Survival Elections

 A 50ss game of Malifaux, 3rd edition. My intention was to use options that I have used less often, and that I can't use in 4th edition. 

Strategy: Standard Cursed Objects

Schemes: Breakthrough, Load 'em Up, In Your Face, Spread Them Out, Leave Your Mark

My list:

Leveticus & 2x Hollow Waif
Yannic Waller
Ashes and Dust
Marlena Webster
Hard Stop Herbert
2x Catalan Rifleman
Abomination

Pool: 5
Schemes: Load' Em Up (schemes), In Your Face

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Peacekeeper
Guild Steward
Hunter
Warden
2x Watcher

Pool: 5
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Leave Your Mark

Turn 1:

Hollow Waifs spent their activations concentrating, while Hoffman loaded up Peacekeeper, Melissa and Attendant, before double-walking to the center of the board. Mechanical Attendant slammed a piece of destructible hazardous terrain to open up way for Peacekeeper.

Yannic Waller tried to take a cautious walk, taking cover from a wall and consolidating a Catalan Rifleman closer. 

Melissa punished Yannic with her gatling gun, dealing in a total of three damage after a damage block..I got worried for her safety, because Peacekeeper was yet to keep its peace for the turn. Marlena Webster took a double walk inside tall grass to tether Yannic's soul.

However, Peacekeeper was more into leaving a lasting mark, and took a double walk to place a scheme marker near center point. 

There were now Peacekeeper, Hoffman and Melissa near each other in the center. Although Guild Stewanuki and Mechanical Attendant were also near the trio, they had already activated. Catalan Rifleman was able to stun both Peacekeeper and Hoffman before Leveticus activated. Hoo boy. First action point was to transfer some of Hollow Waif's essence for Yannic Waller, and then blast Peacekeeper twice with Unmaking. After he was done, Peacekeeper was down to two health remaining.

One Watcher was hugging both table edges. Warden was kind of aiding the one to the right, and Hunter was with the left one. Ashes and Dust took a walk+charge at the left Watcher, dealing just one point of damage, but scoring Like the Wind for some additional movement.

Another Catalan Rifleman landed a solid two-pointer on rightmost Watcher. Augmented saw Hard Stop Herbert rolling slightly past centerline on the right, and they were hating. Oh dear. That meme betrays my age. Anyway, he dropped a scheme there. Abomination was on the same flank, trying to figure out what to do.

Turn 2:

Augmented won initiative, and so Hoffman activated. He took a walk to get near Peacekeeper and healed it for four. 

Before Watchers would do something annoying like drop their cursed token on my models, Ashes and Dust activated and secured a strategy point for me, along with a scheme marker.

Guild Steward healed Peacekeeper back to full and removed its stun. Oh well. There's plenty more irreducible damage where it came from. To keep Peacekeeper within 3" of Hoffman for In Your Face, Yannic decided to sacrifice herself for democracy. She walked near Hoffman and blasted democratic elections, healing herself, Catalan Rifleman and Leveticus, while damaging Hoffman, Peacekeeper and Warden.

Her sacrifice was in vain, though, since Peacekeeper wanted to keep peace elsewhere. It walked, charged and flurried Marlena Webster... dead. Strategy point for Augmented. So, Leveticus would have to get within 3" of the thing, then.

I started trying to soften it up first, and Catalan Rifleman was indeed able to flip a double severe with negative modifiers. I think he also stunned somebody, perhaps Melissa. However, Mechanical Attendant took a double walk to heal Peacekeeper for a bit.

So... Leveticus walked and charged in, right on top of Marlena's corpse. He managed to flip a double severe with negative modifiers with double Necrotic Decay. Boom. Peacekeeper gone. Then he casually unmade Mechanical Attendant dead. Ew. That's all I have to say. Eww. However, Leveticus was now at four health remaining without Augmented having dealt even one point. It was all my own handiwork.

Melissa and Warden dealt with Yannic, bringing her down to one health remaining. 

Hunter was speeding towards my deployment zone.

Hard Stop Herbert pushed onward, dropped a scheme near Watcher on the right, and charged the steel pterodactyl, not doing much.

The Watcher disengaged and flew to receive cover from my remaining attacks. But Catalan Rifleman didn't shoot it - he took a double walk behind a cage, where centerline meets the table edge. Hollow Waif walked and siphoned Watcher instead, but dealing only one point of damage, so it now had just one point remaining. Unfortunately Abomination that had ran to Herbert's first scheme wasn't close enough to cover Watcher inside Entropy aura.

Hunter kept creeping towards my deployment zone, which had me believe opponent might have picked Breakthrough.

So, Amalgam got their In Your Face, but so did Augmented get their Leave Your Mark. Both got strategy points for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

Augmented got initiative again, and decided to fly with the Watcher who had one point remaining to place a scheme.

Yannic had to activate to advocate for democracy again, giving her the sorely needed health point to get her above Hard-to-Kill threshold. Other than that she didn't do much, except drain action points from opponent. Because of Hard-to-Kill, it took both Melissa and Warden to kill her. Melissa did shoot Catalan Rifleman down to one health remaining. I wanted to try to save him, and brought Abomination in to the fray instead. Unfortunatly it was only able to get Warden within no-heal aura, but at least it took Hoffman's entire activation. Augmented got their strategy point that way. 

Either the Catalan Rifleman at one health or Hollow Waif to the right killed Watcher, scoring strategy for Amalgam.

Hunter did a scheme marker NOT in my deployment zone, so it wasn't the breakthrough I suspected. Now my guess was all spread out. 

Hard Stop Herbert climbed on top of hill to place a scheme marker, while the Catalan Rifleman hiding behind a cage did the same. Ashes and Dust dropped sixth marker.

Leveticus took a double walk out from tall grass, and charged in between Hoffman, Melissa and Warden. At the end of turn. Warden went down to one health remaining.

Guild Steward only healed Warden for a bit, and went to place a scheme marker suspiciously more than 10" away from both Watcher's scheme, and one that Hunter placed earlier this turn. 

So, Augmented got their Spread Them Out, but so did Amalgam get their Load 'Em Up. Both got strategy for a 4-4 tie.

Turn 4:

Leveticus wrecked Warden for strategy point, and dealt some damage to Melissa. As he was engaging both Melissa and Hoffman, he was quite annoyingly there, blocking interacts. And he had used Necrotic Decay to get to two health remaining, so a very juicy target indeed. Somehow Hoffman had to spend all of his action points in killing the old man, before he got teleported to Hollow Waif to the right. 

Since Melissa was now unengaged, I was worried that she might do some miraculous flips and yeet Leveticus to the Waif on the left, so Hard Stop Herbert took a point of falling damage, Onward and walk to stand in front of Leveticus. 

Melissa did indeed try after dropping a scheme marker, and dealt moderate with negative modifiers against Herbert. No blast trigger though.

Guild Steward also dropped a scheme marker and walked into position to do even more next turn. Hunter dropped a marker and went to tease Hollow Waif. Hollow Waif teased Hunter back, and tried to position so that Deadly Pursuit couldn't be used to best effect.

Ashes and Dust just kept hanging around in the enemy deployment zone.

My easiest curse token targets had been the Catalan Riflemen, but the one who had a single point of health left had started running towards bottom-right corner, and was out of reach. The other one was hiding behind the cage. Warden had carried a curse token, so Amalgam gained a narrow lead of 5-4.

Turn 5:

Melissa did the unimaginable, and walked and charged to take a shot at the Catalan Rifleman who was literally in contact with two table edges. And scored the kill. 

Opponent was able to place all and every scheme marker for Leave Your Mark and Spread Them Out without me being able to do anything to that. Ashes and Dust got In Your Face uncontested.

However, the other Catalan Rifleman took a double walk to Melissa and bonus action interacted her his own curse token. Herbert charged Melissa, but she was able to block all damage with soulstones.

So, it was Leveticus' job to deal the last remaining three wounds in. However... there was a 13 and Red Joker coming up with Sanguine Evocations, so game was pretty much decided there and then. Leveticus unmade Melissa and took a double walk to get within three scheme markers for a close 8-7 victory for Outcasts.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Covert Operations

Schemes: Load 'Em Up, Set the Trap, In Your Face, Catch and Release, Public Demonstration

My list:

Hamelin, the Piper & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny Wolcomb
Yannic Waller
Fumigator
Disease Containment Unit
Tunnel Rats
Malifaux Child

Pool: 4
Schemes: Set the Trap, Public Demonstration (Malifaux Child, DCU, Fumigator)

Opponen had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 3
Schemes: Catch & Release (Illuminated), Set the Trap

Turn 1:

At least Gwyneth, Mr. Tannen, Mr. Graves, Lynch and Tanuki were funneling though a narrow gap from the center of their deployment zone. Gwyneth had been moved around by various effects so that she was able to go to center-left strategy marker and drop a scheme marker.

