Go back home, Richard!

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Standard Corrupted Idols

Schemes: Vendetta, Breakthrough, Outflank, Dig Their Graves, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Noxious Nephilim with Grave Spirit Touch
2x Rabble Riser
2x Night Terror
Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Breakthrough

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 6
Schemes: Outflank, Breakthrough

Turn 1:

Molly was the defender during deployment, and for once there was a conscious choice on my part which half Bayou would have to deploy first - whatever side Aunty Mel was on. That aunt terrified Noxious Nephilim to no end.

So, Nephilim deployed to far left. Molly made it parade forward for a bit to interact a scheme, and later in turn the beast puked a corpse next to the scheme marker.

The beast also slapped three points of damage to Clampetts after the Angler master had launched itself to remove my poor Night Terror that had recklessly flown to toss corrupted idols around.

Uncle Bogg had pushed Sir Vantes forward, and the foul knight - along with Clampetts - tossed an even fouler idol twice, at least 3" into my table side. The thing was guarded by the 2" reach of the filthy spear of Sir Vantes.

Rabble Riser went to charge Sir Vantes, but that Armor +2 is a thing against a damage track of 2/3/4

I think it was the Hermits that shot a few points of damage in to Philip & Nanny that Necrotic Machine tried to heal. Aunty Mel was with the Hermits, there in the lower left quarter of the top right quarter. (Wasn't that clear?)

Crooligan had emerged From Shadows to claim Breakthrough, but a Skulker Skin seemed to have other ideas when it ran towards rightmost Outflank area. Remaining Night Terror took a flying double walk towards the Crooligan to perhaps support the kid one day.

Since there was now Clampetts, Sir Vantes, Hermits and Aunty Mel in a relative proximity of the center, another Rabble Riser sticked around near Philip & Nanny and Necrotic Machine to do some damage next turn.

Far to the left Buckaroo took a full 18" walk towards my table edge. 

Turn 2:

Second strategy marker appeared in the center. Hermits, Sir Vantes and even Clampetts ensured that it was on my side of the table and out of my reach.

However, Molly and her endless parading also put one Idol on the enemy side, and Noxious Nephilim charged Clampetts, flew past them and took the idol within its 2" melee range. 

Clampetts, Bruce and what else had damaged Noxious Nephilim for a few points of damage. That wasn't too dangerous in itself, but Aunty Mel relocated to the second floow of building in the middle. Necrotic Machine had to run to heal the Nephilim, but failed its heal thanks to me trying to fish card from Molly's bonus action. Oh well.

Philip & Nanny was able to slow both Sir Vantes and Clampetts, and by now Sir Vantes was looking seriously damaged. Instead of doing damage, Rabble Riser to the right went to place a scheme marker near the Angler enforcer. The other Rabble Riser had suffered damage from various effects - mostly from Clampetts dynamites - and went to place a scheme marker near the corrupted idol that Noxious Nephilim was guarding, next to Uncle Bogg. Then it charged past Sir Vantes, and that point was the only one it managed to do this turn.

Night Terror scraped some damage in to Skulker Skin, but wasn't going to stay and challenge it any longer than necessary. Skulker removed itself from melee with On The Move and took a couple of shots at Night Terror, bringing it down to two health remaining after poisons.

Crooligan went to place a scheme for Breakthrough, and Buckaroo did the same in the opposite corner of the board.

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

Turn 3:

What a rollercoaster of a turn, but that is kind of fitting for the chaotic conductor. First, Aunty Mel starts shooting her adversary target, Noxious Nephilim. First attack - Red Joker on damage. Second attack - Black Joker on damage. It might be that she managed to score a weak hit with trigger from her bonus action. All in all the beast survived, albeit down to around one or two health remaining. 

Noxious Nephilim activated to regenerate four. It tried to remove Bruce before it would be able to heal Sir Vantes or the Hermits, but only landed a weak hit with last attack. Fortunately it had rams, so it received a little bit of healing. 

Molly managed to score Dig Their Graves by parading Hermits through the scheme marker right to it's grave. 

Idols near the center were being thrown around like ragdolls. Molly's built in trigger to interact with Parade Route was put to heavy use, but that wasn't helping much against teamwork by Uncle Bogg and Clampetts.

Both Rabble Risers went down this turn, one of them being eaten by Bruce. Crooligan and Night Terror spammed scheme markers in enemy deployment zone.

Opponent had Skulker Skin at the outflank zone on right, and Buckaroo did a quick retreat to the zone on left. Two out of three strategy markers were on my side of table now, and Sir Vantes was harassing Philip & Nanny, who were the last model to activate for me. I had three soulstones remaining, but I managed to pull off a nice combo with accidental roll-over with two soulstones. The pram rammed through Sir Vantes right next to corrupted idol, and scores went 3-3 as Resurrectionists got Dig Their Graves, and Bayou got Outflank.

Turn 4:

A third idol appeared on the center point, which complicated things, as soon enough it was apparent that I was losing the attrition game hard. Aunty Mel had no trouble killing Noxious Nephilim, and eventually even Philip & Nanny had to go. They spent my last soulstone trying to get a moderate block, but failed to do so.

However, Molly's parades and whatnot launched one idol way past centerline, and again I somehow managed to wriggle out of a desperate situation by using obscure actions. Strange Behavior by Necrotic Machine was able to dislodge it from melee with Uncle Bogg, free now to interact. Two idols secured for me.

Skulker Skin stopped outflanking and instead went to throw an idol that had spawned on the third turn to my side, and i had ran out of action points to do anything to the environmental threat that was corrupted idol next to riverbank.

Buckaroo also stopped to outflank and went into position to scheme next turn for Breakthrough.

Clampetts also leaped closer to my deployment zone. I think they were the culprits in removing Philip & Nanny this turn, though.

Scores continued with hard-fought 4-4 tie.

Turn 5:

Bayou got to choose which table edge the idol would appear. Strangely enough, I think Skulker Skin was Bayou's MVP, scoring two strategy points and two halves of scheme points all by itself for a total of three.

Crooligan teleported to center and planted a scheme for Dig Their Graves, and tossed the idol on centerline. Aunty Mel, however, went to toss it right back in a dynamite tennis fashion.

Before all that happened I was still aiming for three strategy points, so Molly went to throw an idol far enough that Aunty Mel would not be able to throw that one back. Looking back now, it would have been way more beneficial to try to drop schemes for Dig Their Graves end condition.

Buckaroo and Clampetts secured Breakthrough for Bayou, and the first one mentioned didn't Black Joker it's bonus walk either. So Bayou was able to score seven points out of eight.

Resurrectionists could only get their Breakthrough for a total of five. A 7-5 victory for Clampetts.

Richard? Now that's a good boy!

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Plant Explosives (gg0 version)

Schemes: Power Ritual, Claim Jump, Search the Ruins, Detonate Charges, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
White Rabbit Co.
Mourner
Dead Doxy
2x Rotten Belle
2x Dead Dandy

Pool: 4
Schemes: Power Ritual, Search the Ruins

Opponent had:

Clampetts, Fisherfolk & Bruce
Aunty Mel
Uncle Bogg
Sir Vantes
2x Hermits
Buckaroo

Pool: 4 
Schemes: Search the Ruins, Detonate Charges

Turn 1: 

Surprisingly, Seamus did not shoot anyone dead this turn.

Bayou was somewhat bottlenecked by the weird building in the middle. Uncle Bogg, Bruce and one of the Hermits got stuck on each other, and the head count almost included Sir Vantes, too, if it wasn't for the 3" push that ignores models.  Sir Vantes took position at front, ready to charge the plethora of models in his reach. Too bad only Madame Sybelle did not have a disguise.

