Quit it, Richard!

 A 35ss practice game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Detonate Charges, Harness Ley Lines, Assassinate, Vendetta, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Madame Sybelle with Grave Spirit Touch & Carrion Effigy
Bete Noire
Flesh Construct
Gravedigger
2x Rotten Belle

Pool:2
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Vendetta (Bete Noire on Aunty Mel)

Opponent had:

Clampetts, Fisherfolk & Bruce
Aunty Mel
Uncle Bogg
Sir Vantes
Buckaroo

Pool: 3
Schemes: Harness Ley Lines, Assassinate

Turn 1:

What's this? New player starting in this city? So, time to craft a 35 point list with Madame Sybelle. Since there was Assassinate in pool, I decided not to make that one all too easy and upgraded my henchman master with Grave Spirit Touch.

Rotten Belles turned turf markers to Resurrectionists, while Anglers turned their left marker with a Buckaroo. 

Buckaroo had Aunty Mel backing him up, but remainder of gremlins were either in the middle or going for it.

Uncle Bogg had moved Sir Vantes quite a bit up the board already, so Bete Noire charged him to shake things up. She managed to deal two points in through armor before Fading Away from Filthy Spear's strike.

Bruce healed Sir Vantes and drooled up a pool.

Flesh Construct made its likely most successfull projectile vomits up to date by scoring a severe against Sir Vantes, blasting through Bruce and Uncle Bogg. 

Madame Sybelle had taken hiding position behind a pile of crates, but was moved away from her cover by either Sir Vantes or Clampetts. Both kept attacking her, but Gravedigger was there to heal about half of the damage being done.

Turn 2:

Rotten Belle on the left did three points of damage to Buckaroo. The two picked up a fight, but Belle was not impressed by the rodeo. 

Madame Sybelle tried to kick the drooling puppy, but botched the strike and left the abomination standing with one or so health. 

Boggs or Sir Vantes moved Bruce about to drop a scheme marker on centerline. Sure enough that happened, but Carrion Effigy was able to siphon that dog-fish-thing off the board with a focused shot. 

Attacks in the middle kept failing by both sides of the game so there was nothing to report. Gravedigger crafted another launch pad fo Bete Noire and placed a scheme marker for Detonate Charges before walking on top of it. 

Bete Noire had charged herf vendetta target, but scored only two wounds. Rotten Belle on the right failed both Lures at Flesh Construct, so instead of detonating charges the thing just kept flailing at Sir Vantes.

Both players scored strategy, but no scheme reveals were made.

Turn 3:

Rotten Belle on left nearly killed the Buckaroo. The thing was at one health remaining after she stopped swinging her parasol. However, then Aunty Mel activated and slapped casual six points of damage to Bete Noire. Good thing I had used Fade Away. Next he showed the ropes for Buckaroo and healed it with Red Joker.cAnd here for a moment I thought I had been making progress...

Larger trio of Boggs, Sir Vantes and Clampetts stoped fooling around and killed both Gravedigger and Flesh Construct. This neutralized both of my strategy markers. Buckaroo managed to get to interact with bottom-left strategy marker, giving a strategy point for Bayou.

Scores were still even, though, as Carrion Effigy landed a lucky shot against Aunty Mel. Afterwards, Bete Noire did not take kindly being called a White Whale, and would have knifed Aunty dead if it hadn't been for a moderate damage block. This got Vendetta for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Uncle Bogg summoned Richard, and those plus Sir Vantes avenged Aunty Mel that had been beckoned by Madame Sybelle to her death by damaging the henchman master enough to score Assassinate.

Buckaroo ran to bottom-right strategy marker, and was quickly engaged by another Rotten Belle there.

Clampetts leaped away from melee to deal with Harness Ley Lines. That she did, but also opened up Detonate Charges for me by Rotten Belle and Bete Noire that had earlier been buried by some non-damaging action.

Neither player scored strategy, but Resurrectionists got Detonate Charges, while Bayou snatched Assassinate and Harness Ley Lines. This gave gremlins the lead at 4-3.

Turn 5:

And for a stylish ending, Richard somehow managed to execute Madame Sybelle. This left Uncle Bogg free to deliver Sir Vantes to centerline for scheme markers and to interact with center strategy marker.

