Two summer games of Malifaux in the pine woods of Kuhmo, both were 50ss.
Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives
Schemes: In Your Face, Death Beds, Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual, Espionage
My list:
Ensouled Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Kari Zotiko
Midnight Stalker
Auguste Hart
Hanged
Prospector
2x Guilty
Pool: 3
Schemes: Sweating Bullets (Hanged), Espionage
Opponent had:
Dark Bet Lynch & Hungriest Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Graves
Kara
Soul Battery
2x Illuminated
Tanuki
Pool: 3
Schemes: Sweating Bullets (Gwyneth), In Your Face
Turn 1:
Since scheme pool had Power Ritual, I remembered to bluff it - top left Midnight Stalker, and bottom-left Prospector.
Top looked somewhat problematic, when there was pretty much only a Guilty and Midnight Stalker there, all of whom had explosive tokens. Against them, there was Mr. Graves and an Illuminated. So, Auguste had rather unpleasant job of running to engage Mr. Graves.
Once the second Illuminated committed to center after Lynch had activated his aura, Jack Daw walked and charged the Illuminated. He managed to land the hazardous upgrade and even deal four points of damage in hopes of luring Hungering Darkness in the middle for Hanged to score Sweating Bullets.
That plan failed miserably, because Hungering Darkness did a full run & charge maneuver right to Hanged, who had already activated and whispered forbidden upgrades for Jakob. Otherwise good, I guess, but Hanged wasn't within 6" of center point.
Fortunately Kari Zotiko was able to come and heal the damage Hungering Darkness had caused, and whistle a walk for Hanged.
Kara was approaching from the bottom-right, and Gwyneth and gone to center, staying just outside of hazardous aura of middle Illuminated.
Tanuki was supporting middle, and Soul Battery was with Mr. Graves and Illuminated on top.
Turn 2:
But opponent just wouldn't leave it at that! Lynch activated, walked and charged Hanged, but damage was blocked. Although first Illuminated had to deal with her anger issues, just walking around and concentrating hard.
In the center, Gwyneth walked past the wall and charged Jack Daw, dealing a couple points of damage.
Lady Ligeia had exposed herself by walking into middle. Jack Daw healed Hanged for a bit, bought Masks and attacked Illuminated, pushing himself within 4" of Illuminated, Lynch, Gwyneth and Hungering Darkness. It's a shame I did not buy Rams for the upcoming Draw Them In, as Hungering Darkness, Lynch and Illuminated all failed the Mv checks.
On top, Illuminated and Guilty went to place a strategy markers while Midnight Stalker did his thing, placing scheme on the centerline and speeding towards opponents deployment.
Auguste was able to slap five points of damage in to Mr. Graves despite negative fate modifiers. Tanuki had to patch up the bouncer as best as it could before Mr. Graves missed all of his attacks.
Bottom, Kara walked and tried to pounce on Kari. She failed, and instead charged Prospector, missing the attack completely.
The round felt... wrong, because of the disparity of our flips. I scored severe and moderate damages with negative modifiers, blocked damage with severes and moderates and at least connected pretty much every attack I made.
Opponent, on the other hand, missed every attack of Mr. Graves, Kara and Gwyneth, and half of Lynchs' attack as well. When he dealt damage, it was minimum or black joker.
However, it's rare to see this uniform lines in Malifaux. All but perhaps one model fits inside a 4" or 5" wide corridor.
Both players scored strategy, and Outcasts got Sweating Bullets for a 2-1 lead for Jack Daw.
Turn 3:
Auguste tickled Mr. Graves down to two health remaining. Tanuki failed to heal the bouncer, but did manage to remove Distracted. And finally Mr. Graves had had enough of chasing ghosts, and offered a deep dive interview to Auguste from his fencepost. Auguste died in two hits. Another Guilty charged Mr. Graves, bringing him down to one health remaining. Unfortunately Soul Battery was there to bring Mr. Graves over the Hard-to.Kill threshold before sacrificing himself for two soulstones.
In the center, hot damn I had not realized how awesome counter Kari or even Hanged's heal reduction aura is to Luck Thief! Hanged had activated early to activate his aura, so both Gwyneth and Lynch we vulnerable now like never before.
Illuminated was able to heal herself a bit and steam off her anger issues with focused concentration.
