running alone along the rightmost flank. 

Von Schill tossed a rocket launcher for Drachen Trooper and went to flank from the right side. He tossed a bullet into Montresor, who had walked over a tine wall to place a scheme marker for my first fracture token. 

Someone managed to deal four points of damage in to Catalan Brawler, but I forget who. Drachen Trooper it wasn't, as I had been saving my high cards in hand to not get those double blasts in the face. 

Midnight Stalker was one of my last models to activate, and he managed to run past centerline from the left already. Guilty went to hide behind the shack in the middle. Hannah was just a tad too scary. 

Entirety oh enemy crew was, like, within 8" of the center point. I had a couple of stragglers to my flanks, so I was outnumbered in the middle.

Turn 2:

And then there was this Nia marker. Only Catalan Brawler, Lady Ligeia and Arik were stunned. I lost the initiative, so I placed Nia a couple of inches away from center point to block LoS and give cover for my crew, and of course to score fracture token. 

However, opponent gave me the start to achieve activation control. I had to use the chance ot heal up Catalan Brawler and place another scheme marker. 

Steam Trunk gave Freikorpsmann Rocket Boots, and my second activation was to drop a scheme marker and an explosive with Midnight Stalker, leap deeper into enemy territory and using his last action points to run behind a thicket in top-left corner. 

Arik went to place an explosive past centerline, so that was a relief. 

To lure out Hold Up Their Forces, Guilty went to place an explosive token, even managing to startle Freikorpsmann. The geared up minion was able to leap, but not walk far enough to to place a bomb. Instead, he shot Guilty in the back for two points of damage. 

Auguste went to place a scheme marker past centerline. And looked like my trap had succeeded magnificently! Hannah charged Guilty. She, however, bought Rams and extorted another from... someone? This meant a single strike would kill Guilty. I managed to save the minion by cheating a high card from hand. She struck again, but did not use a soulstone this time around. However, she either flipped a Rams or cheated one. As a result, Hannah now offered an extra card for hand size for both players. 

With Hannah and Arik now activated, Jack Daw was emboldened to charge Drachen Trooper so that it would not get its flamethrower to bear. Daw's damage was not... impressive, but at least he was able to land a curse on the Freikorps minion.

Von Schill walked within 3" of Nia and shot Catalan Brawler for some damage, scoring their first fracture point. Von Schill now locked in place, Montresor placed a second scheme for my second fracture point and charged Von Schill, not doing much. 

Freikorps Librarian kept healing Arik, while Drachen Trooper tried to poke a hole in Jack Daw. And did he, though! A Red Joker on damage. Jack Daw was quick to discard a card to... adjust the number slightly downwards to one. Dead Outlaw went to engage Arik.

Freikorps Engineer charged Catalan Brawler, who won the defense with Red Joker from deck. Cage Fighter resulted in maximum damage against the Engineer. Ouch.

Points went to 4-1 for Tormented with strategy for both, and Hold Up Their Forces and Dead Shot objective for global campaign.

Turn 3:

Von Schill. Jack Daw. Montresor. Lady Ligeia. Arik. Freikorps Engineer. What did all of them have in common at the start of turn 3? Yeah, stunned by Nia. 

At least Von Schill was able to shrug stun off. He gave Rocket Boots for Hannah with a free leap. He also did impressive damage on Montresor, who blocked those damages equally impressively with no net damage going in.

Same happened with Arik after Dead Outlaw had disengaged and started slogging through marshes.

Catalan Brawler had to heal himself again, and with the second remaining action point he tossed Jack Daw in the mud, removing Stunned from him.

This let Drachen Trooper free to shoot Lady Ligeia with flamethrower, killing her and setting Catalan Brawler on fire. He then proceeded to take cover inside a house with removable roof. 

Montresor just kept teasing people with ping damage. His own activations were rarely noteworthy, but that stagger sure kept buggering Freikorps.

On her own activation Hannah dropped a scheme and an explosive token, and after leaping Freikorpsmann did the same. 

Before Hannah had leaped, Jack Daw tried to do a clever activation - first by placing a scheme, the charging Librarian and finally doing a Careless Whisper imitation. It wasn't impressive I can tell - neither Hannah, Drachen Trooper, Librarian or Engineer were slowed by the disgraceful performance.