Aunty Mel and another Hermit rushed behind a rock on right flank. Buckaroo with a bomb was soloing the left flank.

Resurrectionists offered almost a unified front piecemeal. Going from left to right, Copycat Killer had teleported Seamus within 1" of blocking terrain after the master had dropped a scheme marker to top-left corner. 

Rotten Belle with explosive token and a Dead Dandy were also there on the left front, biding their time as their only real threat was the Buckaroo... oh, and the Clampetts. But they were not directing their rage against the pair. They started tossing dynamite on the widow weeping for her recent loss that had overextended her sorrow by trying to feed on Sir Vantes' grief. She didn't succeed at that, but she certainly caught the sizzling dynamites. Mourner even shared the fireworks with Madame Sybelle, taking five points of damage herself, and three to Madame. 

White Rabbit felt uncomfortable around gremlins, so they crafted a hat for Dead Doxy and went into hiding behind a mud house to the right. Dead Doxy admired her hat in front of the hut.

I now realized I forgot to drop the corpse marker from Mourner deployment. That could have been an easy-ish scheme marker to the corner where he instead wasted an actual action point planting marker for Power Ritual.

Explosive carrying Rotten Belle to the right lured the Dandy a little closer, preparing to flank from far right. 

Turn 2:

Surprisingly, Seamus did not shoot anyone dead this turn.

Before opponent would finish what he started with Mourner, she charged the Angler master. Attack did not amount to anything, but Sir Vantes started to feel a little grief. Soon enough Madame Sybelle failed Undivided Attention with a black joker, so she, already injured, decided it's best to die with high heeled boots on. She actually did rather well against Sir Vantes, after she and Mourner were done, the knight in shining coat of snail slime was down to two health remaining.

However, Sir Vantes killed the Mourner, healed himself for two points and stunned Madame. And set Dead Dandy on fire with Bait the Waters. How does that even work out?! Bruce licked the Sir's wounds away, so in the end he was missing just one point of health.

Since situation was about to get tough for Madame, White Rabbit Co. offered her some support with a fancy new hat, and again went hiding, this time inside some fog terrain.

Hermit and Aunty Mel to the right didn't manage to kill Dead Dandy that had exposed himself. Rotten Belle to the right took position to plant a bomb next turn, while Dead Doxy started her long road towards bottom-right corner. 

Buckaroo to the left bonus walked, dropped a bomb and charged Copycat Killer, but did not score enough damage to kill. Clampetts, I think, shot a couple points of damage to Dead Dandy in the middle, leaped to forest on the left and did a scheme marker there at end of activation. She may have tried to attack Copycat Killer too, but there the bugger is still standing in the picture with one health remaining. 

Copycat Killer made a relatively big mistake in trying to shear the creature during live rodeo. He managed only to poke damage to it. Worried about the damage he'd done, he tried to plug the hole with a bullet from his half pint flintlock pistol. While Buckaroo got decent damage out of these attacks, the 6" of free movement was also a problem. 

However, I didn't and wouldn't get strategy points this turn unless Seamus used Secret Passage to get to the weird building in the middle, walk and place both a strategy and a scheme marker. Although now that I think about it, maybe I could have done without a scheme marker for one more turn and shot Buckaroo instead. Oh well. 

Dead Dandy went to place a scheme marker next to a wall, and turned Mourner's corpse into a scheme marker. 

Rotten Belle to the left had taken a double walk to get into contact with enemy strategy marker. 

Scores went 2-1 for Resurrectionists, as they got their Search the Ruins.

Turn 3:

Surprisingly, Seamus did not shoot anyone dead this turn.

Madame Sybelle took some serious beating in the middle by Hermit, Sir Vantes and even Bruce. She lost her hat and used up my remaining soulstones. But still she was standing during end phase, with two health remaining! 

She tried to kill Bruce, but instead damaged Hermits. Two points got through its armor. Second attack hit Bruce, but left the puppy with one health remaining. 

White Rabbit proved to be a bloodthirsty beast when it, too, scored two points of damage to Hermits that had been pushed around by Uncle Bogg to drop a scheme next to terrain. Hermits removed itself from melee with scuttle and charged Sybelle. Uncle Bogg had placed a strategy marker, too, but according to all safety procedures he is sitting on the explosive in the picture. 

Rotten Belle to the right goes to drop a strategy marker while Hermits and Aunty Mal on that flank kills Dead Dandy and nearly Rotten Belle, thanks to a moderate damage with three negative modifiers to the flip. 

 Clampetts kills Coopycat Killer, staggers Rotten Belle and leaps to interact a strategy marker and do a scheme marker with silurid shenanigans. Buckaroo runs to remove a scheme marker from my top-left corner.

Staggered Belle wasn't going anywhere soon, so she just picked the box of explosives from ground and shambled to Bayou side of table. 

Burning Dandy in the middle did a double walk to perhaps make a scheme marker before succumbing to flames. 

Seamus took a secret passage, doubly walked to bottom-left corner and placed a scheme marker there for Power Ritual. 

Both players scored strategy, Bayou got Search the Ruins and Resurrectionists did Power Ritual for a lead of 4-3.

Turn 4:

Surprisingly, Seamus did not shoot anyone dead this turn.

Madame Sybelle, however, did score a kill against Hermits in the middle. First kill for Resurrectionists, yaaay! At least that was what I suspected would happen. Nope, White Rabbit's needle and thread was Resurrectionist's most impressive instrument of death in this game.

Dead Doxy drops a scheme for Power Ritual end and hopes Rotten Belle survives long enough to lure her, as there was now grave concern that top-right corner would be gone during fifth round. She at least had the hat. No such luck, however. Aunty Mel kills Rotten Belle to the right with her bonus action and goes pick up her explosives. Aunty's Hermits had earlier charged past Belle's engagement range to drop their explosives on my side of table. 

Bruce manages to bite off half of what was left of Madame Sybelle, and Sir Vantes carried through with the rest. 

Uncle Bogg went to secure the mud house on my right side, while Clampetts interacted a scheme, stomped almost next to White Rabbit Co. and dropped an explosive. Shenanigans brought up a scheme marker that started to look a lot like Detonate Charges on White Rabbit.

Buckaroo goes to drop a scheme marker in forest in the center on my table edge.

Situation looked grim. Due to less than ideal placement of strategy markers to the left, Rotten Belle was able to squeeze in one strategy marker adjacent to board edge - but she wouldn't be able to drop the second bomb she had with the marker Seamus had dropped earlier.

Seamus dropped a strategy and a scheme to bottom-left corner and took a double walk towards his earlier, misplaced explosive. 

Before burning to ashes, Dead Dandy placed a scheme marker for Search the Ruins end condition.

Both players got their strategy, and Bayou finally got their Detonate Charges for a 5-5 tie.

Turn 5:

Surprisingly, Seamus did not shoot anyone dead this turn.

It looked like I was at Clampetts's mercy with Power Ritual, so Dead Doxy with the hat just ran into contact with a terrain piece, out of sight of Aunty Mel. 

Seamus was able to walk to the troublesome strategy marker, pick it up, move away and drop it again. Most efficient use of 4 AP master's action points, let me tell you!

Rotten Belle was thus able to place my fourth explosive to the ground, and there was exactly enough scheme markers next to terrain to score Search the Ruins.

Clampetts had no trouble in getting to my top-right corner to convert my scheme marker there, so Power Ritual was ruined.

Throughout turn I had been burning through my stash of pass tokens and DAMN wasn't the mobile hat booth of White Rabbit Company more popular than it has ever been! Bruce, Buckaroo, Uncle Bogg and Sir Vantes all trampled over each other to reach the booth. 