Catching and Releasing Illuminated was going towards center-right strategy marker along with Hungering Darkness. Beckoner was almost hugging the table edge and running towards top-right strategy marker. Bottom-left was covered by the other Illuminated.

I realized I had not remember to hire a Malifaux Rat to my crew to do the final act of coronation. But I still carried on with the task of making enough rats to form a Rat King. 

Tunnel Rats and Fumigator placed one scheme markers and traveled towards the upper half of the board. Yannic Waller was leading the way. She took a point of burning along the way from hazardous terrain, because Fumigator and Tunnel Rats had managed to block other ways.

After placing her own scheme marker, Disease Containment Unit managed to lure a rat out of Fumigator's scheme marker with Rapid Response. 

Malifaux Child slapped the fourth marker and went to benefit from concealment from inside the tall grass. 

Nix went kind of halfway between bottom-left and center-left strategy marker. 

Hamelin took a walk forward and removed the scheme marker Gwyneth had placed, before obeying Mr. Graves to charge Tanuki. Bwahahaha. Unfortunately the little **** didn't die to fencepost-to-face.

Benny did a bunch of rats and walked on top of a hill.

Turn 2:

... and that was eight pass tokens for Ten Thunders. 

Hungering Darkness walked and charged Yannic Waller, slapping  her for severe damage. So she was at one health remaining, and burning. Fortunately democracy saved the day! Or... at least the turn. She did the elections and healed her back to two.

Beckoner went to top-right strategy marker and placed a scheme marker. Tunnel Rats did the same. 

Catch-and-releasing Illuminated walked near center-right strategy marker and tried to scintillate clouds somewhere. Benny, who was able to snatch Fast from a free scheme marker, walked within 2" of center-right marker and started shooting the Illuminated without much of a result.

Mr. Tannen, Mr. Graves, Lynch and Gwyneth claimed the center, re-establishing a scheme marker. Lynch was able to shoot respectable damage in to Hamelin with unrespectable Derringer.

Disease Containment Unit had been slowed by Hungering Darkness, so she wasn't able to move far enough to score Public Demonstration. Malifaux Child couldn't either. 

Rats formed into Rat King and tried to get closer to action with its two actions - remaining vigor from a delicious cheese offered by Stolen.

Last Illuminated went to bottom-left strategy marker and placed a scheme marker there.

Fumigator and Nix went to place required markers for Set the Trap. Hamelin obeyed Disease Containment Unit and Malifaux Child near Jakob Lynch. 

Outcasts managed to get both of their schemes, and claimed top-right strategy marker. Opponent took center-left, which seemed to be a hotspot to contest.

Scorest went 3-1 in favor or Hamelin.

Turn 3:

Since there was no tanukis nearby, Mr. Graves applied fencepost to Malifaux Child for lethal results. 

Rat King wanted to avenge the boy, and did get three attacks out to Mr. Graves, bringing him down to one health remaining. But Tanuki cheered him up above Hard-to-Kill threshold.

Benny Wolcomb went fast again and charged Illuminated that was holding center-right strategy marker. My intent was to kill the thing and claim that marker, but Benny did only like two points of damage. Tunnel Rats teleported nearby and tried to shoot the Illuminated with trench gun, without much of a result. Irony here was that I essentially offered Ten Thunders their Catch & Release this way. Oh well.

Yannic Waller managed to activate before Hungering Darkness, and used the power of democracy to survive for yet another turn. Hungering Darkness did bring her back down to one health remaining, though, and she still had burning. Fumigator had to assist that away for her not to die.

Gwyneth had done quite the move. She managed to call Hamelin, Disease Containment Unit and Rat King to play at her table - Hamelin being far from Stolen now, with only five or seven health remaining. I think she did some additional damage in to Plague master, so not only one but two Stolen had to walk close by. But even so, Hamelin decided to ditch the situation and went  outside of Boring Conversation range. He obeyed already activated bottom-left Illuminated away from strategy marker, and tried to remove scheme marker from under Gwyneth Maddox, failing at that. 

Nix walked in front of Hamelin to act as a bodyguard. 

Lynch went to place a scheme near Benny. 

Beckoner claimed top-right strategy marker, I claimed center-left. Ten Thunders got their Set the Trap, but also Catch and Release from Benny's voluntary embrace. 

Scores evened out to 4-4 tie.

Turn 4:

...and then everybody died. Hungering Darkness finally killed Yannic. Benny and Tunnel Rats were able to catch and release Illuminated from his life, thus denying a point.

Gwyneth and Mr. Graves killed Disease Containment Unit and Rat King. Hamelin obeyed Mr. Graves to raise Tanuki to fencepost. I think Mr. Graves actually passed the resist, he just obeyed Hamelin out of his own volition. However, Tanuki didn't die. Instead, Tanuki was obeyed to swing at Mr. Graves who was at one health remaining. Unfortunately Tanuki missed, too.

It was probably Nix that then was able to kill Mr. Graves, but not finish Tanuki.

Ten Thunders claimed bottom-left marker, Outcasts center-right for a 5-5 tie.

Turn 5:

Hungering Darkness and Lynch were able to kill my last public demonstrator, so that was a point off from me.

Tunnel Rats were able to teleport behind Lynch and drop a scheme with trigger, and charge him to engage. Mr. Tannen had come to center-right strategy to perhaps claim it, but Nix was obeyed to engage him.

Hamelin was able to walk and disengage to bottom-left strategy marker to claim it.

Game looked very much like a stalemate, as Lynch had a scheme marker next to Benny who was at less than half health remaining. He had already tried to injure Lynch down to half health remaining.

... and once again, rude, spitting kids won me the game. He started throwing up at Lynch from top of a hill, missing with first attack, but landing a solid (ew...) three points in with his last attack. Lynch was not at half of his health remaining.

It was a close fought 7-6 game in favor of Outcasts. 

Local Eldritchlife Preservation Act

 During my Kuhmo visit, we had a 4 player Arkham Horror, 3rd edition.

Scenario was the main guy itself, Cthulhu and the Echoes of the Deep.

Investigators chosen were:

Diana Stanley, Redeemed Cultist

Mark Harrigan, Soldier

Zoey Samaras (sp?) Chef

Stella Clark, Letter Carrier 

I played Diana. I wanted the lightning skill in favor of the extra action point, but at least in this scenario that seemed like a mistake. Throughout the game I was able to land a couple of solid lightnings, yes, but most of the time when there was a juicy target, there was already two Doom tokens on the space. Blasting that would have meant spawning an anomaly.

However, fairly early Diana was able to grab Blessed from the observatory. This made her quite the warder. And Stella had one automatic success most of the time, and even Zoey had enough lore for the trio to keep anomalies on the board to the minimum.

Mark Harrigan was... delayed. Sure, his contributions were valuable - him delayed usually meant a monster or a cultist carcass (or two) somewhere, before listening to an exciting football match from the radio with an old man in the park.

Because investigators were so efficient at removing monsters and doom tokens, Cthulhu kept sleeping without a slightest care in the world. It wasn't until newspapers ran out when game picked up pace.

However, by then my investigator - the redeemed cultist - had reached an absolute monster of a build. Her character ability gave her a +1 for as many dice as there were doom on her space. She was blessed, which meant 3+ successes if there was Doom. She also had Rabbit Foot for a single re-roll, plus Lucky Charm for an option to re-roll multiple dice. She had Lucky Cigarette Case to give +1 to a roll, so a success with 2+ if there was doom in her space.

That was impressive and all, but she went completely bonkers when she received True Magic (+3 lore for spell actions) and Astral Projection. She was able to, for example, observe all her clues to the scenario sheet and then astral project herself to observatory to advance scenario. She only had to do that once, though, because when it was relevant, Zoey was camping at the observatory, until she went to kill some elite monster that spawned from three doom tokens on scenario sheet. She became blessed. Mark Harrigan became blessed, too. Stella Clark, well, she wasn't blessed, but she was the letter carrier, and had one guaranteed success most of the time.