Auguste went to drop a bomb, while Midnight Stalker leaped and charged to murder Steam Trunk. Ahh, fine work of murderous art indeed. 

So, Montresor and Catalan Brawler had been blocking damage with soulstones or healing with Juggernaut way above expected curve. Of course I by then did not know what a double whammy it had on opponent's plan, as Let Them Bleed proved elusive.

Scores went 5-2 for Outcasts from strategies only.

Turn 4:

Freikorps finally tore through Tormented supply of soulstones, and was able to cut Montresor below half of his health remaining. 

Catalan Brawler, however, kept healing with severe results. But, Librarian and Hannah and who else were able to blast him below half of his health. 

Midnight Stalker took on bigger prey. After a trunk he found it appropriate to charge a Librarian, killing her. Jack Daw went to engage Drachen Trooper so that it would not cause trouble for my scheme markers. I considered trying to kill, but I was suspecting opponent had Let Them Bleed for their scheme. Killing a Demise burning +2 target was not ideal, so he tried to remove Engineer from board. Didn't happen, though. 

Auguste walks to place a scheme marker, while Dead Outlaw did the same with strategy marker. 

Both players got strategy, and Freikoprs took a leap in points, although still a 6-5 lead for Tormented.

Turn 5:

Von Schill had tried to shoot Midnight Stalker last turn, so to rob him of Let Them Bleed, Midnight Stalker leaped, walked and schemed its way to safety. 

I don't remember who opponent activated, but Auguste tried to follow Midnight Stalker as his crazed mirror image. He didn't want to move too far from Protected Territory scheme marker, so as a result he was not able to get past Von Schill's 14" range after all. However, it took most of Von Schill's activation to score a damage to Auguste, meaning I still had Dead Outlaw and Midnight Stalker completely uninjured, with Jack Daw a possibility to heal. Von Schill also gave Engineer a leap.

Montresor went back to engage Von Schill. Catalan Brawler and Montresor had been able to bring Engineer down to one health remaining, Thus he would die when he activates. Arik made a clever plan to get Charged Fists and try to push Montresor away from Engineer. Plan did not come into fruition because of cards. This meant no strategy point for Freikorps this turn. 

We ended game there, essentially in 9-6 victory for Tormented.

And Trust Was Broken Forever

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Corner Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: In Your Face. Take Prisoner, Hold Up Their Forces, Ensnare, Death Beds

My list:

Pipering Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny Wolcomb
Disease Containment Unit
Midnight Stalker
Rat Catcher
2x Winged Plague

Pool: 5
Schemes: In Your Face, Ensnare

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 3
Schemes: In Your Face, Hold Up Their Forces

Turn 1:

So we got a rather challenging map for this strategy. We picked our masters before map, so I was stuck with slow Hamelin2 & Benny machine. But hey! One of the one occasions where two Winged Plagues might be a real option.

Well, Rat Catcher, Benny, Winged Plague and Nix managed to place the required scheme marker for Benny with the help from Hamelin's Obey. But that was for the next turn. 

Because the buildings were blocking such a part of my corner of the table, most of my crew was stuck inside the bottom-right quarter. Nix took the lead, with Hamelin nearby. The piper managed to stun an Illuminated, woohoo. 

One Winged Plague was going up towards second strategy marker from top, and Midnight Stalker did Midnight Stalker things and got within easy distance of top-right strategy marker. 

At least it wasn't any easier for Honeypot. 

Mr. Graves was going towards bottom-left strategy marker with both Illuminated, Mr. Tannen and Lynch nearby. Tanuki offered Mr. Graves some foul-mouthed motivation. 

Kitty had given most of Honeypot crew some extra brilliance  and went right from their top-left corner deployment. Beckoner was running towards rightmost marker, while Hungering Darkness was the last model to activate from Honeypot. The biggie didn't go too far to the right and was nearing the second strategy marker from top. 

Turn 2:

Benny did a bunch of rats. This was when I realized I would not be able to Obey rats to forming a Rat King. So the earliest turn to get a Rat King was... three. Uh oh. 