Idea behind using up my pass tokens was to wait until everyone had activated, miraculously score masks trigger from Beckoning Call to remove a Bayou scheme marker, and then try to move or disengage if need be away from remaining scheme marker. But eventually White Rabbit got staggered by Clampetts, so now White Rabbit would have to do with 1.5" of movement inside tide markers. 

Well, that plan fell short at the masks -trigger part that never happened.

Bayou had brutally enforced their Detonate Charges end condition, and had more than enough markers for Plant Explosives and Search the Ruins. 

And as Resurrectionists lost their Power Ritual while scoring remaining points, it was still a 8-7 loss for Seamus. 

Also... absolutely mind-blowingly, Seamus did not even shoot at anyone in this entire game. 

Richard, nooo!

A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Flank Turf War

Schemes: Assassinate, Search the Ruins, Take Prisoner, Breakthrough, Claim Jump

My list:

Madame Sybelle with Grave Spirit Touch & Carrion Effigy
Bete Noire
White Rabbit Company
Flesh Construct
Gravedigger
Rabble Riser
2x Rotten Belle

Pool: 4
Schemes: Take Prisoner (One of the Buckaroo's), Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Clampetts, Fisherfolk & Bruce
Uncle Boggs
Aunty Mel
Sir Vantes
Hermits
2x Buckaroos

Pool: 5
Schemes: Assassinate, Search the Ruins

 Turn 1

Madame Sybelle did not consider turfs adequately settled last time around, so the henchman master and Clampetts had to settle the scores again.

Both Buckaroos went towards top-left quarter, and since the other one of them was my chosen prisoner, I dedicated a Rotten Belle, Rabble Riser and Bete Noire for the pair.

Another Rotten Belle and Gravedigger went towards bottom-right quarter, trying to hide behind the building.

White Rabbit Company crafted a hat for Flesh Construct, who I thought would be taking damage soon enough, as he was Aunty Mel's adversarial target. Hermits blasted White Rabbit Company, which had me worried for their safety, so Madame Sybelle tried to act as a body block between them and Bayou. It kind of worked, though Madame certainly was in a precarious position after Sir Vantes pushed her closer.

Flesh Construct was my last model to activate, and it went to flip center marker for Resurrectionists. Aunty Mel took a shot at the thing, dropping its fancy hat already.

After interacting top-right strategy marker, Clampetts went near the center point to toss dynamites around. Aunty Mel was nearby as their back-up.

Sir Vantes led the charge of Hermits, Bruce and Uncle Bogg from Bayou bottom branching flank. They just had to cut through Madame Sybelle to follow through. Easy, right?

Turn 2:

Only thing more annoying than to tie up a Buckaroo is to tie up two Buckaroos. It was a weird mess how that panned out, but eventually Rabble Riser and Bete Noire managed to kill one. Take Prisoner target took a run towards bottom-left quarter, but fortunately it was well within Rotten Belle's reach to go and engage.

Aunty Mel killed Flesh Construct without breaking a sweat, and picked White Rabbit Company her next target. Hastily they sewed a hat for Madame Sybelle before trying to get as far from action as possible. I think they also beckoned Aunty Mel within 2" of Madame. At least they attempted that.

However, they would have needed to take both action points as walks away, as they were shot to pieces by Hermits and Clampetts. The Fisherfolk are also a scary good schemer, as they were able to leap, interact and end their activation to score reveal condition of Search the Ruins.

As I had been losing my turf markers left and right, Rotten Belle to the right and Gravedigger had to dedicate their activations to get a turf marker in a hard to reach place of bottom-right quarter.

So, scores went 2-2 as both players got strategy, Resurrectionists Take Prisoner and Bayou Search the Ruins.

Turn 3:

Prisoner Buckaroo disengaged from Rotten Belle, and I considered my chances about catching a model able to walk 18" a turn, take a 3" move whether I landed or missed a Lure, and able to push enemy models away with a tactical action. Good riddance, Buckaroo. Rotten Belle lured Rabble Riser closer for it to go and claim top-left quarter as Madame's turf. This also let Bete Noire to walk to enemy deployment zone and plant a scheme for Breakthrough.

Center brawl drained my resources. There were so many Anglers around, and annoyingly enough they were dealing damage only one point at a time, so they succeeded in creeping beneath Assassinate range of health. 

Aunty Mel took some good damage from Madame Sybelle, but Aunty wasn't too shabby damage blocker with soulstones either. Carrion Effigy had tried to come and somewhat restrict that, but it only had a point of health left. Sir Vantes broke the effigy to its components.

Rotten Belle on right re-took bottom-right quarter, and Gravedigger rushed towards Bayou deployment zone. Uncle Boggs had charged Madame Sybelle earlier in the turn, but had an emergency push towards Gravedigger by heroic intervention from Sir Vantes.

Clampetts had placed a scheme to a brick wall and leaped to a bigger rock formation to secure a second terrain piece for Search the Ruins end condition.

Prisoner Buckaroo had run into contact with bottom-left quarter strategy marker, but didn't have the action points to interact. Bayou did get Assassinate reveal condition, but so did Resurrectionists get Breakthrough and strategy point. It was a 4-3 lead for Resurrectionists! 

Turn 4:

In the ceter it was finally time for Madame Sybelle to fall, perhaps because opponent ran out of cards and had I cheated a little higher card, opponent would have had to shuffle deck for just one card. And look at that, moderate wound with one negative modifier. Ah well. Lesson learned. But she sure tanked like a pro in this match, and maybe even could have made it to last round.

Uncle Boggs charged Gravedigger, but dealt only two points of damage. Gravedigger then dug up a corpse and went to take a closer look - away from melee - and now able to interact a scheme. Bete Noire was doing the same at the top lane of Bayou deployment.

Rabble Riser tried to run and stun someone with his challenge, but Anglers cared little about the punk zombie.

Buckaroo got bottom-left quarter for Anglers and went into contact with another brick wall, and Clampetts walked and leaped to a crypt of sorts, tagging third terrain with a scheme marker. 

Rotten Belle at left made a futile attempt at running towards prisoner Buckaroo just to do something at least. She was essentially out of game anyway.

Bayou evens the scores to 4-4 tie with a strategy point.

Turn 5:

Game was pretty much done for at the center, top-left, bottom-left and bottom-right quarters, but there were some exciting elements going on in the top-right quarter. 

Well, center ties into that when Rabble Riser had walked and charged to try to kill Aunty Mel to neutralize bottom-left marker, burning through my hand in the process. 

Uncle Bogg also forced me to cheat and discard cards to protect Gravedigger. The Angler henchman managed to score Slow on Gravedigger that took away the option for me to score a surprise third strategy point and deny opponent one point, although truth be told - that somehow escaped my attention at the time. But with two action points Gravedigger would have been able to flip top-right strategy marker for Resurrectionists. Then he'd only have to survive Richard's charge attack without soulstones or cards in hand, easy!

However, by then I didn't even have enough cards in hand to get past Uncle Bogg's chatty. Not to mention overbearing stench of Richard, who was finally summoned into the game into contact with Gravedigger. Getting stunned would have messed up the digger's corpse inspection push.

So, Anglers scored strategy and both schemes, while Resurrectionists just got their Breakthrough for a grand total of 7-5 for Anglers.

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.

Heist at Hogwarts Transcontinental

A 50ss game of Malifaux.

My master of choice was not a master at all, but a dom. 