However, as the newspapers ran out, investigators didn't have THAT many turns to stall around, unless they picked up pace.

And they did. Stella got the pocket watch, which made her super efficient at the scenario. And if Diana had already been bonkers with her kit, she absolutely broke the game when she picked up Leo de Luca as an ally. She had become a proper octopus with at least eight tentacle remnants, so spamming Astral Projection wasn't a problem. Astral Projecting a warding action wherever needed, then moving and warding another space with Leo was silly strong. In the last turns she also picked up Token of Faith so that in case remnants ran out, she'd stay net sanity neutral for a long time if she removed at least two doom tokens even if she used two astral projections.

Despite all this, investigators were racing against the time. There were seven doom tokens on scenario sheet, when mythos phase decided to spam the board with monsters and anomalies. However, the monsters that investigators had become, were able to stabilize the situation and go seal Cthulhu's gate when there was eight doom tokens on scenario sheet. 

My best guess is the gate was sealed to protect Cthulhu from Diana, Mark, Stella and Zoey, according to Local Eldritchlife Preservation Act.

 A couple of rounds of summer yatzy, just diligently noted here for completeness sake.

Swell Tune

A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th edition on Vassal. This is again a feedback report for Wyrd that I can't be bothered to write differently.

Strategy: Wedge Informant

Schemes: Make It Look Like an Accident, Public Demonstration, Runic Binding

My list:

Molly, Harbinger of Havoc & Necrotic Machine
Archie
Philip & Nanny
Forgotten Marshal
Batsch & Amalie
Night Terror
Crooligan
Dapperling

Pool: 5

Opponent had:

Youko, Silk of the Lotus & Chiyo
Bill Algren
KOTO
Kabuki Warrior
2x Courtesan
2x Bunraku

Pool: 5

Turn 1:

Both pick Runic Binding, although I seriously considered Public Demonstration.

Archie: Leaps, walks, interacts a scheme.

Kabuki: Walks, charges and bonus action to Archie for a total of five points of damage.

Night Terror: Leap, Walk and sonic screech to Kabuki Warrior, scoring You're Coming With Me, moving Kabuki more than 2" away from strategy marker.

Bunraku: Onward, charge and attack at Night Terror. No damage.

Necrotic Machine: Walk and Tap the Leyline to guard strategy marker.

KOTO: Discards to pulse Insight, double walk to a strategy marker on Ten Thunder's side. He had been deployed inside a forest, so it took two walks.

Philip & Nanny: Rambling Man and Walk to scale a terrain and place a scheme marker.

Bill: walks and uses Heroic Intervention to move Kabuki Warrior and Bunraku, but fails to injure Night Terror. Foiled Plans trigger removes Philip's scheme marker.

Molly: Takes a double walk to scale terrain, Jinkies! "A Clue" to place scheme near activated Bunraku, and soulstone trigger for Philip & Nanny to place a scheme back.

Courtesan: Walks, Black Jokers a lure on Night Terror, gives focus for Bill. Runic Binding for Resurrectionists.

Dapperling: Double walk to a strategy  marker on the centerline.

Chiyo: Walks and uses Invitation on Night Terror to move it away from contesting strategy marker, and another on Philip & the Nanny, which fails.

Forgotten Marshal: Double walk to center marker, copied Deadly Banter and scored two raises against Kabuki Warrior, thanks to Abandoned token. Two scheme markers within 2" of Chiyo for possible Ensnare next turn.

Youko: Walk and charge to Forgotten Marshal, attack missed but Cover Agent did a scheme and used soulstone trigger to walk Forgotten Marshal away from strategy marker.

Crooligan: Teleported to Archie and placed two schemes near Bill Algren for possible Ensnare next turn.

Courtesan: Double Walk to center strategy, as she got Draw Out Secrets from Shared Secrets for third marker to Runic Binding.

Batsch & Amalie: Double walk to contest center. Ten Thunders got one point from Runic Binding.

Bunraku: Double walk and charge to Forgotten Marshal, also claiming center.

3-2 for resurrectionists.

Turn 2: 

Resurrectionists: Ensnare

Ten Thunders: Take the Highground

Archie: uses hulking leap to get next to Bill, and flails attacks at him, trying to hit rams for heals. He hit once for four points of damage and got the rams. 

Bill: Tries to slap Night Terror, but fails. Concealment helped here a lot. Heals himself for two, and Resurrectionists got two points from Ensnare.

Philip & Nanny: Walks down from a building, Rambling Man's through Youko and Courtesan, turns around and pram rams Courtesan for two points of damage.

Kabuki Warrior: passes Philip&Nanny test and charges Night Terror, Red Jokers five points of damage. Furious Rush passes Philip & Nanny test and also flips Rams, removing Slow, and misses the attack on Night Terror. Last attack also misses Night Terror, but takes away my last high card from hand. I removed Abandoned token to get third point for Spooked bar.

Night Terror: Having only two health, leaps away and double walks behind a building in the Ten Thunders deployment zone.

Bunraku: swings at Forgotten Marshal for two points of damage and stays in place to guard center strategy marker.

Molly: Walks down from building, tells two disturbing stories for Bill, one of which damages him a little. Misfit Press with Focus also fails on Bill, so he stays guarding rightmost strategy marker.

Courtesan: Charges Molly to contest rightmost strategy, but misses attack. Shares secrets with herself, and attacks Molly again with focus. This time hits, and Qi and Gong gets their Leverage bar full.

Batsch & Amalie: Walks and scales on top of building, moves with Expanding Influence in an attempt to heal Molly and Archie and copy a scheme marker, but black jokers Eternal Waltz.

Chiyo: Walks to contest rightmost strategy, misses one Invitation on Molly, but second one hits, so Molly doesn't contest the marker any more.

Forgotten Marshal: Walks to contest center strategy marker, Pine Boxes Bunraku away from it and Deadly Banters Bunraku for a couple more points of damage. I made the mistake of not moving Bunraku out of Marshal's melee.

Courtesan: Fortunately Courtesan does the same mistake in reverse, and uses Lure to bring Bunraku back to contest - and out of Marshal's melee, raising Spooked bar. She removes distracted from Bunraku with Shared Secrets and punches Philip & Nanny for three damage.

Dapperling: Backtracks from centerline to strategy marker on my side and prepares a Shielded.

KOTO: uses Music Swells three times, dealing two points to Forgotten Marshal and four to Philip and the Nanny. Could've been a lot worse, as KOTO black jokered last Music Swells. Opponent considered this skill busted, and it certainly is a scary one on a 5 point model. More thoughts at the end.

Crooligan: Teleports to Forgotten Marshal, Hide and Shrieks Youko with a raise, getting her Abandoned and places her from strategy marker, slaps three points of damage in to Youko and fails another Hide and Shriek at Bunraku. That one had concealment. Still a good activation. At least by now Spooked bar was full.

Bunraku: Bonus action to talk into melee with Archie, tried to attack him and walked on top of a silo.

Necrotic Machine: Walks to position, heals Forgotten Marshal for three and pulls Youko away from center with Pulled into the Story.

Youko: Had to take a double walk to get on top of a small shack. Covert Agent on Forgotten Marshal failed, but then she used We Own You on Forgotten Marshal. Only Ten Thunders got strategy point, but Abandoned token on Youko made her fall from the shack and thus not score Take the Highground.

5-3 for resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Resurrectionists: Pick Reshape the Land with Scheme markers.

Ten Thunders: Stayed with Take the Highground

Batsch & Amalie: Expanding Influence, to fall from central building. Heals Philip & Nanny and Mushroom Clouds Bunraku, who falls down to one health remaining. Trigger enables BA to go contest strategy marker that I had moved during last end phase.

Courtesan: Focuses Bunraku with secrets, and walks next to Philip & Nanny. Attacks them, misses. I was perplexed by this move until KOTO activated...

Philip & Nanny: Black Jokers Rambling Man. Deadly Banters Bunraku, but can't cheat because of Entranced. Second Deadly Banter kills the Bunraku.

KOTO: Music starts to swell on Courtesan, calls checks for Crooligan, Batsch & Amalie, Philip & Nanny. He does this twice before retreating to a strategy marker. Miraculously enough only Crooligan failed the check, and only once.

Crooligan: Teleports to Philip & Nanny, misses Hide and Shriek, walks to leftmost strategy marker and placed a scheme.

