Rematch

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal. Based on the earlier experiences of players in question, Jack Daw1 & Hoffman1 is a rough, rough match-up for Augmented. We wondered if the ruthless Wardens would be able to bring any solace for that, and this is that game.

Strategy: Flank Corrupted Ley Lines

Schemes: Claim Jump, Sabotage, Catch and Release, Runic Binding, Spread Them Out

My list was:

Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Montresor with Servant of Dark Powers
Jaakuna Ubume
The Ferryman
Hanged
Crooked Man
Guilty

Pool: 4
Schemes: Catch and Release (Hanged), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Joss
Melissa KORE
Guardian
2x Warden
Watcher
Medical Automaton

Pool: 5
Schemes:

Turn 1:

Montresor heralded himself within about 6" of the center point, and the lodestone was loaded up on Ferryman. Guild had it on Watcher.

I hesitated to come in view of Augmented arsenal in the middle, so I tried to delay activating anything on top. This meant Lady Ligeia creeping behind the house, and Guilty plus Ferryman going to bottom-left strategy marker to tag it. 

Opponent was playing the same game as I did, so in the end I had to open up the middle. Jack Daw sped through the house and landed Curse of Injustice on a Warden that had taken position four or five inches below the center point. He was then able to push the bot to strategy marker at the center. 

Jaakuna walked to lure Crooked Man a little away from my deployment, and Montresor was cursed to watch how Crooked Man would take another step closer to centerline.

Hanged cursed Guardian with forbidden knowledge.

Hoffman had pulsed power tokens all around him, and took a double walk closer to center. He gave Guardian Fast. While Hoffman's position looked nice for some staggering shenanigans, Guardian entered the fray soon enough. Threat saturation just got real with only two models involved.

Guardian removed Hanged's upgrade, and Mechanical Attendant tried to fix its mental scars from forbidden knowledge. But a blowtorch can only do so much in a case like that, and only one damage was removed. 

Fortunately Montresor was able to stagger Hoffman, and Melissa missed her shot against Montresor anyway. 

The other Warden was going towards top-right strategy marker, and finally when Crooked Man activated, he first tried to use Earthquake on the bunch of models at the middle. Failing that, he charged Warden and scraped the paint off of the machine. Malifaux Mining Law got passed, with a scheme marker to boot.

Joss was approaching Guilty and Ferryman south to the biggest house on board, and that was turn one.

Turn 2:

Hoffman overcharged Guardian again, but only charged Hanged. This resulted in a loss of soulstone, as while the other attack failed with Black Joker, second attack compensated by delivering in a severe. After damage block Hanged was left with five health remaining.

I got a little worried about my Catch and Release as a whole, so Jaakuna Ubume activated, lured Hanged away and walked to protect Montresor with Drowning Aura.

But then Melissa activated and shot a weak damage on Jaakuna, followed by second shot with cheated Red Joker on damage flip. So she disappeared.

After such a display I didn't want to see that greatsword hacking on Montresor, so Jack Daw spent two activations landing Curse of Injustice on Guardian before charging in. 

Unfortunately, though, Guardian was not yet staggered, so Mechanical Attendant was able to repair it for a couple of damage points and push it into melee with Montresor. 

Montresor didn't have much other choice than to walk into melee with the Guardian, stagger it with melee attack and asphyxiate Hoffman, Warden and Guardian. 

Medical Automaton rushed to center to offer some healing starbucks oil for Augmented models around. 

But now there was an unhealthy amount of robots in the middle, and Lady Ligeia appeared to shout at them. And shout she did, also staggering Medical Automaton. 

Ferryman also ran to hug the center marker and succeeded in marking Guardian with no-heals for this turn. That starbucks just wasn't delicious enough to heal. I suppose things taste somewhat more bland when you're suffocating. Anyway. Guardian then smacked Montresor. And a damage flip was second black joker in a turn. The one attack that did hit landed a moderate au naturel, so that could have been far worse for me for sure. Even damage block came up as a severe.

Warden on top injured Crooked Man slightly, and the other Warden tried to knock away Ferryman from center objective, but didn't score any hits. Crooked Man tried earthquaking Mv 2 Hoffman, but he was protected by the selfless Mechanical Attendant, who also became staggered.

Hanged walked and charged Hoffman for Catch and Release, and Joss did a hasty reposition towards center. Watcher fluttered to tag the center.