Clampetts were able to deliver another two markers to centerline, while Bete Noire that had buried again just ran away to table corner to get Vendetta end.

Scores went 7-4 for Bayou.

Doggo knows some tricks

 Had a 35ss game of Malifaux over Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Corrupted Idols

Schemes: Breakthrough, Assassinate, Claim Jump, Take Prisoner, Dig Their Graves

My list was:

Dr McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Corpse Curator
Flesh Construct + Killer Instinct
Guild Autopsy
Little Gasser

Stones: 3
Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Assassinate

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki & Chiyo Hamasaki
Bill Algren
Kabuki Warrior
2x Bunraku
Tanuki

 Stones: 1
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Corpse Curator), Breakthrough

Turn 1:

The map was... quite something for Corrupted Idols! First idol came to being from bottom table edge, which was kind of out of my reach as I had deployed in a nicely poisonable little clump in the middle. 

Sebastian did the Sebastian thing and spent 60% of my hand in the first activation. 

Chiyo and Bunraku were moving on top of the map and had two idol spawn location all for themselves when Youko owned a well-riddled Corpse Curator that I had brought on train within killing distance of Bill and Kabuki Warrior and Tanuki. 

McMourning had to activate and give Doctor's Orders for the Curator. Bill tried to challenge it and Kabuki Warrior lured it back into melee with Youko. 

One Bunraku was running to Corrupted Idol below, and remainder of my crew were crawling in forests and train platforms in the middle.

Turn 2:

Idol dropped in the middle.

Corpse Curator activated first and tried to plant a hazardous terrain over Youko, Bill and Tanuki but even with soulstone I had not been able to get a crows into my hand. And yes, it failed to do that naturally.

Kabuki Warrior surprisingly took a walk back and lured Corpse Curator past hazardous razor wire. Smells like prisoner.

I figured I would be able to try to start softening up Youko with Flesh Construct and afterwards heal with Blood Poisoning... but turned out that Bill Algren took the thing down with just two attacks. And even challenged Dr. McMourning when I was low on cards in my hand.

Feeling the need to keep Bill and Youko engaged, McMourning then charged Bill, scored three points in and would have killed Bill if it wasn't for the only soulstone Ten Thunders had available. I suppose Dr. McMourning didn't have proper yellow overalls and a katana. He also gave doctor's orders for Corpse Curator, because I suspected Take Prisoner. 

Bunraku on top came over train carriage platform and lured Corpse Curator next to it, so there was little I could do to stop Take Prisoner now.

Zombie Chihuahua ran next to Youko and unleashed its horrific odor. 

Youko did what you usually do when you're confronted by a mad doctor with bonesaw and an aggressive chihuahua chewing at your feet. She told the dog to play dead with her cutting words, and did the doggo know this trick! Proudly it demonstrated its skills for. All. Eternity. Next she starts asking riddles from Dr. McMourning. I guess along the lines of "Your dog just died but did I kill it?" 

Sebastian walks so so slooooowly on top of train carriage, and Bunraku below throws a Corrupted Idol to my side. Little Gasser charges Bill in hopes of trickling in some damage. Well, it failed, but at least there was now another source of horrific odor.

Chiyo cautiously walks towards my deployment zone, well past the center line. Deployment zones in the image are shown as flank, because the corners tell nicely where to put the strategy marker. Guild Autopsy goes to guard middle-down strategy spawn point.

Scarily enough, points go 0-2 for Ten Thunders and Resurrectionists are already down two models.

Turn 3:

Corrupted Idol enters play middle-down.

Because of number disparity, I really needed to start thinning down the Ten Thunders model count. McMourning managed to kill Bill after transplanting his distractions away to Little Gasser. 

Bunraku on top starts swinging at Corpse Curator and managed to stun it and shove it to the other side of the train. My plan had been to move it to cover Kabuki, Tanuki and Youko with Cursed Sludge. Then Little Gasser would have been able to place a scheme marker in anticipation of Dig Their Graves.

So, instead I secured my first strategy point with Guild Autopsy. 

Kabuki Warrior then comes and kills Little Gasser. I start spending my pass tokens, and Bunraku comes and kills Guild Autopsy. Chiyo runs to my deployment zone, and Sebastian lobs a flask of formaldehyde into the brawl in the middle.