Jack Daw used all of his actions to kill Lynch. He might have had some actions to spare if he didn't have to cheat to succeed at Draw Them In, with the brilliance gained from that pushing him out of range from Gwyneth and Hungering Darkness. Final blow came from Unquiet Soul.
Hungering Darkness considered Kari an easier prey than Hanged, but the attacks dealt in only weaks. Kari activated and healed herself, plus tried to smack the henchman leader for a bit now that it wasn't able to heal.
Prospector pushed himself out of melee, walked to centerline and dropped a scheme marker after Kara had missed all attacks against him.
So that was a second unfortunate turn for Ten Thunders in a row.
Outcasts scored strategy and Espionage, while Ten Thunders got Sweating Bullets with Gwyneth for a 4-2 lead for Jack Daw.
Turn 4:
Mr. Graves survived against all odds, but at least Tanuki died against all odds. Jack Daw finally got his Guilt of the Many train running. Tanuki had to pay for the sins of everyone involved. Mr. Graves dropped an explosive, as did Kara. Lucky Guilty from last turn was able to pick up strategy marker that an Illuminated had left.
Hungering Darkness had been unlucky thus far in its attacks, but that all changed this turn when it was able to kill Kari and use its heal action before Hanged had activated Entropic Curse. Oh well. I was not in a position to complain.
Midnight Stalker spawned all of his remaining strategy marker and scheme markers without anyone able to contest.
In the middle Gwyneth took small steps in getting closer to my deployment zone for In Your Face end condition, and Illuminated tried all it might on removing Lady Ligeia - but Lady didn't even flinch.
Outcasts scored strategy, and so did Ten Thunders with In Your Face to boot for a 5-4 lead for Jack Daw.
Turn 5:
As it was such a struggle for Ten Thunders, we did not play until the very end. When Jack Daw removed opponent's third strategy marker, it was about 7-5 game over for Jakob.
Game 2:
Strategy: Flank Cloak and Dagger
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Ensnare, Protected Territory, Outflank, Espionage
My list:
Hamelin the Piper & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny Wolcomb
Hans with Wanted Criminal
Tunnel Rats
Rat Catcher
Winged Plague
Malifaux Rat
Pool: 6
Schemes: Protected Territory, Espionage
Opponent had:
Charles Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Joss
Melissa
Peacekeeper
Hunter
Medical Automaton
2x Watcher
Pool: 2
Schemes: Protected Territory, Ensnare
Turn 1:
Hamelin was able to obey a Hunter back to enemy deployment zone.
Supercharged Peacekeeper, however, was a bit of a problem. It hit with harpoon gun and moved plague master to a distressing position behind a wall, with closest models being the Peacekeeper and already activated Hoffman.
Benny conjured up some rats and walked forward to perhaps save Hamelin next turn. Hired Malifaux Rat formed the Rat King.
Both augmented Watchers speeded towards strategy markers nearest to outflank corners, so I thought opponent might have that scheme. Hans brandished his clockwork rifle and took aim - missing the bat completely.
Winged PLague had placed an Espionage scheme to my deployment zone, and Tunnel Rats were inside a fog bank and near blocking terrain to mayhaps leap to score schemes next turn.
Guild had Melissa and Hunter flankin from top, Joss from below center and the big guys with supporting models in the middle, enjoying the fiddling performance Hamelin was putting out for them dangerously close.
Turn 2:
Joss was such a terrifying Nix-killer that the Rat King just ran to block Joss' charge lane to the good boy. With 0" melee range Rat King wasn't in reach to declare a charge. Joss was content on beating up the three kids in a trenchcoat, but landed only two points of damage.
Center saw some odd action. Hoffman overcharged Peacekeeper once more, walked closer and attacked Hamelin with enhanced blowtorch, setting the piper's cape in flames.
That was not enough to stop him from piping, though. First he stunned Peacekeeper with Piper's Influence, and then obeyed it away with 2" push and 4" walk, behind Medical Automaton so that at least one action would be wasted on a walk. He also obeyed Nix to walk a little forward behind a strategy marker and Rat King. He also obeyed Rat Catcher forward.