Strategy: Flank Turf War

Schemes: Assassinate, Deliver a Message, Breakthrough, Outflank, Take Prisoner

Madame Sybelle
Carrion Tanuki
Mortimer
Keepside Strangers
White Rabbit Company
Mourner with Grave Spirit Touch
3x Rotten Belle
Dead Dandy

Pool: 1

Schemes: Take Prisoner (coatless Witchling Thrall), Deliver a Message

Opponent had:

Sonnia Criid & Purifying Flame
Samael Hopkins
Witchling Thrall with Lead Lined Coat
Witchling Thrall

Witchling Handler

Hex Bow

Sanctioned Spellcaster

Pool: 5

Schemes: Assassinate, Outflank

Turn 1:

There was a bit of a distance between deployments, after all, so Mourner felt secure enough to blaspheme the corpse she was mourning for to give focus for Sybelle, White Rabbit, Keepside Strangers and a Rotten Belle. She took a walk and focused herself, so that she was protected by a cloud. White Rabbit crafted Mourner a fancy, nice hat for solace and comfort in these trying times.

That was until Samael, Sonnia and Hex Bow all took cover behind a wall and started blasting away at Mourner. Down to one health remaining and burning, new fancy hat already ruined.

Rotten Belle's had started to lure Carrion Effigy closer to heal Mourner, but suddenly there was no time for that and I was not ready to lose such an important piece against Ruthless thralls. Madame Sybelle had to beckon Mourner away from the fog, next to Keepside Strangers. A Rotten Belle had to walk to assist those flames away. What a miserable funeral.

Fortunately Keepside Strangers had a strong sense of decency, and they sidekicked themselves to Madame Sybelle, lobbing a basketful of snakes over fence where witch hunters had formed a conga line of execution. 

And wow, look at that. Severe damage. Hex Bow suffered the most, while Samael and Sonnia's sufferings were mitigated a little by arcane shielding. And that was just the first activation. Remaining snakes were tossed at Witchling Thrall that was to become prisoner. Now that I think about it, I wonder why I even did that. Perhaps my reasoning was to soften the thrall a bit to maybe make it heal itself instead of beating everything to a pulp. Anyway, how could I have known the thrall was a snake enthusiast, and just walked closer to see where those adorable snek were coming from.

Elsewhere the Lead Lined Coat Witchling Thrall had ran next to strategy marker on the center point. No models had seriously started closing in on the top-right outflank corner, so my trio of Mortimer, Rotten Belle and Dead Dandy felt quite at ease going for a happy picnic by wreckage of train that had been heading towards Hogwarts. 

Turn 2:

Guild easily got the initiative thanks to unspent pass tokens, and prison-to-be Witchling Thrall charged Keepside Strangers. Only one attack hit, so I didn't feel all that threatened there just yet. Carrion Effigy went to heal Mourner.

Then Sonnia activated and shot a severe Sapping Flames at Keepside Strangers. Whoop-de-doo what an action that is with Pyrotechnics. Keepside Strangers, Rotten Belle, Carrion Effigy, Madame Sybelle, Mourner and White Rabbit & Co. were all set on fire with just two blast markers. Horrifying. Sonnia also summoned a Hex Bow from Keepside Stranger's fires. 

Situation quickly jumped from concerning to alarming. Fortunately Hex Bows weren't succeeding in their attacks all that much, so I scrambled together a desperate plan to score at least the reveal of Deliver a Message: White Rabbit would make a hat for Keepside Strangers and take a double walk closer to Sonnia. Then Strangers would sidekick themselves to White Rabbit and go give a message to Sonnia, who was furthest in the line of the firing squad. 

I shouldn't judge the hat makers too harshly when they failed to sew a hat while they were burning. But fail they did, so they just had to take a double walk near Samael that had not yet even activated. I did have a couple of good cards in my hand, though, but it was still a precarious situation - opponent needed to just score moderate or two weaks to kill the hatters. 

Well, it was only a weak. And even Keepside Strangers survived long enough to deliver a message for Sonnia. After doing that, well, I can only say that Sonnia has never heard the saying "never shoot the messenger!" ... or, in the case of White Rabbit, "never watch with glee how the messengers burns to death in front of your eyes without you doing as much as lift a finger to help them"

I was worrying that the Witchling Thrall in the middle would take interest in helping out his brother, so Dead Dandy departed from the picnic trio to shake his cane furiously at Lead Lined Coated Witchling Thrall. Results were what's you'd expect in such a scenario.

Mortimer also took a slight detour and went to dig up a zombie from the middle of railroad tracks.

Picnic Belle went to flip top-right turf for Resurrectionists.

Thrall with the coat still had some resemblance of respect for an angry old man with a cane and hit him only once with enhanced fists. Unfortunately this excited either Purifying Flame or Sanctioned Spellcaster to drop a point of damage and Burning +1 to his top hat, which killed Dead Dandy in the end phase.

However, Witchling Thrall that needed to be alone, stayed alone. Madame Sybelle walked to engage it, but tried to beckon it to Rotten Belle for a charge at the row of Witch Hunters past the fence. Both Beckons failed, though.

If we look at just the scored, round was good for Resurrectionists that claimed a 3-1 lead. 

Turn 3:

Madame Sybelle started by disengaging from Witchling Thrall, and charged the Witch Hunter line. She killed the already injured Hex Bow, and even tickled Samael for a bit. She was also engaging the summoned Hex Bow. Soon enough she was also engaging Witchling Thrall, who charged her in the back. I don't quite remember all the actual attacks that rained on Madame Sybelle, but after Witchling, Samael, Hex Bow and Sonnia, she was down to three health remaining and Burning +6. Perfect for assassination.

Carrion Effigy tried to heal Rotten Belle and Mourner that had both been slowly cooking for a couple of turns. Mourner went to try and do some extra damage in to Samael, but results were not exceptional. Rotten Belle also tried to make her parasol count for something, but Sanctioned Spellcaster did not want to take a closer look. 

Mindless Zombie that had been summoned earlier walked and charged Witchling Thrall that had the coat. I suppose that's the way how to deal with such a melee monster - feed trash models to it. Unfortunately it did not have the appetite for Mindless Zombies - that one was eventually removed by a well placed single shot from Witchling Handler's collier revolver. Coatling Thrall, that had received Fast from Sonnia, was then free to go and try to dig up more zombies from inside of Mortimer. Fortunately all attacks missed. Mortimer was a bit more effective at landing hits, but they were just dropping weak ones against Lead-Lined Coat. 

Another Rotten Belle that had been hiding near my bottom-right strategy marker positioned herself to perhaps act more meaningfully during rounds four and five, as my choice of activating models seemed like it might become more limited in the near future. 

Miraculously I didn't lose other than Mindless Zombie that activation phase, although Carrion Effigy did burn out from the board in the end phase.

However... next turn would start with Madame Sybelle, Mourner and a Rotten Belle with enough burning to die without extra input from enemy - though Mourner had regeneration and was far away from anything, so maybe she'd survive.

Points went to 4-2, when Resurrectionists got  strategy and Guild got Assassinate but no strategy thanks to Hex Bow dying out in the top-left quarter.

Turns 4-5:

Resurrectionists had gained the edge in pass tokens last turn, so it was their free reign to pick a model to activate. Madame Sybelle killed Samael before she was put down and turned into a Witchling Stalker. 

After that it was mostly just Guild scrubbing the board with remaining zombies. Mortimer managed to survive as a blocker for a while, but even he succumbed at the end of turn four. Prisoner Witchling Thrall was able to kill Mourner, and whatever models there were in center had easy time dealing with two Def 4, Wp 4 models that were Rotten Belles.

At the end of fourth turn Resurrectionists still technically had the lead at 4-3, but Guild had essentially secured Assassinate end. Resurrectionists began last turn with just a single Rotten Belle, hidden behind the train.