Tanuki tries to heal Youko, and secretly I pray to whatever tyrant that is looking favorably over Dr. McMourning's ordeals - and yes, Tanuki heals only for one point. This meant that poison condition would bring Youko to assassination threshold. Then Tanuki charged McMourning and even did some damage before disengaging.

Scores even out to 2-2.

Turn 4:

Ten Thunders wins initiative, so Youko took a run away from the action. 

Sebastian charged Bunraku below, but caused only one wound in - but with poison. With catalyst, Bunraku would not be able to use risky manouvers to get out and toss my idol away. 

Kabuki Warrior did some impressive damage to Dr. McMourning.

Corpse Curator disengaged and charged Youko, no succeeding and once again I had no crows in my starting hand for hazardous terrain. At least one additional poison was caused.

Tanuki activated next to heal Youko, and doctor was not far away, swinging his bone saw. But Tanuki was able to dodge the attack.

Remaining Bunraku committed suicide by jumping off the train, running through razor wire, doing some risky maneuvers and finally tossing corrupted idol in the middle to my side. 

Scores go 2-4 when opponent gets Corrupted Idols and Breakthrough.

Turn 5:

Resurrectionists win initiative. I was pondering if I should activate Corpse Curator or McMourning first. I picked the wrong one, Corpse Curator. It finally places its first sludge marker during game, woohoo! Then it places scheme marker and tries to attack Youko. Looking back at the picture now at the time of writing I realize what I should have done instead - instead of useless attack at Serene Countenance model, it should have taken a little walk to block off Youko's escape. 

Now, she just ran away full speed nonstop. 

Sebastian tossed an Idol to Ten Thunders side and walked for a bit to deny Kabuki Warrior from running to deny him. Instead, Kabuki Warrior ran to engage Corpse Curator. 

McMourning disengages and of course that ABOMINABLE FREAKING FURRY COSPLAY UGLY HAT MONSTER shaves off two inches off of Dr. McMourning's movement. That was exactly enough to make it really difficult to get within clear 8" of Youko for a Focused Blood Poisoning.

Instead I resorted to moving away from Kabuki Warrior with Doctor's Orders and trying to transfer seven poison to her for a grand total of twelve, but it was not to be. 

Game ends 3-5 when opponent gets a point from Take Prisoner, and I get the strategy point.

All in all, I think Youko teaches an important lesson here. Remember kids, if you encounter a manic looking twitchy doctor in dark alley who wants to give you a new transplants free of charge, run. Each step is crucial. At most you'll have time for some backroom dealings along the way.

Brutal Verbal Abuse

A 35ss game of Malifaux on Vassal. 

Strategy: Corner Plant Explosives

Schemes: Vendetta, Power Ritual, Outflank, Harness Ley Lines, Claim Jump

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy
Flesh Construct
Dead Dandy
Dead Doxy
2x Rabble Riser
2x Mindless Zombie

Stones: 2
Schemes: Vendetta (Flesh Construct on Kabuki Warrior), Harness Ley Lines

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki & Chiyo
Bill Algren
Kabuki Warrior
2x Bunraku
Geisha

Stones: 2
Schemes: Power Ritual, Outflank

Turn 1:

The abundance of severe terrain made for poor choices on my part. Majority of my crew parked in one big clump in the middle, while Madame Sybelle was racing towards bottom-left. I also didn't really think much about the placement of my explosive tokens - Madame really should have taken two of them. 

Also Ten Thunders was struggling with the terrain, but at least they spread their crew more over the board. A lone Bunraku was coming to greet Madame Sybelle, Kabuki got stuck in enemy deployment zone and Youko, Bill and Chiyo had their own little bubble about six inches away from centerline. One Bunraku and Geisha looked like they were trying to reach top-right corner.

Turn 2:

Madame Sybelle places one explosive marker and a scheme marker within 3" of bottom-left corner. Bunraku got scared of her and backtracked a little. The other Bunraku took a double walk to top-right corner.

Rabble Riser went to place a scheme marker on the centerline and was then lured by Geisha closer so that Bill was able to beat it down to one health remaining.