A Winged Plague in south walked for a bit in between two houses and placed a scheme for potential Ensnaring of, say, Mr. Graves. This might have been a possibility if it wasn't for Jakokb Lynch shooting Benny Wolcomb with a Hungering Darkness. A perfect target to ensnare!

Well, at least if the Winged Plague hadn't just placed a scheme marker tad too far from Hungering Darkness. Hamelin had to activate, remove the scheme, obey Disease Containment Unit to interact a scheme marker and obey Nix to disengage. Would opponent activate Hungering Darkness next, or would Nix have time to scheme?

Yeah, opponent did just that. Hungering Darkness had been stunned so it's activation was not all that impressive, but I missed my opportunity to Ensnare. Fun fact: had Benny not cooked up a bunch of rats, I would've got the scheme.

Nix placed a scheme anyway and attempted a Bleeding Disease on Jakob's totem, failing at that. 

Kitty Dumont went to pick intel, and Winged Plague was able to claim one, too. Midnight Stalker followed suite, leaping to strategy marker and retreating behind house. Beckoner was able to run unopposed within 1" of the top-right strategy marker. 

Below, Mr. Graves took the bait and attacked another Winged Plague. Bait was... effective. Too effective, in fact, when Mr. Graves was able to pin down the plague bat with his fencepost in one strike. That lead to gross explosion, which enabled the dreaded kids to target Mr. Graves. 

Surely enough the spitting kids wreaked havoc once again. One of the kids spat two points off of Hungering Darkness, and another did a severe on Mr. Graves. Unfortunately heal from Tanuki was severe, too. 

Illuminated were just running towards action or concentrating, except for the one that picked up intel. Mr. Tannen kept taking his short, gentlemanly Mv4 walks towards action, still not quite getting Plague within Betrayal and Delirium aura. 

Both players scored strategy for a 1-1 tie.

Turn 3:

Thanks to spawns from last turn, opponent started with eight pass tokens. Hamelin1 certainly manages this a lot better.

Hungering Darkness started beating Benny right off the bat. Damage was being done. Soulstones were being used. And yet, Benny fell down to one health remaining. But I got my Ensnare. Woo hoo.

Fortunately I had plenty of  tomes in my hand, so Disease Containment Unit was able to offer some field meds for Benny, getting him back to four health. Throwing flame at Mr. Graves was a useless affair. 

Beckoner snatched a point of intel and activated pleasant distractions. Which was troublesome, as Midnight Stalker had a point of Brilliance from start of game. 

Benny tried to save his butt just by activating, trying to poke Hungering Darkness with his rusty sword. He did a whole lot of nothing, but at least got two points of Shielded from ending his activation.

By now Hungering Darkness had accumulated seven points of Blight, and opponent realized the risks involved there. Lynch drew his derringer, loaded it up and shot Tanuki in the back, teleporting Hungering Darkness into safety. Remaining attacks went into shooting Benny with a modicum of success. 

Rat Catcher managed to give moldy cheese for the remaining Winged Plague, which prompted Kitty to pick up intel in haste. As this brought strategy marker within interaction distance of the Winged Plague, it did just that and flew to charge Beckoner. No hits.

Illuminated models started to activate. They walked and used Scintillating Clouds on my swarm of weak models. After surviving the first volley, I got scared for the safety of my rats and formed a Rat King in haste.

Surprisingly, Benny survived this turn. He only took two attacks from Hungering Darkness, two shots by Jakob, two Scintillating Clouds and some despicable promises to face. However, he was at one health remaining, so he couldn't have done it without four soulstones he had to use, and Shielded+2 he got. 

Mr. Graves killed a rat, and kids kept spitting at the burly bouncer. Tanuki ran to bottom-left strategy marker and healed Mr. Graves with well placed albeit foul words. 

Both players scored strategy, and Outcasts had also revealed Ensnare for a 3-2 lead.

Turn 4:

I had a suspicion Ten Thunders might have In Your Face, as they had been focusing so much on Benny. My plan was to activate Benny first and run like hell. 

Too bad Ten Thunders won the initiative, and Benny was in a precarious position. Cheat? Take a point of damage. Flip a one? Take a point of damage. Yeah, he didn't survive Lynch's activation and opponent was able to declare their In Your Face. 

But it got worse. Quickly. Remaining shots went to Nix, who was brought down to one health remaining. 