Courtesan: Walks on top of big building in the center and tries to lure Batsch & Amalie away from center strategy marker. Fails, but this takes my last severe away from hand. Shares secrets with either Kabuki or Bill, I forget which.

Archie: Leaps to Chiyo and starts beating the kid. Chiyo performs her Last Act.

Bunraku: walks to an elevated terrain near my deployment and prepares a focus.

Necrotic Machine: tries to heal Forgotten Marshal, fails, and walks out of Youko's LoS.

Kabuki Warrior: Uses bonus action to go and contest rightmost strategy and attack Archie, almost killing him. In fact, without "Want some ice cream?" Archie would have died. Abandoned token moves Kabuki away from contesting strategy.

Night Terror: Two schemes for Reshape the Land.

Kill: Bill Archie with one attack (he had two remaining), fails to heal himself and walks on top of a silo. Because the attack killed, Each Flaw doesn't trigger, right?

Dapperling: Double walk to center strategy marker.

Ten Thunders: Pass

Molly: Double walk to contest rightmost strategy marker, and deny center building for Courtesan. Misfit Press pushes Bill from silo. Disturbing story misses Courtesan. 

Youko: Pushes Dapperling off from shack with trigger, tries to do the same for Batsch & Amalie but fails because of Red Joker. Backroom Dealings on Dapperling  failed.

Forgotten Marshal: Walked to center strategy, shrieked at Courtesan and tried to shoot her with a peacebringer, neither of which succeeded. But she did have concealment.

Ten Thunders got one point from Take the Highground, but Resurrectionists took three from double scheme + strategy.

8-4 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Ten Thunders: Ensnare

Courtesan: Fails to damage Philip & Nanny

Crooligan: Walk, charge and shriek to KOTO for three points of damage. Important bit was to contest KOTO's strategy marker.

Bill: Walk to contest a strat marker. He had Slow from earlier press. 

Dapperling: Double walk to control strategy marker on centerline.

KOTO: Kills Crooligan, and was illegally pushed out of strategy marker with Abandoned token as there was no Forgotten model in correct place. This restriction is kind of hard to remember.

Necrotic Machine: Does nothing, just controls a strategy marker out of LoS to enemy models.

Kabuki Warrior: Bonus action and charge to Philip & Nanny, killing his target. 

After this we ended game, as there didn't seem to be any possiblity for Qi and Gong to score a tie. KOTO in legal place might have enabled a strategy tie, but that would have brought scores only to 10-6. 

Me? Same...

 A 50ss game of Malifaux fourth edition.

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

Schemes: Scout the Rooftops, Search the Area, Grave Robbing

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Noxious Nephilim
Strange Lady
Philip and the Nanny
Archie
Night Terror
Rabble Riser
Crooligan
Dapperling

Pool: 3

Opponent had:

Hoffman, Steel Sculptor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Peacekeeper
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 6

This is a somewhat more boring write-up, since it was aimed at as a beta report for Wyrd. I see no point in writing it again with a little more color.

Turn 1: Both pick Scout the Rooftop

Dapperling: Deployed on top of a building, went walked to drop a scheme for Scout the Rooftops.

North Watcher: Went to drop a strategy marker.

Philip and the Nanny: bonus action to get near a little house, climbed on top of it and put a scheme for Scout the Rooftops.

South Hunter: Leap, a shot at Dapperling for two damage, and a walk.

Molly: spent all actions on Parade Routes (Archie, Strange Lady, Rabble Riser) Signature on Archie.

Hoffman: Command Construct on north Hunter, black jokered the same on Peacekeeper. Full Charge on Peacekeeper for Fast, and crew action to shield himself and Peacekeeper.

Archie: Charged south Hunter, dealing just one point of damage due to tie. Signature jump to forest at the centerpoint, dropped a strategy marker.

Peacekeeper: Walked and charged Archie, dealing six points of damage.

Strange Lady: Walked and healed Archie twice. Got Draw Out Secrets both times. 

Mechanical Attendant: Walk and Resupply.

Crooligan: By Your Side to Strange Lady, walk and place a scheme marker for Scout the Rooftop on bonus point terrain. Shriek failed.

Melissa: Charged to shoot Crooligan. Crooligan cheated to survive the first shot, but signature shot killed the kid with Critical Strike and two raises. Last shot procced Dapperling's demise.

Noxious Nephilim: Flied with Night Terror (had to cheat 11+), tapped Leyline and charged south Hunter but didn't do much. 

South Watcher: Failed Leap, took two walks near board edge.

Rabble Riser: Walk and interact to place an explosive past center line. Signature failed.

North Hunter: Signature leap, dropped a strategy marker past center line and shot Philip and the Nanny - opponent was mixing up Take the Highground and Scout the Rooftops and thought he might deny a point this way. But the attack missed anyway.

Night Terror: Walk, Leap and interact to drop a strategy marker to Guild deployment zone.

Scores: 3-0 for Resurrectionists from strategy and double Scout the Rooftops.

Turn 2: Both pick Detonate Charges

Hoffman: Commands Peacekeeper to attack Archie, walks away from deployment, gives Fast to Peacekeeper and charges Archie for a couple points of damage due to tie.

Rabble Riser: Charges Hoffman, lands Misplaced Trust on Peacekeeper and takes a second swing at Hoffman. Missed both melee attacks, though.

Peacekeeper: Goes full-ape on Archie, which pretty much drains both player's hands, although Guild had that bit worse. Archie survives with four health.

Strange Lady: Healed Archie twice and tried to attack Hunter, but missed. 

Melissa: Shoots Noxious Nephilim thrice and Night Terror once. Total: Four points of damage to Noxious Nephilim.

Noxious Nephilim: Fly With Me's with Dapperling, costing me my last card from hand. Taps leyline and charges south Hunter, missing.

South Hunter: Places a scheme next to Nephilim and throws an explosive past centerline. Unnatural Speed to engage Nephilim.

Night Terror: Fails leap, walks to drop a scheme near Melissa.

South Watcher: Leaps and drops a strategy marker to Resurrectionists deployment zone, walks nearer to center.

Dapperling: Walks and drops strategy marker to Guild

Mechanical Attendant: Walk and resupply

Molly: Charges north Hunter and slaps it for a point of damage. Rabble Riser walks closer. Maniacal Laughter healed Archie back to full, and two Parade Routes on Philip and the Nanny failed.

North Hunter: Unnatural Speed next to neutral strat marker that was left by Crooligan. Picked up strat marker and placed scheme next to Rabble Riser.

Philip & the Nanny: Rambling Man off from building, dropped strat marker and Deadly Banter on north Hunter, triggering Foiled Plans.

North Watcher: Leap near Philip & Nanny and two interacts to get scheme markers.

Archie: Anticipating a beating, Archie prepared for Shielded and took a futile attack at Hoffman, also failing leap.

Scores: 7-2 for Resurrectionists

Turn 3: Both pick Runic Binding.

North Hunter: Leaps near Molly and walks to place a second strategy to Resurrectionists deployment. 

Rabble Riser: Walks to place a scheme marker on top of a building, and gets Abandoned token on Mechanical Attendant.

Melissa: Shoots Night Terror for four points of damage, then Run & Guns to centerline and kills Night Terror. Last shot goes to Noxious Nephilim, missing. Resurrectionists scores Runic Binding for two.

Philip & the Nanny: Rambling Man to Guild strategy marker, pick it up and go back into contact with own strat marker.

Mechanical Attendant: Resupply, scheme marker near Philip & Nanny

Molly: Walk and charge to Hoffman to guard a strategy marker. Attacked twice, but only managed to disengage Hoffman thanks to shock absorption. Maniacal Laughter for Archie.

Hoffman: Dropped a scheme and a strategy marker. Failed Command Construct thanks to Strange Lady.

Dapperling: Walked and charged south Hunter, didn't do anything.

South Hunter: Tries to kill Noxious Nephilim, fails, and is pushed out of melee with Abandoned token.

Noxious Nephilim: Flies with itself, walks and drops a strat marker.

South Watcher: walks to place a scheme for Runic Binding.

Strange Lady: Tries to move Philip & the Nanny away from Runic Binding, succeeds. Tries the same for Rabble Riser, but fails. Two points for Guild.

Peacekeeper: Beats Archie down to five health.

Archie: Leaps to Hoffman and beats him down to six remaining.

North Watcher: Picks up Resurrectionists strategy marker to make totals equal.