So, last turn was pretty much just a matter of if Guild won 6-4 or 5-4. After shenanigans Hex Bow was able to run to Outflank corner. However, Witchling Thrall had more difficult a job in interacting bottom-left strategy marker and running within 3" of the other Outflank corner. Without handling from Handler the thrall fell short of his goal by about two inches. A 5-4 victory for Sonnia. 

Jack the hitpot

 Two 50ss games of Malifaux during my traditional Kuhmo visit.

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Vendetta, Secret Meetup, Load 'Em Up, Assassinate

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Carrion Emissary
Rafkin
Nurse
Little Gasser

Pool: 2
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Rafkin & Little Gasser), Vendetta (Sebastian on Koji)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Koji
Kara
Mr. Tannen
Illuminated
Tanuki
Beckoner

Pool: 3
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Beckoner, ) Load 'Em Up (scheme)

Turn 1:

McMourning's crew was taking it slow. Both Rafkin and Sebastian were really, clumsy next to Rogue Necromancy, Sebastian, Rafkin, McMourning and Zombie Chihuahua. Unfortunately two out of five formaldehyde flasks failed to drop, so I didn't live the dream of getting to reshuffle my deck within first few activations of the turn. Oh well.

Lynch was doing his thing, dishing out brilliance to friendly models and giving them extra pushes. 

Kara went to place a scheme marker past centerline, and the rest of Ten Thunders were just bunching up and concentrating. Oh. Except for Hungering Darkness, who obeyed Carrion Emissary to Rot and Rend nearby Nurse. Damage ended up being severe, and blast clipped the bird itself.

 Koji was close to the middle, followed closely behind by Gwyneth and Beckoner. So close in fact, that the Emissary was able to pay back in kind and shoot Koji with the gun, and blast over Gwyneth and Beckoner. So... sixteen damage in first turn. Not a bad first appearance for Carrion Emissary, although seven of those were against frie

Hungering Darkness and Illuminated were already contesting the middle-right strategy marker, with Tanuki speeding towards bottom marker.

As the very last activation for the round McMourning went to create a Flesh Construct, who walked and charged Koji. 

Resurrectionists had a high profile first rank consisting of McMourning, Carrion Emissary and Rogue Necromancy in the middle, with most of my other models behind them. Little Gasser was biding its time, so it would be able to run within 2" of top strategy marker.

Turn 2:

A big turn for sure. Kara opened the turn by pouncing on summoned Flesh Construct's chest and tearing it apart for a bit. Flesh Construct activates right away while it still got time for it, and didn't do much damage in itself, but drained soulstones and high cards from opponent, who was trying to protect his henchman.

Lynch finishes the job on Flesh Construct and releases Hungering Darkness from engagement.

Carrion Emissary unleashes another devastating volley of Rot and Rend on Koji, scoring a moderate which meant nasty damage for Kara and Lynch. It also spawned zombies to engage Illuminated.

Carrion Emissary had proved to be such a scary model, and Hungering Darkness wasn't going to have any of it. It was in range to charge the big bird. Fortunately one attack failed to hit, because I would have lost my Emissary. It was sitting with one health remaining after Ten Thunders leader had done its thing. This forced my hand to activate Nurse, who managed to heal the bird only by one, but at least she got off a charge attack against Hungering Darkness that stunned the beast.

Illuminated killed both Mindless Zombies. Sebastian saw a chance to score Vendetta with using Blood Poisoning on Koji. He managed to bring him down to one health, and even Kara received damage from bone saw. 

Koji tried to shoot Sebastian, but didn't do much. Then it was Rogue Necromancy's turn to have probably most effective Projectile Vomit that it ever did. It concentrated and vomited over Lynch, scoring severe damage which meant two blasts. Koji and Kara died, and even Lynch took three damage from Necrotic Decay.

Tanuki came to heal Lynch, while Rafkin took double walk and transfused three poison from McMourning to Lynch.

Gwyneth charged Sebastian, and that deck of cards sure is more lethal than a pesky derringer. Sebastian was left reeling with one health remaining. For the second time ever I guessed right Hit the Jackpot and drew a card instead. 

Fortunately Paw Patrol was left to activate, so Zombie Chihuahua ran to offer Blood Poisoning for Sebastian, which healed him for five. So, he was in a fairly secured position. Or so I thought.

Beckoner lures him to hazardous terrain, and punches him essentially down to two health remaining. Two health points and in a hazardous terrain (Dmg 1, Injured +1) was not a good spot for Vendetta end condition carrier.

Fortunately McMourning makes an amazing activation, raining skull saw attacks on Lynch so that poison is enough to kill him in the end phase.

Little Gasser took a flight to top-left strategy marker. 

Situation looked harsh for Ten Thunders, but scores went even when both players received strategy, vendetta for Resurrectionists and hidden martyrs for Ten Thunders. 2-2

Turn 3:

Carrion Emissary tried to go to smack Tanuki a bit because that is a proper thing to do, but failed at everything except putting down some coffin markers. This resulted in Gwyneth butchering Sebastian. Good bye, vendetta points. Again I guessed right with Hit the Jackpot, so this is somewhat of a record for me.

To repay Gwyneth's insolence, McMourning gave himself some doctor's orders to leave the melee range of Hungering Darkness and remove last martyr of Ten Thunders - the Beckoner. He managed to deal damage to already damaged Gwyneth, who was left standing with two health points. Somehow I found the willpower not to try and kill her and instead walk to contest a strategy marker that Rogue Necromancy had been guarding for a couple of turns.

Hungering Darkness charged Carrion Emissary, and this time it smacked the bird dead with just two attacks, and was able to walk to contest the center-right strategy marker. 

Rafkin charged Illuminated, engaging Hungering Darkness just for the sake of it. He didn't hit. Unfortunately Illuminated went to attack Nurse. To remove additional targets around Rafkin the Hidden Martyr, Nurse pulled herself here and there with bottle of painkillers and went to charge Tanuki at bottom-right marker. This forced Mr. Tannen to come and claim the strategy marker.

A bloody game it had been. Neither player revealed more schemes, so scores went to 3-3.

Turn 4:

I had a good hand, but I blew most of the good cards in defending Rafkin. I wanted to waste as much action points from Hungering Darkness and Illuminated before getting him killed. And it worked rather well, Hungering Darkness and Illuminated needed all of their action points to finally score the kill.

McMourning killed Gwyneth, and took a run towards strategy marker in enemy deployment. 

Mr. Tannen and Tanuki were not able to kill Nurse at bottom marker, but neither was Nurse able to do anything useful. 

Scores went 3-5 for Resurrectionists, and as such we didn't play last turn. Ten Thunders had no plausible way to even the scores even if Resurrectionists didn't get any points, and scoring end condition from hidden martyrs was still possible for Resurrectionists anyway.

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Claim Jump, Detonate Charges, Outflank, Take Prisoner, Vendetta

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy with Effigy of Fate
White Rabbit Co.
Bete Noire
2x Flesh Construct
Dead Doxy
Rotten Belle
Dead Dandy

Pool: 4
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Outflank

Opponent had:

Perdita the Neverborn Hunter with Lead Linen Coat & Enslaved Nephilim
Francisco with Lead Linen Coat
Pale Rider
Guild Mage
Nino Ortega
Abuela Ortega

Pool: 7
Schemes: Claim Jump (Pale Rider), Outflank

Turn 1:

Perdita started the game by summoning a pistolero, the one that let family members ignore concealment. Guild kept their distance, and I certainly didn't want to give any easy shots for them. However, that still happened when a Flesh Construct went near the middle of board. Nino and Pale Rider took a few shots at it, but thankfully damage was low and Madame Sybelle managed to pull a heal with Undivided Attention.