First turn ended with a 2-1 lead for Resurrectionists. Although no robots had been wrecked yet from Augmented crew, situation did appear rather grimy for Guild. In regards to Montresor's auras, Augmented had just about the worst possible arrangement there could be. 

Turn 3:

Jack Daw got the initiative, and Hanged decided to pull out of melee to protect a scheme point. It offered some more forbidden knowledge with masks for Warden on top-right quarter and took a couple of swings the the thing. First one missed, but second one dealt double severe despite negative modifiers.

This left Hoffman free to charge Montresor, and sure enough Charles was able to pound Montresor down to one health remaining. This forced Montresor to activate before it was too late. He did a whopping five points of damage with bonus action. He also gave a walk for Crooked Man and did a point or two of damage in to Guardian. 

Guardian procced Montresor's demise, but more importantly, knocked the already activated henchman 4" away from other staggered models that were down to one or two health remaining. 

Jack Daw activated next, took a walk to get within 6" of Crooked Man and tossed the lodestone for Crooked Man. With last action he dismantled Medical Automaton with dead man's collar. After that I thought I needed more cards than suffocation aura as the affair with Montresor had been resource intensive, so Jack Daw used Fickle Tormentor.

Mechanical Attendant healed Guardian before I got to apply the final few points of damage. Remaining turn devolved into bashing the other Warden who was giggling with one hit point remaining. First Warden tried to kill itself by attacking Ferryman, failing at that. Then Ferryman gave Catch of the Day for Melissa and tried to kill Warden, failing at that. Lady Ligeia concentrated real hard and tried to yell Warden, who was still at one hit point remaining, down. Failing. At. That.

Eventually Crooked Man managed to quake the Warden dead before dropping a scheme marker with bonus and going to tag top-right quarter. Sheesh.

Joss charged Ferryman and did five points of damage through armor. Fortunately the second attack missed. Melissa also failed to dispatch Lady Ligeia. 

Guilty continued to spam scheme markers, and Watcher disengaged from Ferryman - only to engage Jack Daw. 

Scores went to 3-3, when both players scored strategy, but Guild also got their Catch and Release with Watcher.

Turn 4:

Although Guild survived last turn far better than how it looked like, it took only a few activations for us to call it a game. Ferryman activated first and flailed uselessly around. He did manage to land Mark of Vengeance on Watcher, though.

Watcher then disengaged from Jack Daw and flew to top-left quarter to tag strategy marker, but the poor bird was now with one hit point remaining. 

Montresor activated and did not Black Joker his bonus action, so the Watcher died. 

That was when we ended. Outcasts had pretty much secured six points at that point, while Guild would at most get five. 

Joss and two Wardens couldn't get their Ruthless to bear all that much throughout the game, so maybe this game was inconclusive when it comes to our little test. But needless to say, Jack Daw is still a rough, rough matchup for Hoffman.

McCabe's Special Talent

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Recover Evidence

Schemes: Vendetta, Leave Your Mark, Research Mission, Breakthrough, Sabotage

My list:

Seamus Baker & Copycat Killer
The Strange Lady
Mortimer
Keepside Strangers with Grave Spirit Touch
White Rabbit Co.
Dead Doxy
Dead Dandy

Pool: 6
Schemes: Vendetta (Mortimer on Sidir), Sabotage (Forest to the bottom-left)

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe2 & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Jessie Halliday
Mr. Ngaatoro
Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Hopeful Prospect

Pool: 4
Schemes: Vendetta (Sidir on Strange Lady), Leave Your Mark

Turn 1:

Seamus summoned a Mourner out of Keepside Strangers, who in turn assisted the distraction away from Strangers. Then Seamus walked merrily with Mortimer down the corridor on right... And that's where the fun ended this turn.

Well, Mr. Ngaatoro and Ruffian approaching from the right weren't a concern either, but where to begin...

White Rabbit had crafted a hat for Keepside Strangers before running off to left. Despite not being entirely out of my deployment zone, it was still too close.

Rough Rider started shooting White Rabbit, as did Jessie who had been delivered closer by Rough Rider. Harpoon struck true, and even soulstone flare wreaked havoc on my smattering of Dead Dandy, Doxy and White Rabbit. Terrible as it was, Strange Lady had to activate early to heal White Rabbit. 

Lucas had given Timeworn Blade for Sidir, but just took a double walk and an interact to center point with the remaining activation. 