Scores: 10-6 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4: Both pick Game Over

We didn't play the fourth turn, as scores were 10-6, which kind of removed any agency for Resurrectionists without the two points on last turn thing even for beta report.

Talent Deep Inside

 A 50ss game of Malifaux, 4th edition.

Strategy: Corner Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Reshape the Land, Ensnare, Harness the Ley Lines

My list:

Seamus AKA Sebastian Baker & White Rabbit & co
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Keepside Strangers
Batsch & Amalie
Dead Doxy
Mourner
Dead Dandy

Pool: 3

Opponent had:

Tiri, Nomad & Oro Boro
Iron Matron
Kett
Parson
First Light
Ancient Construct
Aua Warrior

Pool: 5

Turn 1: Redchapel: Ensnare, Bygone: Harness Ley Lines

There was next to no interaction between players thanks to deployment and strategy. Both players were busy delivering their strategy markers. I made a total of seven or eight interacts on markers, and eventually was able to get two markers past centerline, while Explorers got only one. Tiri did end up shooting Seamus for four points of damage, so my last activation was to teleport Keepside Strangers to him, move Seamus more than 6" away from Tiri, walk past centerline and drop a scheme marker for Frame Job.

Neither player scored schemes, although Explorers certainly could have had a shot at Harness Ley Lines for at least one point with their Toss and Steamroller shenanigans.

Turn 2: Redchapel: Frame Job on Keepside Strangers, Bygone: Scout the Rooftops

First Light shot Keepside Strangers, but attack was tied. I had to cheat to get the damage for Frame Job.

Madame Sybelle beckoned Bete Noire closer, after which Dead Doxy lured Bete Noire closer. Now she was ready to walk and charge to Aua Warrior, who by then was the only model on that flank. I had all of my strategy markers going that way. Sensing danger, Kett repositioned to attack Bete Noire from a mile away.

Batsch & Amalie healed Seamus a little, but had to position poorly to get him in range. 

Dead Dandy walked and scaled a terrain to drop a scheme marker for possible Harness Ley Lines next turn, but that plan went sour when Parson entered same terrain and smacked Dandy to two health points remaining. Tiri and First Light also entered the same terrain complex that was designated as quite a few different terrain pieces, dropping scheme markers as they went. 

Ancient Construct had tossed Iron Matron around, and Tiri goaded her for a wacky activation where she charged Seamus, used Pass Through to get away from melee and eventually went near center point, perhaps to challenge me dominating the strategy next turn. Seamus had a choice to deny Scout the Rooftops or go attack Iron Matron. He went for Iron Matron.

Scores went 4-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3: Redchapel: Harness the Leyline, Bygone: Detonate Charges

Seamus started to search for talent inside Iron Matron, killing the thing in one activation,  although Sybelle helped with two out-of-activation attacks from signature action and masks trigger. This attack could have been even more devastating if Batsch & Amalie had been closer. 

Kett failed to kill Bete Noire, but Bete Noire was able to finalize Aua Warrior before it managed to activate, so it was a double or triple whammy on that side of table after the incident with Iron Matron. 

Dead Doxy had tried to make Madame Sybelle a homing beacon for Bete Noire, but black jokered Ominous Rustling. 

Ancient Construct charged Seamus, not doing much, but Tiri kept dropping scheme markers in contact with the Construct by using Defensive Energy. It was obviously Detonate Charges, because why not. That must be the easiest scheme to score as it is. However, White Rabbit Co. was able to ruin that with a stetson, and even harness some leylines with a fez. 

Keepside Strangers and Mourner also did markers for Harness the Leylines, but as the very last activation First Light was able to walk and scale into position to deny Harness double points and drop a scheme near Mourner for Detonate Charges. 

Scores went 6-3 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4: Redchapel: Scout the Rooftops, Bygone: Take the Highground

Game was quite clear, but we played anyway to get a full game for this report. By complete accident I started harassing Tiri's claims on highground by trying to engage her to hinder interacting. First Parson knocked aside Batsch & Amalie who scaled next to Tiri to dance, I guess. Mourner went to do the same, but Tiri used Voice of the Aua on Parson, who knocked aside them as well. 

Those were pretty much the relevant model interactions. Remainder of the turn was my models climbing on terrain to drop scheme markers, and Tiri held three pieces of terrain.

Scores went 10-5, with both having scored five from schemes. Strategy somehow had gone completely one-sided in favor of Redchapel.

Fresh Start for Lucas

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th Edition on Vassal

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Scout the Rooftops, Detonate Charges, Ensnare

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Dead Doxy
2x Mourner
2x Dead Dandy

Pool: 6

(List is short two points, I  somehow counted Mourners as costing 6)

Opponent had:

LucasMcCabe & Luna
Sidir
Desper
2x Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Huckster

Pool: 6

Turn 1: Redchapel picked Detonate Charges, Wastrels Scout the Rooftops

Dead Dandies, Doxy, Bete Noire and a Mourner went in from one flank, while Sybelle, another Mourner, Seamus and Copycat Killer went from the other.

Wastrels had a little more open ways to spread out more evenly, but generally both Rough Riders, both Ruffians and Huckster were going against Bete Noire's gang. Doxy and Dandies arranged a Remains marker for Bete Noire to signature action to, from which she charged a Rough Rider that had delivered a scheme marker on top of a climbable crate. She wanted to block potential Scout the Rooftops, but managed to mangle Rough Rider down to one health remaining. 

Ruffians, Huckster and the other Rough Rider made great job at delivering strategy markers past the centerline, while Remains marker shenanigans slowed down that progress for Resurrectionists, having two strategy markers about one interact away from their deployment.

Seamus' gang managed to deliver one strategy marker past centerline, but Sidir just throwed it right  back after blasting a destructible terrain with signature action. Mourner and Sybelle were doing the interacts for me. Sybelle also beckoned Seamus a little closer to open up more Secret Passages. 

By the end of the turn Wastrels had spent their entire hand, which resulted in Lucas ditching Scout the Rooftops after he failed Ride With Me. Instead, he brought Explorer's third strategy marker to nudge centerline as well as attempting to throw artifacts left and right.

Seamus was last model to activate from Resurrectionists, and secret passaged into an unfortunate position right in middle of Desper, Luna and Lucas - but he dropped three scheme markers next to both Luna and Lucas. I was afraid Desper might try to yank one model away from the schemes, but that didn't come to pass because of a failed Acrobatic Movement.

Wastrels got no scheme points, but dominated strategy for one point. Detonate Charges went in full for Redchapel for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 2: Redchapel continued to Light the Beacons, Wastrels picked Detonate Charges.

Sidir and a Rough Rider shot Seamus off the board, but he was able to leap to Madame Sybelle with his demise. Sidir also shot a Mourner dead, so he was doing some heavy duty.

Copycat Killer did a scheme marker for Light the Beacons as far from closest enemies as possible, but once opponent realized I was probably aiming for Light the Beacons, Desper did signature, walk and charge to get within 2" of the scheme marker.

Mourner was playing ball with a Ruffian for a Resurrectionists strategy marker, and tried to finish off Rough Rider with a charge - but failed. The Rough Rider rode away from melee to shoot Bete Noire with the strat marker tossing Ruffian taking a shot a Bete. This was becoming a burden on soulstone cache, so Bete thought it better to ditch the place and go place another scheme for Light the Beacons. 

Eventually Huckster scaled a nearby house and threw some scheme markers at Bete Noire. 

Dead Doxy charged Ruffian in an attempt to deny some interact in the middle. She did land one good hit, but that was about it. She used Double Up to get already Mourner as a back-up. They did block interacts, but Ruffian just got out of melee and shot Mourner for four points of damage and place third marker for Detonate Charges. 

Madame Sybelle tried to beckon Desper LaRaux away from a scheme marker for Light the Beacons, but failed at that. Seamus used Secret Passage to walk and place a scheme marker for Light the Beacons and charged a Rough Rider for a few points of damage.

However, Lucas spoiled the fun with a 16" double walk to interact Seamus' scheme marker away.

Wastrels scored two points from Detonate Charges, while they denied Redchapel of points for a 4-2 lead. 

Turn 3: Both Redchapel and Wastrels picked Runic Binding

Copycat Killer used crew signature to charge out from Desper's melee, delivered a strategy marker that had been moved during end phase to enemy deployment, plus walked into contact with it. 

Wastrels were quick to activate the Rough Rider with one health remaining, and delivered a strategy marker to Redchapel deployment zone. 