Another Flesh Construct went to place a scheme marker past top-left strategy marker. Dead Dandy went to interact with that strategy marker, and turned the scheme into a launching pad for Bete Noire. Nino and Pale Rider were there on top-right marker.

At the bottom of things, Dead Doxy and Rotten Belle took the bottom-left marker and had big plans for outflanking. 

Remainder of my crew were in the middle, with Carrion Effigy just concentrating and doing nothing behind dense clouds. White Rabbit Company had crafted a fine hat for Bete Noire, who had ran to middle to possibly act as a bullet sponge next round.

Guild had Francisco coming from the bottom-right, with the remainder of their crew in a not-dense cloud effect packed like sardines. I've been told Flesh Constructs absolutely loathe sardines and are ready to puke from the slightest mention of those...

Turn 2:

Perdita summons the pistolero that reduces blast damage. So, suddenly it looked far less of an option to use projectile vomit with bazillion blast templates over six enemy models when they'd just receive no damage or extra effects - at all.

Perdita managed to shoot the hat off of Bete Noire, but White Rabbit Company demonstrated that there were plenty of those hats where they came from.

Nino shot  Dead Dandy off the board, and Pale Rider and a couple of Pistolero de Latigos did the same for Flesh Construct in the middle. Unfortunately kill shot came from Pistolero, so the upgraded Pistolero got an upgrade.

Francisco landed a horrifying severe+1 on Bete Noire. Fortunately I had chosen Fade Away, but on top of that she also had to discard her second fancy hat. What is this thing happening in here? I was sure Guild keyword was Family and not Fashion Police.

I figured that I just needed to play my game and let Family shoot my crew to pieces and hope for enough points via schemes. And at least outflank reveal wasn't hard to get this round, with Flesh Construct going top and Doxy going bottom. Rotten Belle also went to place a scheme marker that hopefully would be detonated one day.

Madame Sybelle was in contact with the middle strategy marker, and had turned it over for Resurrectionists.

Then we had a little mix up when Bete Noire charged Nino from Flesh Construct's corpse. We had forgotten it had Shielded +1. and Bete had scored exactly enough damage to kill Nino. She used last action to concentrate when we still thought Nino was dead. But come next turn, I realized Nino had been shielded. The best backtrack we could do was putting Nino back on table with one health remaining. 

Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

It's big bird time, when Carrion Emissary hatches from Effigy. 

But, Perdita opens the turn by summoning a third model. She then starts taking trick shots at Bete Noire - thankfully none of which manage to land that stun.

Bete Noire butchers Nino this time for real and just concentrates, because not much use in trying to attack the Pale Rider. 

Pale Rider shoots Bete Noire, who fades away, leaving Pale Rider free to ride to strategy marker that had been switched to neutral, and flip it back to Guild's possession.

White Rabbit Company gives a comfortable hat for Madame Sybelle, who then had the difficult choice between trying to score Detonate Charges with her hat, or charge in the thick of Guilders. She chose violence, because I wanted to remove Guild Mage. Both her attacks did hit, but took off only four points of Mage's health.

Doxy placed a scheme marker for Outflank. Situation looked hopeful when Francisco didn't succeed in killing Rotten Belle, but then Abuela took a shot with her shotgun, killing the meatshield. Would Doxy survive two full rounds against Francisco, protecting the scheme marker? Only time would tell.

The summoned gang shot White Rabbit Company to pieces and went to switch middle marker to Guild. Carrion Emissary had to take a double walk to get within 6" of Flesh Construct who had earlier been doing some outflanking to provide +1 movement for the experimental minion. This enabled it to do a double walk and interact top-left strategy marker back to Resurrectionists. 

Both players scored strategy for a 2-3 lead for Resurrectionists.

But the start of turn 4 seemed rather grim for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Madame Sybelle killed Guild Mage and tried to retreat into position where her fine hat would perhaps give a point from Detonate Charges. But that did not happen.

Pistoleros, Monster Hunters and Pale Rider shoots dead Carrion Emissary, who had flown to outflank area to place a scheme marker. One Pistolero grew to a Monster Hunter, which I suppose is fair - after all, it killed a gosh darn Carrion Emissary! Can't get much more of a monster than that. 

Flesh Construct flipped top-left marker back for Resurrectionists after it had become neutral from Emissary's death, and ran behind dense clouds to hide from Family's ranged attacks, hopefully getting a point from Outflank last round.

Perdita summoned even more Pistoleros, and then she, Francisco and the Pistolero and Abuela killed Dead Doxy. Thankfully she had managed to navigate Francisco in to a position for me to score Detonate Charges, but that meant I lost any chance for scoring Outflank end condition.

Bete Noire appears from Guild Mage's corpse and goes to flip bottom-right strategy marker from Guild to neutral. Thus, no points for build but one for Resurrectionists from Detonate Charges.

Scores go 2-4 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

A Pistolero goes to engage Flesh Construct behind the clouds, and the rest of summoned gang sets up markers for Outflank.

Perdita uses trick shot to stun Bete Noire, which essentially takes my star player out of the game. At least she was able to go back to strategy marker and flip it out of spite for Resurrectionists.

Then Francisco placed another scheme for Outflank and shot Bete Noire dead. I had the option to threaten the middle area with Madame Sybelle with my stack of six pass tokens, but I thought as far as points go, it's essentially the same to deny a point from opponent. 

Madame Sybelle takes a double walk and swings her lash at Abuela, dealing some four points of damage. In hindisght, I probably should have went to cover the strategy marker entirely with Sybelle's melee range, as opponent was able to a por el and frighteningly remind Abuela closer to strategy marker and out of Madame's melee range. It wasn't a big sliver of marker Abuela had to work with, but it was enough to tag it for Guild.

Pale Rider rides to marker in the middle, thus scoring Claim Jump end condition. 

In one fell swoop, points went from 2-4 to 5-4 for Guild. 

Biting Insult Bites Back

 A 50ss game of Malifaux over Vassal.

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Assassinate, Detonate Charges, Dig Their Graves, Power Ritual, Outflank

My list:

Seamus2 with The Whisper & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
White Rabbit Co
Mourner with Grave Spirit Touch
Dead Doxy
Gravedigger
Rotten Belle

Pool: 7
Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Outflank

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 3
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Outflank

Turn 1:

What a game. What a game. 

I really liked the scheme pool on this one. You could plausibly bluff almost any of these schemes. 

Game started ordinarily enough.

The map involved quite a few bottlenecks which divided Ten Thunders into two segments. Up were Kabuki Warrior, Chiyo, Tanuki and Geisha. Middle had another Bunraku, Hinamatsu, Youko and Bill on top of a container of some sort. Bottom part was, well, Bunraku.

Tanuki had placed a scheme marker in corner and for a long time I was quite certain opponent had picked Power Ritual. 

Resurrectionists had a slightly more coherent line, with Copycat Killer holding high up, Gravedigger at the strategy marker and Madame Sybelle, Seamus, Rotten Belle and White Rabbit Co in the middle with Mourner not far behind. Seamus summoned another Dead Doxy, and the pair went to take the bottom flank. Non-summoned Doxy had been given a comfortable hat. Gravedigger had dropped a corpse and a scheme to my top corner, hinting at Dig Their Graves or Power Ritual.

Turn 2:

Rotten Belle moves forward and lures Hinamatsu to middle. And she didn't even have to spend any action points for it! Although she kind of did use six action points for it. Hinamatsu walked and charged her dead. 

