McCabe at it again

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Espionage, Take Prisoner, Outflank, In Your Face, Power Ritual

My list:

Leveticus & 2x Hollow Waifs
Rusty Alyce
Ashes and Dust
Marlena Webster
2x Scavenger
2x Abomination

Pool: 4
Schemes: Espionage, Take Prisoner (Rough Rider)

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Tomb Delver & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Mr. Ngaatoro
2x Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Hopeful Prospect

Pool: 4
Schemes: Outflank, Espionage

Turn 1:

Wastrels advanced from around flanks, with Rough Rider (prisoner) and Ruffian on the left, and another Rough Rider with Hopeful Prospect on the right. 

I didn't have much of an idea how Leveticus plays, but I do certainly like to bait people with master. Leveticus peeked from behind a size 2 stone terrain near center-right strategy marker, chuckling like the merry old timer he is. 

Scavengers had scavenged high cards from discard pile and pushed models around with weird devices. One of the scavengers was unfortunately positioned so that Lucas might  have stunned Leveticus with a blast from pepper box. However, Scavenger was an able-bodied tough-as-nails target well capable of defending himself, so it came as no surprise that Lucas McCabe just would not hit even with two tries.

Sidir took as two damage from Leveticus, Leveticus two from Sidir. Sounds fair to me. Leveticus was delayed, which was a bit of a bummer.

Marlena healed what she had taken from Leveticus when he had activated, and formed a nasty clump of tightly hugging models for all the blasts opponent had available. 

Ngaatoro tried to talk Scavenger into attacking Leveticus - and succeeded at that. The attack, however, missed. 

Rusty Alyce and an Abomination had placed scheme markers to my deployment zone. Ashes and Dust dived past centerline, attempting to kill Ruffian that was denying taking Rough Rider as a prisoner. No such luck. 

Turn 2:

Sidir opened the turn by opening fire on Leveticus. And what a terrifying activation it was - even with negative modifiers Sidir first flipped severe damage, and moderate damage right next. Marlena and Scavenger nearby were both wounded heavily, not to mention the old guy himself. I wasn't ready to lose Leveticus that fast, so he had to activate and leech one Abomination to get back to seven. 

But that Unmaking... sheesh. I love Leveticus already. Hopeful Prospect kept shooting Leveticus. Rough Rider on the right kept shooting Leveticus, each just dealing heavy damage to themselves. Combined with Marlena around Leveticus survived a ridiculous amount of punishment from minimum 2 models.

Marlena had to activate not to die too soon. She even managed to wither Mr. Ngaatoro for a bit, but this only infuriated the bully. Note to self: Mr. Ngaatoro is Leveticus' worst enemy. Neurotoxins completely shut off my master's potential to tilt people. 

Ruffian wasn't able to land any hits on Leveticus, but Lucas McCabe charged the grampa and eventually managed to whip the old-timer dead. Nurses, doctors, grandmother and grandfathers, kids of various sorts - undead kids, living kids, mentally impaired people, and even puppies have been whipped dead by this monster of a man. I implore... can nobody stop him? Anybody?

When a Hollow Waifcracked open like an eggshell and a new grandfather crawled out of there, I bet Lucas took firm notice and maybe even salivated a little. 

Injured Scavenger went to shoot Hopeful Prospect with a shotgun, making him merely a Prospect with one health remaining. 

One of the Abominations ran to deny healing and hopefully cause enough trouble with Entropy aura in the middle. McCabe, however, had cracked his whip with a trigger that left me unable to contest center-right strategy marker. At least another scavenger was able to go and claim center-left marker.

Rusty Alyce ran on top of centerline, while Rough Rider and Ruffian on the left kept attacking Ashes and Dust. Rough Rider also dropped a scheme that was later removed to score Outflank.

However, Ashes and Dust scored a lucky Necrotic Decay against Ruffian with its first action. It brought Ashes and Dust down to four health, but got me a chance at taking the rider as a prisoner. 

Both players scored strategy, Explorers got Outflank and Outcasts had Take Prisoner for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

So, another Malifaux achievement unlocked. Both players flip Red Joker for initiative. Explorers win thanks to unused pass token.

Mr. Ngaatoro put his best effort into killing Marlena Webster, barely failing at that. This forced Marlena to activate right away and heal herself with Aetheric Healing. 