Seamus, in a vulnerable position, used Secret Passage to go near centerpoint to bluff Leave Your Mark by planting two schemes within 1" of center point. With last action he charged Ruffian, scored Shove Aside and tried to take a swing at the Rough Rider he tried to kill last turn. 

Sidir started shooting Madame Sybelle and brought her down to two health remaining. Sybelle had to activate right after that, and charged Sidir to place a third scheme marker for Runic Binding. She beckoned Luna next to her, thus having Sidir and Luna inside the Runic Binding area.

Desper did acrobatics, charged Madame Sybelle but missed. His vorpal blade went snicker-snack, so Madame finally died. However, Sidir and Luna gave two points from Runic Binding.

Redchapel passed, and a went to place a scheme marker for Runic Binding. Doxy activated next, killed Ruffian that had one health remaining and used Pouncing Strike to get to scheming Ruffian, but didn't score a hit. However, second action attack killed the Rough Rider who had one health remaining.

Luna and second Rough Rider did scheme markers for Runic Binding, but Dead Dandy heroically managed to delay the scheme by turning Wastrel scheme into one of Redchapel's own.

However, Lucas had no trouble with getting to place a new marker, and even had action points to spare to miss someone with netgun.

Bete Noire walked and signature-charged to Ruffian that was next to Dead Doxy. She landed a heavy hit of three raises and scored Onslaught. Unfortunately Onslaught attack didn't kill Ruffian, so she wasn't able to remove Wastrel scheme marker. Last attack also missed.

Wastrels took 7-4 lead.

Turn 4: Redchapel picks Ensnare, Wastrels Leave Your Mark.

Dead Dandy planted a scheme to bluff Leave Your Mark and walked to engage Luna, who still had Redchapel scheme marker nearby.

Miraculously Sidir failed to kill Dead Dandy, but brought him down to one health remaining. However, signature action removed one of Redchapel scheme markers, so Seamus had to signature charge, interact two schemes within 1" of center point and close enough to Luna and Lucas before. Last action was to charge Lucas, who took four points of damage which at this point of game was whatever. 

Opponent did think I had Leave Your Mark, so Rough Rider took off close enough to place two scheme markers next to centerpoint and my scheme markers. That Ensnare was CLOSE, but did result in two points for Redchapel.

Eventually Lucas was able to spam tons of scheme markers near centerpoint, this time more than 1" away from a scheme marker I still had there. Bete Noire signature charged away from melee, ruined Lucas's stack of scheme markers and moved  Explorer strategy marker away from my table side. 

Unfortunately Desper was able to maneuver to deliver a second strategy marker to my deployment zone. Redchapel passed, but once Huckster went to throw Redchapel strategy marker out Dead Doxy's reach, we called it a game. Wastrels won 9-6.

You know it's an entirely new edition of the game when LucasMcCabe doesn't do anything morally questionable or downright abhorrent. 

Perfected Principle Failure

 A 50 pts game of Warmachine on War Table.

To shake things up a little I decided to try out Necrofactorium with my sort of favorite warcaster from past edition, Mortenebra. Throughout my fifteen years of writing this blog I don't think I have proxied an entire force I don't  own even once. I guess it was time to cross that threshold. I hope this doesn't force me to buy an additional starter just to keep my stats clean.

My list:

Cryx Necrofactorium
Mortenebra Perfected
-Malefactor with Harpoon, Ripping Claw and collector head.
-Malefactor with Dark Shroud, Plague Cannon and Helldriver
2x Mechanithrall Swarm
Necrosurgeon Initiates
Skarlock Lieutenant

Opponent had:

Cryx Dark Host
Bane Witch Agathia
-Reaper
-2x Deathripper
Bane Warriors with Officer
Bane Warriors
Bane Riders
Pistol Wraith

Scenario was Two Fronts, which split Necrofactorium forces as you'd expect. Both Malefactors were going for 50mm objectives, with Raptor shielding Mortenebra for  a bit in the middle.

Both units of Mechanithralls were going for the 40mm objectives, with the support dragging their feet behind.

Dark Host had Bane Riders and the bigger unit of Warriors going towards 50mm objectives, Agathia, Reaper and a Deathripper just about in the middle and the remainder were nearing 40mm's. 

Dark Host had begun the game, and didn't quite commit just yet, except with Bane Riders who charged both of Mortenebra's heavies. Their accomplishments were meager, but so were the Malefactor that was assigned to kill them. Only one Bane Rider died even with full focus. 

Fortunately Mortenebra and the other Malefactor did much better job at killing the Bane Warriors with command attachment. They managed to remove them in their entirety.

A unit of Mechanithralls tried to clog Cryxian warmachines by charging Reaper with a unit of Mechanithralls. They did enough damage to break systems despite Hellwrought... shame, that the damage went all into the wrong columns.

Another Mechanithrall unit decided to engage the second Bane Warrior unit that was too far to charge. Their main use was to contest 40mm objective.

Agathia had gone to control a 50mm marker, which I couldn't contest. Otherwise I claimed one point lead in scenario game.

However, Agathia then used feat to dislodge a Deathripper and Reaper from melee, and they along with a Bane Rider attacked Mortenebra who had only one focus for defense. Not a single attack roll failed, which proved to be too much even for Mortenebra's formidable stats.

Worst Pinata Indeed

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th edition.

Strategy: Flank Collapsing Mines

Schemes: Assassinate, Breakthrough, Frame Job

My list:

McMourning, Insanitary & Corpse Curator
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Rafkin
Kentauroi
2x Flesh Construct
2x Little Gasser

Pool: 4
Starting scheme: Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Wildcard & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 3
Starting Scheme: Frame Job on an Illuminated

Turn 1:

Well, I enjoyed grafting immensely. They're a fun, unique-feeling mechanic. Based just on one games for both titles, the crew upgrade system works really well in changing the entire crew. 

McMourning flipped top-right strategy marker to Resurrectionists, grafted two Flesh Constructs and end-of-activation graft went to Sebastian. One Flesh Construct lobbed a scheme marker 4" into deployment zone (with by Corpse Curator I think), walked and charged to Mr. Tannen at bottom-right strategy marker and tossed off his graft again as a scheme marker - to centerline, this time.

Mr. Tannen and Mr. Graves were both guarding the strategy marker, so Flesh Construct needed some real muscle to deal with the pair. Little Gasser flew in as a reinforcement.

Okay, Rogue Necromancy was on the lower half of my flank, but that one had... plans. Namely, the plan was to wait threatening models to activate, then take a double leap and an interact to drop a scheme marker to enemy deployment. Sure, that cost me two soulstones, but yikes that mobility is, again, utterly crazy. 

Honeypot wake up to the situation a tad too late, and Resurrectionists were able to score double Breakthrough.. An Illuminated eventually came to challenge Rogue, but points were already scored.

Center, though.

Lynch and Illuminated went together to the centerpoint, flipping the marker there for Ten Thunders. I decided to use Sebastian's graft to leap between Lynch and Illuminated, poisoning them. He injured Illuminated somewhat - enough that opponent revealed Frame Job. Oh well.

Soon after there were Gwyneth and Kitty at the center too. After they were done, Sebastian was still alive, but only barely. Two health. That was not ideal for a Big Gasser explosion, so the little guy that Sebastian had sawed off of Illuminated exploded, catching only Illuminated in radius. Instead of Sebastian, Illuminated, Kitty, Gwyneth and Lynch.

Illuminated died to the blast, after having been dealt damage by medically experimenting Rafkin. Flesh Construct was able to leap, walk and flip center strategy marker back to neutral.

Kentauroi was going to top-left, flipping the marker to Resurrectionists. However, Beckoner and Hungering Darkness walked to dominate the place, neutralizing the mine.

Scores went 3-2 for Resurrectionists, which meant top-right mine collapsed right away.

Turn 2:

After breaking through, McMourning found it imperative to take the high ground. Which probably wouldn't be too hard, provided Rogue Necromancy was already on one that was way past centerline.

Starting from bottom, Flesh Construct failed to land a hit on Mr. Tannen, and decided to screw the attempt and prepared Shielded for himself. I thought survival would be the best option here to contest strategy marker, but yeah, there was this Delirium thing that walked Flesh Construct effortlessly away with very first action Mr. Graves directed at it.

I don't quite remember what Mr. Tannen did, I suppose his actions weren't that successful then. One of them was to drop a scheme marker on centerline. Delirium triggered though, this time on Rogue Necromancy, falling the beast from top of terrain.