Flesh Construct places a scheme on centerline and an explosive past it. Kabuki Warrior however manages to move the scheme off the line. Doxy runs to centerline and Effigy fails to heal Flesh Construct. 

But all was not lost - a Mindless Zombie ran near centerline and Dead Dandy turned it into Ten Thunders scheme marker. Thanks, Chiyo. 

Well, at least Ten Thunders wouldn't be drowning in pass tokens just yet.

Scores go 0-1 for Resurrectionists when Ten Thunders fail to bring any explosives to my side.

Turn 3:

A big melee happens in the middle. Bill kills Rabble Riser and interacts an explosive on my side. He challenges a second Rabble Riser who then cannot do much else than beat Bill - which it does rather well with a total of four damage through armor. Later in the round I was planning to score Ley Lines this round and I didn't want Bill to heal, so Carrion Effigy walked to bring some Aura of Decay for Bill.

Well, Youko tore Carrion Effigy to shreds with her cutting words. 

Dead Doxy walks Flesh Construct a little forward in the middle forest and seduces Bunraku and its unrequited love, Kabuki Warrior. Flesh Construct then charges Kabuki Warrior, not landing even a single hit thanks to opponent's cheats. That was rather annoying, but Kabuki Warrior giving Red Joker to Flesh Construct in damage flip was critical. 

For Kabuki's second attack I flipped Black Joker for Flesh Construct and was prepared to say goodbye to my two Vendetta points. Opponent hit, but evened out earlier Red Joker by flipping Black Joker to damage this time. Of course New Horizon succeeded and moved another scheme marker to a bad position for me. 

Madame Sybelle walked and interacted a scheme to centerline, and tried to save Flesh Construct by using Beckoning Call on Bunraku. Well, she failed to land Beckoning Call but miraculously both attacks by Bunraku missed Flesh Construct, too.

Dead Dandy fails to turn a corpse marker into scheme marker, which means no scheme reveals for me this turn. Good news? At least Bill wouldn't heal this round from revealed schemes. 

Bunraku on top-right interacts and places explosive marker.

Scores go 2-2 when both players score strategy and Ten Thunders reveals Power Ritual.

First two turns looked so good, but there were a few hardships too many this round so it all looked grim now.

Turn 4:

Ten Thunders won initiative, but activated Youko first, but I'll get to that later.

So I had one more chance of getting a point from Vendetta. Flesh Construct activated, concentrated and attacked Kabuki Warrior. Well look at that, Black Joker my old friend.

Bunraku kills Flesh Construct and engages Dead Doxy with bonus action. It dealt a couple points of damage before Madame Sybelle came forward and used I've Got Your Back on her. This secured me third point from strategy.

Bill Algren went to take a swing at Dead Dandy, and did something I'll get to later.

Mindless Zombie goes to hang around near center line followed by disengaging Dead Dandy. Kabuki Warrior kills Mindless Zombie.

Geisha lures another Bunraku away from top-right corner, and the puppet then runs near duel between Youko and Rabble Riser. 

But yeah, that Rabble Riser. I feel sorry for him. First Youko acts all nicely and offers him some Backroom Dealings, immediately followed by 3x Cutting Words. Bill Algren goes "Well aren't you a pathetic weakling if you can't fight me in a duel" before leaving the melee entirely. Chiyo misinforms nasty lies what Bill went to do with Rabble Riser's momma and ends with a biting insult how Rabble Riser's momma is dead. 

Poor Rabble Riser.

But Kabuki Warrior delayed Harness Ley Lines no longer, so scores go 3-4 for Resurrectionists with both players scoring strategy. 

Turn 5:

Youko continues to torment Rabble Riser with her cutting words, but the zombie murderer wants to get even with Bill. He disengages and tries to challenge Bill, failing at that. Bill then kills Rabble Riser, escalating to physical violence from the verbal abuse of last round.

Dead Dandy makes a scheme marker out of a corpse, but can't interact one because he was in melee with Kabuki Warrior. Kabuki - third time in this match - manages to dislodge my scheme marker.

Dead Doxy pushed Madame Sybelle out of the forest with Take By the Hand and interacted a scheme. But then a wild Bunraku appeared and it doing nothing at all was super effective. Had Madame been able to activate, she could have placed two more scheme markers for Harness Ley Lines end condition.