Medical Automaton attacked Peacekeeper to use Bedside Manner - it never occurred to me that it is possible to use the ability this way, too - to place it in front of it. The bot also removed Stunned, so Hamelin was in deep trouble.
Benny sacrificed himself and walked and charged Peacekeeper. And even after four attacks, Benny was still standing with three health to boot! Although that was mostly due to one damage block being Red Joker.
Hunter also spent its entire activation shooting Benny, bringing him down to one health and depleting all of Plague's soulstones. Two surprise shots by Mechanical Attendant later Benny was gone. Might have been the noblest thing he ever did in his life.
Nix had activated Loose Bowels, interacted an intel and placed a scheme marker on the centerline for Espionage.
Throughout the turn toll on my hand had been heavy, and in an attempt to save Benny I had cheated every 8+ card from my hand. I needed more to secure scheme points this turn.
So, a Stolen walked forward and spat at something before splitting into two rats. Another Stolen, then, charged one of those rats and managed to kill it for a card draw. A three. Not good. So, despite Hamelin being in such a precarious position, second Stolen used Inevitable Fate and became two rats. And YES. It was no more and no less than the exact eight needed. Unfortunately not Crows, but that would have to do.
After Melissa had shot Winged Plague dead that had flown into a cloud to get intel, Tunnel Rats used their teleports action and failed the check. Two kids, your sacrifices were not in vain. Tunnel Rats teleported to Guild deployment zone to place a scheme. Rat Catcher went to place a second marker to center line.
Phew. What a turn. Both players scored strategy, and Espionage for Plague, Protected Territory for Guild. It was a 2-2 tie.
Turn 3:
This... was not good, after all. Peacekeeper decided to ditch the effort and go after Tunnel Rats. Luckily enough the Rats survived, but only with three health remaining. Some combination of a Hunter and Melissa removed this super important model from me.
Before all this happened, though, I had tried to block Peacekeeper's movement with Malifaux Rats, but there were only two of them. Medical Automaton and Mechanical Attendant were plenty enough to remove those.
At least opponent had used good cards in accomplishing all of that, so Joss had to beat Rat King with no cards, and he had also been slowed by Rat King's ability. No damage to Plague, but Rat King landed three hits on Joss. Nix also charged the henchman to get within interaction range of a strategy marker, but failed to kill Joss. However, he was seriously injured and would have to go down next turn.
Hans didn't do anything of note, and even the Watcher he had damaged last turn was able to hide behind a dense cloud. Why am I paying this guy?
Plague was struggling with strategy markers, and were not able to score strategy this turn. But Guild had no such problems thanks to Hans' magnificent performance. Scores went to 3-2 lead for Guild.
Turn 4:
Rat King nibbled Joss dead with just one bite, and thus had a chance to aid in scoring Protected Territory next turn.
Nix picked up Intel and moved along with the strategy marker.
Hamelin had disengaged by stunning Hoffman into a hazardous marker, obeyed Hans and likely also gave an attack for Rat King before it had killed Joss.
Rat Catcher picked up intel and tried to place itself behind Melissa so that Hunter would not get a clear shot at him. Unfortunately Peacekeeper was able to get a lane to charge him, that meant no points for me this turn from strategy.
Thanks to Hans, or should we say Hamelin, neither did opponent. He was able to collect two intel this turn because he had been so busy with killing my models.
Painstakingly opponent spawned scheme markers in the middle with Hoffman and Medical Automaton. I didn't think much of it as I had completely forgotten there was Ensnare in the pool. Looking at the picture now it's... kind of obvious, isn't it?
However, Hamelin had already activated, so points stayed at 3-2.
Turn 5:
It's turn five, and Hans scored his first OWN kill in the game by shooting top-right Watcher dead. This actually had an effect in the game as because of activation orders, Guild just could not get three intel this turn either. But neither did Outcasts, as Mechanical Attendant came to steal the intel Nix had.
Hamelin obeyed Nix to interact a scheme marker into enemy deployment, and that's when opponent scored Ensnare.
Melissa went to secure Protected Territory end condition, and Medical Automaton placed a scheme marker that was hugged by Hoffman.
Rat King walked to place a scheme marker deep in the enemy table side, and Nix charged right past Mechanical attendant to place a second scheme for Protected Territory whatever condition.
Scores went to 5-4 victory for Guild.
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