A Ruffian tried to attack a nearby Abomination, but didn't do much else than throw Timeworn Blade for Lucas McCabe. Precarious situation indeed - Marlena at four, Leveticus at four, one Abomination at two and the other at four. To protect my more valuable models, Abomination with four health remaining tried to engage McCabe. 

And then Lucas activated and did a horrifying activation. He donned Phantasmal Mask and started whipping around. Abomination died with one hit, thanks to the rams suit. He charged the 14-15 old orphan with a teddy bear, killing her instantly. Pepper Box shot killed the Abomination at two, and even the last shot from Pepper Box would have hit Leveticus if I hadn't cheated my highest card to the duel. 

Absolutely devastating. 

Leveticus activated and tried to kill Mr. Ngaatoro with some irreducible damage. He was able to get only weak damages in, and one attack missed so the big bully was still alive after Leveticus' activation. 

After Hopeful Prospect and Rough Rider on the right had missed all their shots against already injured Scavenger, the unsung hero activated and failed Weird Device on himself. He had to walk au naturel and waste an action point to get Mr. Ngaatoro in LoS. At least the shotgun shot hit home, and even a spent soulstone did not help the henchman. So at least an important model went down from Explorer's, too. 

The prisoner Rough Rider rode away from Ashes and Dust and tried to shoot it, missing. 

Luna dug up Phantasmal Mask for Sidir, so another Scavenger tried to discourage Sidir from shooting by blasting Luna right next to him with a refurbished shotgun. He got a severe, reducing Sidir down to two health remaining. Yay.

Sidir activated and managed to flip a Red Joker for heal. Noooo. Opponent's deck had just been  reshuffled.

Fortunately Sidir messed up most of his attacks. It was only the third attack that actually hit Scavenger and dealt minimum damage... but that was done with Masks. Only Rusty Alyce was in Sidir's range and sight, and he took that shot. Boom. Severe. 

Ah well, could have been worse. 

Hollow Waif was able to shoot the hope out of Prospect, this time eternally.

Rusty Alyce had placed a scheme marker to centerline, and Ashes and Dust was free to do the same to enemy deployment zone, thus securing Espionage. 

Explorers hadn't really explored vaults all that much and missed their strategy point this turn, while Ashes and Dust claimed a point for Outcasts for a 4-2 lead for Leveticus.

Turn 4:

Rusty Alyce placed a scheme marker for Espionage end condition and took a shot at Sidir, bringing him down to two health remaining. Again. I forget who opponent activated, but as it wasn't Sidir, Scavenger at the center-left strategy marker tried to get rid of the threat.

Which was Luna, obviously. Yeah, I was a bit too greedy there, as I wanted to kill the dog and Sidir with one attack. But only doggy died. Last attack went to Sidir, but did not connect. 

Sidir activated and drew a severe for juggernaut heal. Sigh. 

At least damage wasn't all that excessive, just one point to Alyce and Scavenger. 

Lucas, having such an adrenaline rush from killing granpa's and teens and tormented amalgamated undead little weaklings, charged Scavenger at center-left after Ruffian had placed a scheme marker and tossed Timeworn Blade for Lucas. But healthy adults don't seem to be Lucas' forte, and he missed three times. Last attack did hit and left Scavenger at one health remaining. 

Eventually Rough Rider had to ride to contest center-left marker and finish the Scavenger. 

As I had lost my chance at scoring strategy this turn, Ashes and Dust went to place a scheme marker deeper into enemy deployment zone for Espionage end condition. 

Rough Rider was unable to kill the Scavenger that had injured down to three health remaining early on turn two, but Hollow Waif and the remaining Scavenger were just as useless in killing the rider. 

Leveticus, who had two health by now, went down to one as he discarded a low card with Sanguine Evocations. He took a walk and a charge, trying to kill Ruffian at the center-right strategy marker. He scored only two points of damage, but the most important thing was to contest center-right marker, thus robbing Explorers a second strategy point.

Nobody got points this turn, so scores continued at 4-2 for Outcasts.

Turn 5:

We decided to continue until result was clear. And that was first activation, when Scavenger managed to kill Rough Rider at right, making Outflank pretty much impossible. 

So it was about a 5-3 victory for Leveticus.