Chiyo places third explosive for Ten Thunders. Resurrectionists score no points this turn, so game ends in draw, 4-4.

Undivided Distraction

 A 35ss game of Malifaux with a starting player.

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Scheme pool: Dig Their Graves, Vendetta, Breakthrough, Search the Ruins, Harness the Ley Lines

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy
Mortimer
2x Rotten Belle
Bone Pile (vendetta on Angelica Durand)
Jaakuna Ubume

Stones: 2

Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Vendetta

Opponent had:

Colette Dubois & Doves
Cassandra Felton
Angelica Durand
Coryphee
Mannequin
2x Showgirl

Stones: 0

Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Search the Ruins

Turn 1:

Rotten Belles took the strategy markers on my table half, while a Showgirl and a Mannequin did the same on the other side.

Jaakuna Ubume and Madame Sybelle try to make a scary aura fortress but as of turn one it accomplishes little.

Angelica and Cassandra push Coryphee around, who then charges Bone Pile and engages Rotten Belle. It punched Bone Pile, like, real hard and brought it down to one health remaining. This was not ideal situation as Bone Pile had vendetta on Angelica... not to mention that Coryphee was less than 2" away from my strategy marker and able to walk on and off melee as it pleased. 

Mortimer had started spewing out corpses to act as homing beacons for Bone Pile. Then we misplayed Presto-Chango and ended up with Colette within one walk away from my deployment zone and Mortimer on roof of the factory in the middle.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists win initiative so Bone Pile was saved. 

I bring Jaakuna Ubume to discourage Colette from starting to spam her abilities in my backline. Well, se didn't spam her abilities in my backline. She walked deep into my deployment zone and started interacting. Rotten Belle was buried with a sword trick.

Coryphee brings a Rotten Belle down to one health remaining, and most of my remaining activations from then on were spent on raining attacks on Coryphee. Madame Sybelle and both Rotten Belles finally managed to bring down the dancer - well, at least partially, since there still was this Mannequin around.

Mortimer slaps dead one dove on top of the building and digs up a zombie. I don't know, maybe it was suck on the chimney or something? 

Effigy comes and takes a shot at Angelica Durand. It was a couple of points of damage, but Angelica had flipped masks. Effigy was transported right into melee with Angelica and was quickly greeted by both a Mannequin and a Mechanical Dove that pecked it down to one health with a red joker.

So, second turn was nearing end and I had three of my models at one health remaining.

Scores go 1-1.

Turn 3:

Jaakuna Ubume leaves Colette to her own devices and relocates to catch Cassandra, Angelica and Mannequin within her drowning aura. Angelica had managed to activate before that and kill Carrion Effigy, scoring Dig Their Graves.

Mindless Zombie jumped down from the building, nearly getting killed in the process. Bone Pile re-emerges from it and charges Angelica Durand. It managed to score me vendetta, but didn't quite survive a furious attack by Mechanical Dove. No end condition for Vendetta for me now.

People and former people are also dying left and right around Madame Sybelle. Mannequin had died, Rotten Belle had died, and finally Showgirl died to Madame Sybelle, scoring Dig Their Graves for me. 

So, both players score both of their schemes when Colette spawns a few additional scheme markers on my deployment zone, but reveals Search the Ruins instead of Breakthrough. Arcanists also have two strategy markers whereas Resurrectionists sport only one, so scores go 4-3 for Arcanists.

Turn 4:

Mannequin in the middle is blasted off from board, or perhaps drowned off, by Jaakuna. I flip one of the farthest strategy markers neutral, which also takes Cassandra out of action in a way.

Angelica moves away from drowning aura to place scheme markers. This opens up way for Madame Sybelle walk to middle marker and interact it twice. Last remaining Rotten Belle also gets one strategy marker after Colette had interacted one of my first strategy markers neutral.

Mortimer slogs towards Arcanists' strategy marker behind the industrial tower and takes a random charge against Showgirl, not doing anything.

Resurrectionists score second point from strategy, evening out scores to 4-4.