So it was time for emergency medikit. Disease Containment Unit activated, pushed a couple of rats, Nix as far from danger as possible while also healing the dog for two, plus Hamelin a little closer to Mr. Graves. She was also able to burn Mr. Graves for a bit. 

Grave mister didn't run away. He had had enough of this trenchcoat that had an uncanny resemblance to three kids on top of each other. He struck Rat King with fencepost and brought it down to one health remaining. Not good news with regards to Black Blood. But some sacrifices had to be made. That was my six action points standing there, having only contributed to game one action point away from Mr. Graves.

Hamelin activated and did two Bleeding Diseases on the bouncer, killing him and Rat King in the process. In Your Face, I guess. Last action was another Bleeding Disease on Tanuki, bringing it down to one health and even stunning the little... thing. 

Mr. Tannen got furious over the death of his accomplice, and decided to come and knife a puppy. If you can call Nix a puppy. And wow, look at that. Back to one health remaining. 

I figured Nix didn't have much to lose, so he walked past Mr. Tannen and attempted to Drink Spirit. It succeeded, but both Illuminated and Mr. Tannen passed those tests with impunity. There goes nothing, Nix thought and bit Mr. Tannen. No ones out of deck, and attack hit without boosts. Mr. Tannen had only two points left after some kids had shown their appreciation, so both of the undercover Neverborns went down in the same turn. 

Tanuki was horrified and shivered like only a tiny, drunken critter can shiver in terror. It picked up intel and ran as far as possible from anyone's line of sight.

Kitty picked another intel after Rat Catcher had already activated. Winged Plague and Midnight Stalker tried to tickle the Beckoner, but Beckoner survived. 

Soon enough it became apparent why Illuminated didn't kill Nix.

Ten Thunders scored strategy and all their schemes, Hold Up Their Forces included. Outcasts got only In Your Face, so tides had turned into 4-5 lead for Ten Thunders.

Turn 5:

There was some hope in Nix not dying, because opponent needed a few of my models alive for Hold Up Their Forces. 

However, Illuminated wanted to pet the dog and they petted it hard. Real hard. Nix died before he was able to activate.

My brain had an accidental moment of flatulence when Midnight Stalker had already leaped away from Beckoner's melee range last turn. I kept thinking that I needed a high enough Masks for a leap to leap away and get to Ten Thunders deployment zone for In Your Face end condition. 

My plan was to start sacrificing children. They ran and charged and did whatever to block Illuminated from moving to engage Disease Containment Unit and Hamelin. Waves after waves children were turned into rats. Rats kept dying both because of my own attempts and the enemy.

However... it wasn't Illuminated that went to engage Hamelin and D.C.U. It was Hungering Darkness. With Looming Darkness trigger. A continuous barrage of derringer shots kept raining on Disease Containment Unit, and without the armor she would have died. 

But Hungering Darkness needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. So, Hamelin activated. He failed to stun the totem because scaary, but then proceeded to use Bleeding Disease on Hungering Darkness three times. Three, because on failed.

This left me out of options to even try to get both Ensnare and third point of strategy. Strategy seemed like safer bet, and Winged Plague, Rat Catcher and Disease Containment Unit managed to claim the intel required. 

Midnight Stalker ran to Ten Thunders deployment effortlessly, but so did Kitty Dumont. 

Game ended in 6-6 draw, with Ten Thunders getting only In Your Face and Outcasts strategy and In Your Face.

Only Tanuki lost.

Having been shot in the back by its own master, trust was broken forever. 

Oriax vs Ilari

 A 50 point game of Warmachine over War Table website.

My list:

Orgoth Sea Raiders
Oriax the Soul Slaver
-Ravener
-Jackal with Arc Node, Hunter Rifle and Pneumatic Spike
-Jackal with Arc Node, Pole Arm and Assault Shield
Gnashers
Assault Reavers
Grhotten Keeper

Opponent had:

Khador Winter Korps
Ilari
-Dire Wolf with Evasive, Bombard and Plow Shield
-Great Bear with Reposition, Heavy Cannon and Blasting Fist
Shock Trooper Gunners
Winter Korps Infantry with 2x Auto Cannon & Standard
Winter Korps Infantry with 2x Rocket Launcher & Standard
2x Battle Mechanik

Scenario was Wolves at our heels.