I though that White Rabbit would have better chances of survival against Sidir if Keepside Strangers blocked line of sight. Strangers also had a juicy spot where to throw some snakes. A Ruffian and Jessie were standing within blast distance of each other. So, Strangers teleported and started yeeting snakes. Both attacks missed, though. So zero progress was being made there.

Sidir activated, took a walk and started shooting Keepside Strangers. 

Boom.

Red Joker on damage. 

Fortunately Keepside Strangers had Shielded +1 as well as the hat from White Rabbit, so they were left with three health remaining. White Rabbit wasn't as fortunate, and died to blast. 

At least the second shot missed, but then there was Fast Hopeful Prospect right behind Sidir. He managed to shoot Keepside Strangers down to one health remaining.

Not a problem, though? I just had to win the initiative next turn so as not to lose this important tech piece.

Turn 2:

Hooray! I had a 13 and a 12 in hand. And I flipped initiative before opponent had done so, and was quite confident in getting initiative.

Boom.

Red Joker on initiative for Wastrels. 

I see. So that's how we're going to play.

Rough Rider was able to shoot Keepside Strangers dead, as also opponent had a 13 in his hand.

This game was starting to look like an absolute train wreck, but at least Mortimer was able to decay one un-activated Ruffian dead before Mr. Ngaatoro missed his attack.

Sidir shot Strange Lady down to half of her health remaining despite me attempting to intervene with soulstones, thus scoring Vendetta. 

To get at least strategy point this turn, Copycat Killer teleported Seamus to left. He activated Urban Legend with masks and charged Ruffian. Just one attack hit, though. everything else completely failed.

Lucas, however, was intrigued by the innocent-ish talent scout and charged Seamus to demonstrate his talents in treating children, teenagers, animals, doctors and nurses, the elderly and mentally disabled. 

Well, I still might be able to score by walking and charging Ruffian, and then Obeying Dandy to interact with Strange Lady. That did require some luck to accomplish, as Dandy had only a stat of 4 and was Distracted. Luck was not the name of this game, so Strange Lady just charged Jessie Halliday and missed all her attacks and failed to heal herself.

Even Dead Doxy failed to seduce Ruffian to at least make the strategy marker drop.

Ugh. Horrifying turn.

Scores go 3-0 for Explorer Society.

Turn 3:

FINALLY I began in succeeding in some duels. First, Seamus activates Urban Legend with masks, slaps Ruffian dead, takes a horse by the hand to get away from McCabe's reach, and interacted my very first real strategy point.

Rough Rider disengaged from Seamus, shot... somewhere... and attempted to throw Timeworn Blade to Lucas. Fortunately the action failed because of Alone in the Dark.

Seamus wasn't in too good of a shape, so evidence wielding Dead Dandy was to make the ultimate sacrifice and engage both Lucas and Sidir. This jolly, slightly overweight and generally happy chap of a gentleman was then lashed to death by no other than Lucas McCabe. It took two actions, after which he picked up the strategy marker that had been dropped. Lucas also dug up Timeworn Blade for Sidir.

Strange Lady, having all of her defenses negated by Timeworn Blade,  activated to heal herself for a bit, and kill Jessie with a steady flow of snakes. Only one attack hit, though, so there went that plan.

But it was not Sidir who activated - instead, Luna came to dig up a scrap marker for card draw. This gave Dead Doxy a chance to save Strange Lady, so she took her by the hand and lead her away from Jessie. Then Doxy charged Jessie and caned her down to two health remaining.

Finally Sidir activated, but instead of going for Strange Lady he throwed the blade for Hopeful Prospect and took a walk to get through Seamus' stealth. He took focused shot at Redchapel master, and with two shots brought him down to four health. One quick reflexes shot got Strange Lady down to three health, with Dead Doxy catching blast damage. 

Jessie disengaged from Dead Doxy and took a harpoon shot at Strange Lady, leaving her with just one health. And next, she dropped soulstone flare. I had no other cards in hand other than black joker. At least Doxy and Lady passed the test.

I was afraid that Hopeful Prospect would finish the job, but instead he made the correct move of starting to lay scheme markers for Leave Your Mark end condition.

To the right, Mourner and Mortimer did astonishing job at removing Mr. Ngaatoro before he was able to activate. However... unknowingly Mr. Ngaatoro had locked me out of even the possibility of scoring Vendetta reveal, or even end for that matter.