Turn 5:

Neither player manages to wrestle third point from Turf War. Arcanists spawn enough scheme markers to get end condition of Search the Ruins and Resurrectionists do the same for Dig Their Graves. Game is decided with the last activation made by Cassandra, who removes one Resurrectionist scheme. Suddenly there was not enough graves. 5-4 for Arcanists.

Rats in the Green

Had two 35ss games of Malifaux during my visit in Kuhmo.

First game was:

Molly + Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
3x Crooligans
Rabble Riser
Gravedigger

Pool: 3

Schemes: Search the Ruins, Breakthrough

versus

Seamus + Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
2x Rotten Belle
Dead Doxy
Mourner

Pool: 3

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Detonate Charges

Strategy: Reckoning

Molly had a strong start with getting focused +1 almost everywhere - sometimes with multiple focuses. First turn is surprisingly uneventful otherwise.

Turn 2

Rabble Riser kills Mourner, who had charged to tease a Crooligan I had deployed relatively middle. Seamus fails to kill the charging Rabble Riser, which Molly then lets activate gain. Rabble Riser tries to get rid of Copycat Killer, but fails thanks to Hard to Kill on the leprechaun. Someone eventually kills the Riser, and a Rotten Belle goes and takes one Crooligan as a prisoner.

Points go 1-2 for Seamus.

Turn 3

Opponent kills Necrotic Machine and Gravedigger who were keeping company to Molly in the middle of the board. Suddenly Molly was standing alone next to Seamus, Madame Sybelle, Dead Doxy and Rotten Belle, as even Philip & Nanny started speeding towards enemy deployment zone.

Whoopsie. Anyway... one more question? Does your flintlock make a loud noise when you pull the trigger, mr. Seamus?

However, the crooligans had been doing their thing for a while now and Molly was able to score both Search the Ruins and Breakthrough.

Points go 3-3.

Turn 4

Seamus' gang splits to hunt Molly who continuously escaped engagement with premonition. Madame Sybelle and Copycat Killer are attempting to speed towards the prams and the reckless children all around them. No points were scored on turn 4.

Turn 5

Seamus fails to kill Molly and catching the prisoner is unfeasible, and there isn't enough action points to do Detonate Charges, so we don't continue as Molly had secured two points from the end schemes already.



Game 2:

Second game was Hamelin vs Seamus.

My list:

Hamelin + 3x Stolen
Nix
Obedient Wretch
Rat King
Rat Catcher
3x Malifaux Rat

Pool: 3

Schemes: Detonate Charges, Dig Their Graves

Opponent had:

Seamus + Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Dead Doxy
Rotten Belle
Mourner
Gravedigger

Pool: 2

Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Search the Ruins

Strategy was Turf War.

Gravedigger starts by giving entire Resurrectionists crew focused +1 with Blasphemous Ritual.

Seamus shoots five points of damage in to Hamelin, which has me a little worried for his safety. To give some other concerns for opponent, Nix ran right in the middle of Resurrectionists, close to Madame Sybelle and Seamus.

Hamelin pulls off two lures against Madame Sybelle with double crows, meaning four blight tokens on the first turn. Other than that rats just swarmed the middle.

Turn 2

Nix bites two more blight tokens to Madame Sybelle, and then tries Bleeding Disease for six points of damage. This succeeds. Madame Sybelle and Seamus maul Nix down to two hit points remaining, and then Gravedigger comes to stitch up Madame Sybelle. There were enough failed duels nearby that eventually Nix had healed back to five, much to the annoyance of my opponent.

Hamelin closes in, slaps a scheme marker near Sybelle and tries to finish her off with Bleeding Disease, which doesn't succeed. Stolens and Obedient Wretch, not to mention many a Malifaux Rat try to kill Sybelle for Dig Their Graves, but it just won't happen. Fair enough, given the odds on which Nix survived.

Points go 1-1 from strategy.

Turn 3

Madame Sybelle brings Nix down to one hit point remaining, and then Nix kills Madame Sybelle. Seamus makes short work out of Nix. Both players had scored Dig Their Graves now. Dead Doxy backtracks and flips strategy marker back to resurrectionists, as Sybelle's death had flipped it to neutral.