Since Kabuki had been measuring if he'd be able to charge Copycat Killer, I got concerned for his wellbeing. White Rabbit Co gave a hat to Seamus and beckoned Copycat to Gravedigger.

Youko comes to interact with the middle marker. That seemed like a perfect spot for Madame Sybelle to charge to, engaging both Hinamatsu and Youko. She managed to soften up the puppet a little, nothing fancy. 

Chiyo runs to place a scheme on top outflank area and Mourner takes a double walk to get into a more relevant position with her aura. Bunraku runs to bottom outflank area, and Seamus puts on his aura and comes to tickle Hinamatsu. At least the puppet had to spend some resources to stay at five health remaining. The corpse of Rotten Belle  wasn't all that rotten or even so belle, when Seamus rised a Dead Dandy from the marker.

Dead Doxies manage to get the hatted Doxy to bottom outflank area, and even place a real scheme marker hugging the table edge. I had been worried on where Bill Algren was about to go, and he came to dance with Doxies instead of the (g)rave party in the middle. 

A Bunraku and Kabuki Warrior came to engage near the center while Tanuki and Geisha were still far from action. Gravedigger continued to secure Dig Their Graves end condition and interacted with strategy marker as well. 

Very last action for me was to take a double walk with Copycat Killer and engage Chiyo with Seamus, who also had a comfortable hat.

Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists when both score strategy and Doxy and Seamus both lost their hats at outflanking maneuver. 

Still looking like a normal, regular game for sure.

Turn 3:

I knew I was in for some rough time when in the first fourteen cards there were eight severes and only one card below six.

You'd imagine such draws at least gave me a good headstart? Nope. Hinamatsu activated first and attacked Madame Sybelle five times, not missing a single attack. It took four of my soulstones to even keep Madame at four health remaining...

Or maybe they didn't all go when Hinamatsu was mutilating Madame. Perhaps some were used when Bunraku attacked her. But that was only after White Rabbit had given a fancy hat for Madame and beckoned Kabuki Warrior away to do something distracting with Seamus, who was at the top outflank area.

Madame's survival was paramount, so Mourner walked and charged Youko and surprisingly claws her for some damage. Now Youko would need to spend possibly even two actions to get to Sybelle, and perhaps Bill would reconsider repositioning himself from bottom.

Tanuki healed Hinamatsu back to full. Seamus activates Urban Legend aura and spends remaining actions beating Chiyo with a bouquet. Not his best moment, nearly killing a kid with a bouquet. And only nearly. Kabuki Warrior charges Seamus and invades his personal space to such an extent that Copycat Killer is not able to place himself in melee with Chiyo. But at least he had one focused stat 5 attack versus Chiyo's defense of 4 and remaining health of one? Yeah, that he had, and... missed.

Yeah, but now there was a nice aura of automatic damage in the middle. And while scoring Dig Their Graves with Madame Sybelle's hat would probably mean Sybelle dying next turn, I was ready to make that trade. 

Except Madame Sybelle missed melee attack and missed Beckoning Call. Dead Dandy missed with his fancy cane, but at least landed a solid biting insult with Urban Legend triggering a damage on the puppet. Sheesh... that was already four mostly wasted action points.

It was somewhat of a comfort when Bill Algren with fast condition tried to challenge the summoned Dead Doxy, failed and then heroically intervened the other Dead Doxy. Instantly he saw the error of his ways and regretted all the wrongs he had done when Doxy flipped masks.

Bunraku at bottom had placed a scheme marker and went to engage summoned Doxy. By now it was clear that opponent had Outflank. Good thing that I had two 3" pushes available with stat 5 versus wp 5, the other of which would be with negative fate for Bill's defense. 

Failed, all failed. 

What is happening in here?! 

I feel like I had solid moves planned, but really - all that I actually achieved this turn was to strike a kid in the face with a bouquet and insult a wooden puppet! Well alright, there was that attack by Mourner against Youko that did a little damage, but that damage wasn't impactful.

Scores even out to 3-3 when both players get strategy and Ten Thunders reveals their outflank.

Turn 4:

Grave Spirit be praised! Resurrectionists won the initiative. Seamus activated, and thanks to The Whisper I knew I had no masks in initiative flip, in starting hand or three upcoming cards. As if I needed those soulstones anyway.  So Seamus was able to take Madame Sybelle by the hand and lead her away from Hinamatsu. He activated Urban Legend with bought Alone in the Dark and attacked Bunraku once, missing. Second attack went to Hinamatsu as I didn't want to attack Df 7 Bunraku. Guess what? It was a miss.

Bunraku tries to come to kill Madame Sybelle and almost succeeds at it when first attack spent my last soulstone in damage block and toppled her comfortable hat. Second attack fortunately missed.

Not a problem. There were plenty of hats where they came from! White Rabbit Co. came to offer their services immediately and tried to use beckoning call to move Bunraku to give it distracted and staggered. Madame Sybelle's scarlet temptation even gave negative fate for Wp 4 Bunraku. Yeah, miss. Needle and thread? Miss. So that's already seven action points of aggression towards the Bunraku, out of which only one insult hit home.

Gravedigger charges Bunraku next and misses. Last action goes to heal Madame Sybelle, and at least that was a decent severe. Next challenger was Mourner, who lands On Your Heels with Feed On Grief against Bunraku. Shocking. I actually hit with an attack and dealt one (1) damage point. Well, it was positive for me and negative for Bunraku. Although that doesn't guarantee anything as I learned in this game. Claw attacks scored On My Feels when they... missed. Ten action points. Two successes. 

By then Tanuki had not activated, but the lucky On Your Heels made it possible for me to block any easy line of sights to Bunraku. During the Bunraku beatings Bill Algren had killed Dead Doxy with one strike and Kabuki Warrior had done the same to Copycat Killer. 

Things were growing more desperate by the minute. But all was not lost! Bunraku was at half health remaining, so Madame Sybelle could get straight flip against it despite some distractions. Yeah, miss.

Alright. We still got one more chance. Kill Bunraku with last attack and score Pulled Here and There. Two fate cards. Bleeder Lash, go! AND LOOK AT THAT! Indeed Masks came up with a decent card of 10 and opponent had 9 and Red Joker was still in my deck. With original stats the attack would have hit. But because of extra defense from Bunraku's Df-trigger, the attack missed by one. Just for giggles Madame Sybelle tries Undivided Attention and flips Rams for healing trigger. But card value if five and needed six. Such a bad luck was no longer even annoying, it was straight out hilarious. Twelve actions, two successes. Two points of damage done by me, one by opponent.

But as it happened, Hinamatsu activated and went to attack Dead Dandy, failing her attacks. But then she takes Aggressive Stance and things take a surreal turn. Both players had taken notice of the absurd levels of bad luck and tiny cards Resurrectionists had got and deck was nearing empty. High cards were expected when Madame Sybelle, Mourner, Seamus, White Rabbit Co and Dead Dandy had to take Willpower 13 checks of gain Distracted. Not a single card was above four! They all failed!

Seriously? At this point one couldn't help but audibly laugh at the situation.

Dead Dandy activates next and turns a scheme Tanuki had placed into a corpse. 

Throughout the turn I had struggled to get required suits for my cards for anything to work. To end the train wreck of a turn with at least a psychic satisfaction of insulting a cute little furry, Dead Dandy declared a distracted Biting Insult at Tanuki.

And the thing is... Biting insult has no triggers at all. And that was where I managed to flip the Red Joker!

That really broke the bank and my stomach muscles still hurt from laughing spasms as I write this.

Turns out that yeah, it can get a lot, lot worse.