Rogue and Illuminated duked it out, neither managing to do anything useful to either. But Rogue Necromancy did leap back to the tent. 

In the center Sebastian died in two attacks by Gwyneth.

Rafkin did shenanigans, charging Flesh Construct and giving it poison and pushing Rafkin himself to engage Gwyneth and Kitty. All of the enemy models there had poison token, so Cloud of Fumes looked real nice right there.

I guess it could have been nice if enemy did any attacks. Which they didn't. Lynch may have attempted something, but the important bits were Lynch and Gwyneth dropping schemes on the centerline late in the turn. 

McMourning was throwing grafts left and right, and was doing so from top of a Sz3 tower. What a sight it must have been. Because of those Flesh Construct had been able to leap and interact with center vault, tagging it for Resurrectionists. 

On top Kentauroi flipped strategy marker back to green team and charged Hungering Darkness. It managed to deal respectable damage in to the totem before being obliterated by the target. Neutral marker, again. And now I had only Little Gasser contesting top-left quarter. 

That was until Beckoner flipped top-left marker for Ten Thunders and touched Little Gasser dead. Well it exploded sure enough.

Looked like I would need to sacrifice Corpse Curator to score strategy this turn. It attempted Control Graft on itself to make a free leap to top-left marker and yeah, it was no other than Black Joker that turned up. Such is the price of greed - should have just ditched that graft and double interact the strategy marker. 

Instead, Curator did graft control to Rafkin, who did a sepsis on Gwyneth. 

At least scores evened out to 5-5, so no more mines went missing. Ten Thunders had scored strategy and double Harness Ley Lines. Although now as I'm writing this I see that the scheme markers needed to have no enemy models within 2", but yeah, new rules and all that.

Turn 3: MURDER

McMourning had a breakthrough, and now he had the high ground. Time to assassinate Kitty. I even had the first activation. Rafkin used graft token to leap to Kitty, tagging Gwyneth again with poison. Flesh Construct also took a dose, but Rafkin tried to remedy that with a couple medical procedures performed on Kitty Dumont. Only one of them was a success, though, so Kitty was left with one health and Poison in hazardous terrain. Since crows came up during the procedure that hit, there was also a Little Gasser now. 

Lynch blasted Rafkin off the table with  a couple of Ante Up's, and had actions to spare to kill Flesh Construct too. 

Little Gasser exploded all over Gwyneth and Kitty, killing my assassination target, after which Mr. Graves removed the second Flesh Construct. 

Enraged at the destruction of all of his creations, McMourning climbed down from his high ground, charged Gwyneth and killed her. 

So many people dying. Let's have a breather. Hungering Darkness heals for a bit and takes a double walk to get on top of McMourning's earlier tower.

... and the killing continued. Corpse Curator gave itself a leap next to Beckoner, killed her with Ancient Injectors and flipped strategy marker to neutral. 

Whoa. Six models just gone like that. Or seven if we count the Little Gasser, and of course we do.

But finally the killing ended. Not for lack of trying, though. Rogue Necromancy wanted to leap to enemy strategy marker bottom-left, but since it would not have been able to interact at all, it instead tried to eat the Illuminated. Only one bit hit, but at least it delivered poison so that during end phase Illuminated was at one health remaining.

Mr. Tannen walked on top of a tent thing in bottom-right corner, and thus claiming double points from Take the High Ground. Resurrectionists got no strategy because of Don't Turn Your Back, so the scores went 8-6 for Ten Thunders, which prompted another mine collapse next to Mr. Graves.

Turn 4:

Mr. Graves attempted valiantly to go and mess up McMourning's activations, but that just wasn't enough. Graft tokens proved too versatile, and last turn's carnage too great. Resurrectionists were able to secure all three remaining strategy markers, and game ended in a  8-8 draw.

Second game thoughts? Well McMourning's crew cards certainly make a difference in play styles, which is great. But as of now the graft tokens do seem a little too versatile, but their concept is awesome. 

Honeypot as an adversary didn't feel like the Honeypot I used to know. Maybe they have lost some crew identity, as Gwyneth seemed to be the only model that actually affected the deck. But still, this was an interesting and hard fought game nonetheless.

I miss Richard

 The very first Malifaux 4th edition game.

Strategy: Corner Recover Evidence

Schemes: Assassinate, Scout the Rooftops, Take High Ground

My list:

Dr. McMourning, Malpractitioner & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Rafkin
2x Flesh Construct
2x Little Gasser

Pool: 4
Starting scheme: Scout the Rooftops

Opponent had:

Clampetts Fisherfolk & Bruce
Uncle Bogg
Aunty Mel
Sir Vantes
Mossbeard
Buckaroo
Skulker Skin
Hermits

Pool: 4
Starting scheme: Scout the Rooftops

Turn 1:

Oh boy, were there roofs to scout. Corner deployment did make getting bonus points difficult, but neither player had problems delivering those markers in place. I could have done that with excessive ease had I remembered Drag Behind from Little Gassers. But, I didn't, so a Flesh Construct had to walk to make a marker on top of a nearby building. Rogue Necromancy went to place the other, because, wow... Speed 7 and a bonus leap of 7" + base? I'm not sure if I'm okay with such mobility.

Buckaroo with hastened speed of 8 took a double walk to pick up strategy marker near Rogue Necromany's building. Somehow I'm okay with that, though. At least it took some set-up, and it wasn't on a 10-point murder machine.

Kentauroi had dragged Rafkin near centerline in the middle, and McMourning... again with speed 7... took a double walk to pick up strategy marker before anyone got any ideas about denial. 

Sir Vantes attempted to deny Kentauroi a peaceful life right after. Hastened and leaping from puddle to puddle, it was able to charge a bunch of damage in, which fortunately didn't have that much of an impact thanks to crew upgrade. 

Rafkin patched up Kentauroi as well as he could, which meant one point. Yaaaay.

Sebastian took a walk and a charge at Sir Vantes, popping out a Little Gasser out of Sir Vantes. 

Zombie Chihuahua and a Little Gasser got left behind after turbo moves from remaining crew. 

What about the Angler angle? Aunty Mel was the one who delivered a scheme on top of the high tower, while Mossbeard did the same to a multi-part building top-center. 

Clampetts began stomping about, accidentally stepping on a Little Gasser that exploded for a bit of damage and poison next to Sebastian, McMourning and Sir Vantes. 

Uncle Bogg, Skulker Skin and Hermits were approaching from left table edge, but what they had in mind was anybody's guess. 

Both players scored strategy and a scheme for 2-2 tie.

Turn 2:

But this is where our scheme paths diverged. McMourning picked up assassination on Sir Vantes, and Clampetts proceeded to light the beacons instead. 

McMourning spent his entire activation trying to erase Sir Vantes, but after Douglas was done the knight was still standing with two hit points remaining, which went down to one right after. At least he wasn't able to kill Kentauroi, who in turn slapped Sir Vantes dead and harvested. It grabbed McMourning by the collar and rode away to sunset with the good doctor. Reason being that McMourning was already damaged and poisoned, and I needed time to figure out how to deal with that.

Sebastian went past centerline to drop a scheme marker for Frame Job, perhaps. 

Mossbeard told such a harrowing story for Kentauroi - yelled it far away from top of building no less - that killed the horse. I don't quite remember who picked up the intel, but I figure it was Clampetts, whose silurid stomping shenanigans are crazy. They also placed a scheme marker to a noose.

Aided by Uncle Bogg's shenanigans Skulker Skin was able to go and place a scheme marker past centerline, just a little over 10" away from Clampetts' scheme. And then there was Buckaroo, who took a triple walk to drop a scheme marker.

Zombie Chihuahua and Little Gasser ganged up on the Buckaroo. If you can call a yapping Chihuahua and the smelly kid asking to pull its finger "ganging up." A Flesh Construct came to add some projectile vomit to the mix. 

Buckaroo was nearly dead. And I wanted him dead, so Rogue Necromancy walked down from the scouted building and tried to leap to Buckaroo... twice. No luck.

Uncle Bogg came to contest the center. Rafkin managed to land poison on the henchman with charge attack, and even did serious damage with a medical procedure (that's how you're supposed to do it, right?) as well as popping a NASTY zit that turned out to be a Little Gasser. Somehow Sebastian was cured of poison by that spectacle. 