Then a misplay happened when a single Stolen succeeded to two-shot Mourner dead. Impressive for Stolen, but we flipped the strategy marker again although Stolen is insignificant. All in all this essentially lost one action point from Dead Doxy next turn, which might have affected game.

Scores go 3-2 for Outcasts, which should've been 3-3.

Turn 4

Seamus kills three models in one turn by finishing a Rat Catcher who had come to attempt to score Detonate Charges, then charging Stolen and then shooting last surviving Stolen. I don't think I've ever done such a feat myself. Copycat Killer and Rotten Belle kill a Rat King who had wandered into the fray to score Detonate Charges. I do my first Rat King summon and put it back where the first one died.

Hamelin uses Black Staff to smack Gravedigger dead and secure the middle zone for Turf War.

I reveal Detonate Charges, and we end the game when outcasts went 5-3.

Second Game of Malifaux

So I had my second game.

It was 35 soul stones. Is just added a Mindless Zombie to my crew, because last time I felt that one just... isn't enough.

We still kept the simple scenario of Reckoning.

Overall, the game went on slightly more fluidly than last time, with less time spent on scouring details from rulebook. Some form of tactical thinking may have also developed, since last game neither of us used Concentrate even once. This time it was used almost every turn with at least one model.

Maybe next time I'd feel confident enough to try a different scenario.

However, the game itself.

My team was:
Seamus + Copycat Killer
Rotten Belle
Bete Noire
Madame Sybelle
Mourner
Mindless Zombie

4 soulstones
Schemes: Power Ritual, Deliver a Message

vs.

Dr. McMourning + Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Kentauroi (with Grave Spirit's Touch)
Flesh Construct
Nurse

4 soulstones
Schemes: Power Ritual, Claim Jump (Flesh Construct)

We had corner deployment. I had this great plan to plant Mourner's corpse marker within 3" of corner, and eventually when Bete Noire would bury herself, she'd come up there and replace corpse with scheme marker and place schemes to both adjacent with dynamic duo of Seamus and Copycat Killer. Nice plan, eh?

Well, except that first activation in the whole game (flesh construct) gave me a hint that opponent was aiming for Power Ritual, too. And opponent had this horribly fast unit of Kentauroi.

Seamus took a shot against the Kentauroi and dealt a severe injury. I was surprised that the minion fell down to one hit point remaining. I had Red Joker in my hand, so I could have killed Kentauroi with one hit.

Good thing I did not. This prompted a reckless action from McMourning - he charged Seamus and replied in kind with four damage points and two poison counters. It was severe injury that I lowered with a soul stone. He still had one action remaining, so I used Red Joker for Seamus' defense. Even a minor injury with two poison counters would have eventually caused Seamus' death.

My Mourner comes to deliver a message to McMourning. There may have been some bad puns involved.

Bete Noire kept harassing Chihuahua. I just wanted an easy kill for Reckoning, but I didn't pay attention to the fact that even had Bete Noire succeeded, I would've gained nothing because of Chihuahua's Insignificant rule. Oh well. At least the doggie received some good pets.

Seamus killed Sebastian on the northern left corner of board. But not before Sebastian could score a point from Power Ritual.

Throughout this time Kentauroi had been healing a little, and came to contest lower right corner, where I hadn't had time to plant a Scheme marker with Rotten Belle. I realized I wouldn't be able to complete Power Ritual's end condition. And it was all because Seamus missed one attack on Sebastian.

Madame Sybelle had been on the middle for too long. Flesh Construct was attacking her. I was suspecting opponent might have Claim Jump again, since Flesh Construct is such a perfect piece for that scheme.

Madame used up all my remaining soulstones. But against all odds she did survive long enough. When she succumbed on last round of the game, she had a stack of six Poison counters after McMourning attacked her.

Seamus activated and dropped a Scheme Marker close enough to McMourning to deliver the final message.

Score was 3-4 in favor of Seamus.

Opponent was quite terrified of Seamus, and I have to agree the flintlock pistol has absurd damage track. Even minor injury deals as much damage as severes on some models. After two games I can't make an accurate judgement, but on the other hand... in this game at least it was Seamus who pretty much did all the job. All other models in my team were not doing any damage at all that was of consequence. Mourner delivered the original message to McMourning and that's it. Anything else my models did were just standing in the way of enemy.