We didn't play fifth round when scores went to 3-4 for Ten Thunders from strategy.

I had relatively secure one point coming but zero chances of any additional points, while Ten Thunders had Outflank with 100% certainty and quite likely Detonate Charges and fourth strategy point. 

Cactus Family

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Reckoning

Schemes: Assassinate, Breakthrough, Harness the Ley Lines, Claim Jump, Search the Ruins

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy
Mortimer
Bone Pile
Flesh Construct
2xRabble Riser
Guild Autopsy
Dead Doxy
Dead Dandy

Pool: 2
Schemes: Claim Jump (On Mortimer), Harness the Ley Lines

Opponent had:

Perdita Ortega, Neverborn Hunter with Lead-Lined Coat & Enslaved Nephilim
Francisco Ortega with Lead-Lined Coat
Pale Rider
Guild Mage
Nino Ortega
Abuela Ortega

Pool: 7
Schemes: Assassinate, Claim Jump (Nino)

Turn 1:

Surprisingly little happened on the first round except for positioning. Bone Pile was going to top-right corner, followed by a gathering of Mortimer, Guild Autopsy and Dead Dandy.

In the center was Madame Sybelle, Carrion Effigy and Dead Doxy. Below, both Rabble Risers and Flesh Construct.

Pale Rider had ridden with a summoned Pistolero to the corner of a building below and took a shot at Madame Sybelle, dealing a couple points of damage. Dead Doxy could have taken by the hand Carrion Effigy to heal Madame, or Rabble Riser to soften up enemy models. I thought that to be more important, so she pushed Rabble Riser a bit forth so that it was able to walk and charge Abuela, but accomplished nothing with a sword against a granny in a wheelchair. 

Turn 2:

Sybelle wins the initiative, which was Rabble Riser's chance to kill a granny. First Rabble Riser gets black joker on damage, then just generally misses and finally manages to score two points. Woohoo.

Perdita then summons a Nephilim Hunting Pistolero and shields just about everybody. A por el (however that is actually spelled?) has Abuela blasting Rabble Riser with shotgun, grudging him with adversary.

My strategy game didn't look good, so I sent in another Rabble Riser at the Pistolero from first round, hoping to kill essentially a five hit point model with two attacks. And it certainly looked like it's easier to kill a grown man than to beat a granny in wheelchair - strategy point was secured for me, too.

The summoned Pistolero shot the already injured Rabble Riser dead, so that was also a point for Guild. But it also became Monster Hunter.

Abuela shot a second Rabble Riser dead with her own actual activation, which was strategically an overkill but I had plenty of targets in my crew anyway.

Pale Rider and Fransisco kept shooting Madame Sybelle and Mortimer, while Effigy kept healing Sybelle. She had also suffered staggered from Pale Rider's gun, so she wasn't going anywhere too fastly. She instead walked, interacted a scheme and concentrated. Guild Autopsy and Bone Pile put scheme markers on the centerline, and even Flesh Construct did that before it went to fruitlessly tease Nino, who also had come to shoot Madame Sybelle.

Four scheme markers on the centerline were plenty enough for Harness Ley Line, and Mortimer claimed center point, pushing points to 1-3 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Guild won initiative, and Perdita summoned another beast-hunting Pistolero to get rid of concealing terrain. I don't know from where these Family members kept appearing. Did Perdita throw a pistol to a vaguely humanoid shaped cactus and behold, a cousin. Then Perdita shot Madame Sybelle with silver bullets, which was Madame Sybelle's silver bullet. No way I could deny Assassinate this round any more. She also shot Trick Shot and stunned my leader.

Since running away would be of use now, Madame Sybelle charged and killed Abuela with two strikes, and one left-over going to Guild Mage. 

Fransisco shot Madame Sybelle for a bit and emptied Resurrectionists soul stone pool. 

Flesh Construct started mauling Nino, bringing him down to two health remaining and two poison. Nino escapes and kills Madame Sybelle with a Red Joker on damage.

Dead Doxy pushes thee carrion puppet a little forward so it can try to soften up a Monster Hunter for my second Reckoning kill. However, Pale Rider punishes Doxy for taking a little doll by the hand by shooting her with a pneumatic rifle, dealing moderate damage even with two negative modifiers. Then it rides with Nino closer to Guild Mage's healing aura and shot a couple points of damage to Flesh Construct, staggering it. 

Carrion Effigy misses Monster Hunter with aimed shot, Pistolero misses a shot against Mortimer, and Guild Autopsy continues the trend of missing Monster Hunter. Strategy points for this round are starting to look grim.

Monster Hunter activates next, creeps along to Nino and stuns poor Flesh Construct, who is now stunned, staggered and injured +1. And at three health remaining.

Remaining Guild activations weren't that impactful, except for Guild Mage healing Nino to six. It was down to two, with Poison +2! There was zero chance for me to get Reckoning point, so Mortimer concentrated and blasted Guild Mage, Pistolero and Perdita with Decay, at least dealing single points of damage through Shielded.

Bone Pile placed a scheme marker and buried itself.

Scores kind of go 2-3 for Resurrectionists, although that might as well be 3-3 as opponent most likely had Assassinate scheme.

Turn 4:

Resurrectionists won initiative, which meant Bone Pile emerging in the middle of enemy crew, trying to claw Pistolero dead. Emphasis on trying, with a connotation of not-succeeding. 

Perdita had a devastating activation - first, she used trick shot against Mortimer and had Pale Rider land a weak shot against my henchman. She then takes a regular shot with manipulative penalty, hits and even gets Silver Bullets from flip. Last shot hits again despite manipulative penalties and would have dealt lethal damage if it wasn't for Hard-to-Kill. So, Mortimer was stunned, staggered, at one health remaining and unable to heal.

I didn't think he'd be able to get away from threats with his movement of 2, so he just concentrated and tried to score a lucky severe against Pistolero, but failed at that. At least he managed to make a moderate, so there was some collateral damage to Guild Mage and Perdita. 

Pistolero disengages from Bone Pile and shoots Mortimer dead, thus becoming a Monster Hunter. 

Game is starting to look like an unsalvageable wreck for Resurrectionists, but still Dead Doxy pushes Carrion Effigy a little forward and goes to charge Guild Mage, doing just one point of damage. 

Pale Rider shoots Flesh Construct dead and rides with Nino to Bone Pile and Dead Doxy. Carrion Effigy runs to offer some Aura of Decay. Monster Hunter charges Carrion Effigy, and finally Guild starts failing attacks on this round. Such joy was short, however, when Fransisco killed the thing with a total of one action point and four attacks. He also pushed Guild Mage into safety with Heroic Intervention. 

Remainder of my activations were planting scheme markers down the centerline, and opponent softening up Bone Pile and Dead Doxy. 

Scores even to 3-3.

Turn 5:

I spend Red Joker from my hand on initiative, and finally Bone Pile is able to kill Guild Mage. Woefully too late, but maybe I can snatch second strategy point this round.

Perdita activates and shoots Dead Doxy into shreds with a red joker on damage. Last remaining shots at Guild Autopsy didn't do much.

Losing Doxy before she managed to activate made the extra kill gosh darn unlikely, so Dead Dandy took a flight far, far away.

Enslaved Nephilim makes an exceptional multi-activation first by charging Mindless Zombie dead, then giving a shot for Nino with Obey, and Nino gives Concentrate for Fransisco, who gives card for Perdita. 

Guild Autopsy also runs, and Perdita doesn't want to play cat and mouse and removes Madame Sybelle's scheme markers instead.

Game ends 5-3 for Guild when Guild reveals Claim Jump on Nino and Assassinate.