Khador started game. They had autocannon Korps at the left objective, another going towards their cache and my 40mm objective. Warjacks and warjacks were lumbering through a forest next to Khador deployment, just about in the middle. Shock Trooper Gunners were sitting behind forest. 

Orgoth had low model count from the get go. Most numerous Assault Reavers were holding my 40mm objective - a choice I'd later regret.

Oriax kept went into hiding behind a house with Windstorm up. Shielded Jackal variant had a lot on its shoulders - it was the only non-warcaster model from Orgoth going towards center-right. Another Jackal, Ravener and Grhotten Keeper were diving past the building from left. Gnashers were hugging for concealment and cover in Tall Grass far-left.

Windstorm covered Orgoth forces rather nicely, but most Assault Reavers were outside of it. This gave an oppoerunity for Rocket Launcher Korps to snipe the unit. Three out of five, gone. 

Great Bear was able to dent shielded Jackal a little, but other than that there was no damage done. Dire Wolf went to contest both 50mm objectives with Great Bear behind a crater in the middle. Mechaniks and Shock Troopers were there as overseen by Ilari in the bushes. 

Auto Cannon Korps were happy just controlling their 40mm objective. 

It was time for Oriax to change into Star Crossed. 

Since Assault Reavers had made such a poor job at thinning down the Rocket Launcher Korps, Oriax tried to offer his help by taking at least one of them down with Icy Grip.

Grhotten Keeper and Ravener had to advance to contest one of center objectives. Ravener had gone within easy walking distance of Dire Wolf. I was more afraid of the thing than I should have, as its melee capabilities weren't that big of a deal. 

Rifle Jackal managed to shoot down one Mechanik, and Gnashers continued to find their way towards enemy 40mm marker.

My foresight had been way off, as Dire Wolf attempted to slam Oriax. While the Wolf had Superiority cast on it, hitting a Def 15 target behind an obstacle under Star Crossed wasn't easy. In fact, it failed. 

Unfortunately Rocket Launcher Korps were able to remove last two Assault Reavers, thus claiming my objective for themselves in the coming turns. 

Great Bear tried to take a shot at Oriax, although that shot was essentially impossible. 

While Gnashers had concealment, Auto Cannon Korps had aiming bonus. They managed to fell two of the berserkers, and Ilari came to snipe off the last one. Yay. I only had Oriax to control 40mm objectives now.

Jackal that had gone to contest center-right objective had to relocate to beat Rocket Launcher Korps. 

Oriax removed Superiority with Hex Blast and cast Star Crossed. Ravener walked to block LoS to Oriax as well as it could, and then wrecked Dire Wolf, even having focus to spare after that. 

Grhotten Keeper was able to run to contest opponent's 40mm marker, so at least Wolves at the Heels extra points were thus denied. Rifle Jackal failed to kill contesting Battle Mechanic from center-left objective, leaving Orgoth a point behind on scenario.

Great Bear attempter to slam rifle Jackal away from center-left objective, but again Star Crossed ruined the slam. 

Last remaining Rocket Launcher Korps ran to control my 40mm objective, after which Shock Trooper Gunners made their lethal debut in the battle. After six barrels, shielded Jackal was no more. 

Grhotten was far tougher nut to crack. Even after a 6,6 damage roll and a sniper shot from Ilari the thing was still contesting enemy objective, although with only five health remaining. 

Orgoth were struggling, as in scenario Khador had two points over Orgoth.

Oriax was able to kill the two Rocket Launcher Korps with a Hex Blast. However, Jackal and Ravener were not able to wreck Great Bear, which essentially dropped Orgoth out of the game.

Khador was able to secure three points next turn, so all I could attempt was a lucky shot against Ilari. Ilari was essentially Def 18, Arm 19 and sixteen health target for a meager Rat 5, Pow 13 Hunter Rifle meaning Jackal would need astronomical rolls to kill Ilari.

The shot barely hit - but it did hit. With critical brutal damage. And damage roll was, in fact, stellar! But, it was not astronomical. Ilari was left with four health remaining, and Orgoth lost to scenario.