Hermits charged in to engage Sebastian, and Flesh Construct in the middle walked and charged to engage Aunty Mel. No damage thanks to cover.

Anyway, both players scored strategy and scheme, but Bayou managed to double down on lighting the beacons for a 5-4 lead.

Turn 3:

Frame Job was where it was at for me. Anglers, on the other hand, seemed to act  more coherently than a bunch of murderhobos. Looked like they had an agenda other than murdering people and framing murdering people. After lighting the beacons, they proceeded to harness ley lines.

With all their combined might, McMourning, Rafkin and Little Gassers barely managed to kill Uncle Boggs - a feat that was possible by misplaying new and improved hazardous terrain. It was kind of a bummer, as it affected scoring this turn, because Rafkin was able to pick up the ensuing strategy marker. 

Mossbeard went to convert Sebastian's scheme marker, which was annoying as by then Uncle Boggs was still alive, and I had planned for Rogue Necromancy to kill him. Instead, it black jokered its leap. Ah. Well, it attempted again, spent a stone and was able to make a scheme within 2" of Sebastian. And just in time, as Hermits landed a blow on Sebastian, thus securing Frame Job for me.

Aunty Mel dispatched Flesh Construct in the center. 

Zombie Chihuahua and Little Gasser were able to drop Buckaroo down to one health and Poisoned. 

Skulker Skin and Clampetts secured another two-point scheme for Bayou, but received no strategy this turn. Resurrectionists scored a two-point Frame Job and strategy for a 7-7 tie.

Turn 4:

Anglers had harnessed all the power they could, so it was nothing but strategy for them from now on. Resurrectionists, on the other hand, still had not caused mayhem enough and wanted to detonate charges on top of their slaughter.

Eventually the game boiled down to if Clampetts would get two strategy markers - then  I would need to kill Bruce who was at one or two health remaining and collect the strategy. Failing that was certainly a possibility - after all McMourning had already activated, trying to saw that fishdog in two halves. I could have tried to projectile vomit the dog once with Flesh Construct, leap next to Bruce with Rogue Necromancy with an empowered trigger, take a swing and interact.

But, it didn't come even that far as Clampetts botched their Silurid Stomp while they either had no cards in hand, or not high enough. Game ended 9-7 for Resurrectionists.

So... how did I like my first game of fourth edition? Game is still action packed with crucially important decisions at every turn, so that's good. The flow does feel different, however. This was the corner deployment, and yet even Experimental - not known for its base speed, although exceptions apply - was easily able to go past centerline on turn one. It does feel like movement has been overcompensated for requirement to score on turn one. 

Also, the ease of spawning more and more Little Gassers felt almost abusive. Okay, it can explode into your own face, like it happened with Sebastian and McMourning. But two points of damage feels like a lot especially when three models in keyword have that trigger, and the models can explode themselves the turn they come into play.

But all in all fourth edition shows potential for a faster Malifaux that still feels like what Malifaux means for me. 

Farewell to third

 A 50ss game of Malifaux...third edition, maybe I need to specify.

Strategy: Corner Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Protected Territory, Power Ritual, Outflank, Take Prisoner, Deliver a Message

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Strange Lady
Batsch & Amalie
Oskar
Gravedigger
Dapperling
Rotten Belle
Dead Dandy

Pool: 5
Schemes: Take Prisoner (A Showgirl), Protected Territory

Opponent had:

Colette DuBois & 3x Mechanical Doves
Carlos Vasquez
Altus Keene
Irena Keene
Angelica Durand
Blackbird
2x Showgirl

Pool: 3
Schemes: Power Ritual, Protected Territory

Turn 1:

Corner deployment saw only limited engagement between the crews. Although there was one cannon shot. Rotten Belle lured Copycat Killer forward for a bit, and Strange Lady obeyed the totem even further. Eventually this led to Seamus teleporting to top-right quarter, walking, picking up intel and shooting Irena, before walking into safer pastures. The attack hit fine, buuut there was this Black Joker that came up on the damage flip. 

Other than Seamus, only Dead Dandy was walking towards top-right quarter, where two strategy markers were. His arrogance was outmatched only by his overconfidence. Irena, Altus, Mechanical Dove and even a Showgirl were going in the same direction. Even Carlos Vasquez was relatively close, although he was closer to center point, where he put a pyre marker next to Seamus.

Prisoner Showgirl, Colette and another Mechanical Dover were hiding behind tall wall sections in a real close proximity. Blackbird and Angelica were with them, too, but not inside blast radius.

Rotten Belle was barely outside of deployment zone - Copycat Killer was inside deployment zone - and Gravedigger was just as clueless as what he should do.

Fungal gang had fully committed to going to bottom-left quarter, with Strange Lady slowly following them.

Turn 2:

Oh, second turn picture is out of focus. But from what I can gather, going from top to bottom, Seamus was transported back to center. Altus and Irena secured an intel point, and Dead Dandy ran to perhaps scheme and pick up strategy markers next turn. 

Altus and Irena had teased Seamus with Pyre markers before he got teleported, so there was two markers scorching Copycat Killer now. Tried as he might, Copycat Killer just could find the right cord to cut from Mechanical Dove that he was engaging.

Seamus tried to utilize his hand cannon to remove models near prisoner-to-be Showgirl, but for the second time in a row Seamus messed up his attack. Carlos, on the other hand, continued to spew pyres at Seamus this time at the center of the board.

Strange Lady, Gravedigger and Rotten Belle figured out how to pick up intel from an informant inside pyre marker, while Colette kept threatening fungal gang with stuns and whatnot. I think it was Seamus' gun that scared off Colette from the board this turn, so in that way there was at least a degree of success to his attack.

Anyway, before that, Colette had sword-tricked Oskar off the board. Batsch & Amalie were slowly dancing through a forest to pick up intel, and succeeded at that. Dapperling went to place a scheme marker for Protected Territory, but I couldn't figure out a way to put another marker.

Scores went 1-1, as both teams got strategy.

Turn 3:

Again from top to bottom, Dead Dandy planted a scheme for Protected Territory and charged to cane Mechanical Dove. Showgirl and Altus removed that marker as well as the Dandy.

Miraculously Copycat Killer survived the onslaught by Irena - although the totem got enough burning going on that he'd die during end phase. But still not quite willing to leave the entire top-right quarter for Performers free to roam, Copycat yeeted Seamus back there to contest. Before getting teleported Seamus had shot Blackbird off the board. My first recorded kill for the match. Yay.

Colette took position quite annoyingly within 2" of my prisoner target. 

I certainly tried to unpack that situation, but Colette was impervious to Rotten Belle's lures, and only a Mechanical Dove failed cordyceps check from Batsch & Amalie, who attempted to impress performers with their power of dance. Maybe anyone else would have been impressed, but after all these were professional performers. 

For the odd chance I'd score Take Prisoner, Gravedigger ran to engage Showgirl, but Colette just would not stop stepdancing. 

Angelica Durand went to remove Dapperling's scheme marker, and Oskar also had been laughed off the stage by Durand. 

Both players scored strategy for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 4:

Seamus finally got his cannon rolling, but that might have came a tad too late. But it certainly gave me some hope when Irena died to just one shot from Seamus' flintlock

But, there were still Showgirl and Altus scheming to no end. However, at least I managed to get Seamus standing on two strategy markers for the next turn.

Center was a mess thanks to Colette's stun shenanigans. 

I tried to launch Strange Lady at Colette in attempt to make her fade away, but that just didn't happen. 

Oskar and Batch & Amalie were busy collecting intel, so they couldn't contribute to trapping the center Showgirl. Dapperling also had to use his actions to push Oskar forward. 

Angelica and Carlos take positions at or near board corners, and there was little I could do to that. 

So, Arcanists scored both of their schemes, while Resurrectionists still got none. Both got their strategy points, however, for a 5-3 lead for Arcanists.

Turn 5:

Seamus picked up two intel and teleported off to place a scheme required for Protected Territory. Dapperling robber prisoner Showgirl of intel, and it was probably Oskar who picked the fourth point for the turn.

Gravedigger had placed a scheme under itself a few turns ago, so that was a check for Protected Territory end condition.

Prisoner showgirl also didn't take any steps away from the centerline, so that was also Take Prisoner for Resurrectionists. 

However, after all this I had ran completely out of activations to deny any points for Arcanists, so the - possibly last game of Malifaux third edition for me - ended with a 8-6 victory for Colette.