My last model to activate was the Copycat Killer, who brought Seamus to far right and ran as fast as he could towards my sabotage target.

Both players scored strategy for a 4-1 lead for Explorer Society

Turn 4:

Resurrectionists got the initiative, and I wasted no time in teleporting Seamus back to near sabotage target. Immediately Rough Rider came to harass him - well, Seamus only had four points left and I no longer had any soulstones. Much to my relief, the shot missed. 

Worried that Lucas might take a double walk and a charge at Seamus made me activate the master before trying to save Strange Lady. His activation was... flawed. I was going to write something else, but I took a closer read at Sabotage - no enemy models allowed within 3" of Sabotage scheme markers. Oh well. I try to find consolation in the fact that I could have pushed the Rider away from those markers with Take by the Hand. Instead, Seamus just pulled the horse closer to kiss it on the mouth with a barely hidden cleaver.

In the center, Lucas was able to kill Dead Doxy with a single strike, and collect the evidence of what he had done. I think it was Jessie who shot Strange Lady off the board. 

Mortimer dug up a zombie, picked up evidence from Mr. Ngaatoro and moved closer to my third strategy point.

Mourner did respectable job at holding back the entirety of remaining Wastrels. Luna and Hopeful Prospect were able to bring her down to two health remaining. Sidir closed the turn by planting a scheme for Leave Your Mark, and killing the Mourner.

Scores went 5-3, or 5-2 if we actually go by the rules. 

Turn 5:

So, we were in the assumption that scores were 5-3. However, Explores Society did have three points pretty much confirmed, which meant loss even if Wastrels suddenly went insane and killed Sidir for my Vendetta end condition. 

So, game ended in 8-5 (as played), or 8-4 (misplayed scheme accounted for) for Wastrels. 

Handshake Against Torment

 Two 50ss games of Malifaux. These were played over a week ago during my Kuhmo visit, so details are likely gone from my memory. Both players were slowly getting a tad tired of Gaining Grounds 4, so we shook things up a little by playing gg1 strategies.

Game 1:

Strategy: Corner Public Enemies

Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Research Mission, Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Claim Jump

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Kari Zotiko
Jaakuna Ubume
The Ferryman
Lost Love
2x Drowned
2x Seishin

Pool: 6
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa K.
Peacekeeper
Guild Steward
Guardian
Hunter
Watcher

Pool: 5
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Ferryman), Claim Jump (Peacekeeper)

Turn 1:

Scenario was such a killy one, but corner deployment made the first round mostly about closing in. Early on Hoffman have Fast to Peacekeeper, which made me a cautious. I overdid my defenses, slapping Twisting Mist for Jaakuna Ubume. Concealed Serene Countenance model should survive most shooting opponent might have at me. 

Sure enough, round boiled down with Peacekeeper running so close to center point that I was kind of scared of next turn. Ferryman and Kari were near enough to charge.

Kirai tries to save the day by summoning a Goryo that manages to charge Peacekeeper and land Adversary on it. 

All of my crew was coming from bottom-left quarter except for Ikiryo, who was hiding behind a dwarven house to perhaps launch a Lost Love to enemy deployment zone next turn.

Entirety of Augmented pretty much mirrored my movements, too, when all but Hunter were closing in from top-right quarter, sans Hunter that was hiding from Ikiryo on the opposite side of dwarven house.

 

Turn 2:

Hoffman activates first, gives Fast to Peacekeeper and punches Goryo off the board while also getting bounty tokens. Perhaps Kirai would have to reconsider her summonings, as giving enemy free points like that hurts.

But something would have to hold up Fast Peacekeeper. Kirai summoned an Onryo for the job. However, she was dubious about a single five point minion holding up a buffed up 10 point enforcer, so Kirai went into hiding.

Fortunately Onryo gave hard time for Augmented. Melissa didn't land even a single hit, so Peacekeeper had to kill Onryo before moving suspiciously close to center point. 

One of the Drowned managed to distract and poison Peacekeeper a little, while the other charged at the thing. Would I have to rush my models against the thing piecemeal, one by one?  How about my bounty tokens?

Well, Jaakuna Ubume charged Hunter so that it wouldn't go to engage Ikiryo. She did the drowning aura. Hunter was in for some bad time, as every action it failed gave a point of damage, and every attack that actually hit would deal two. It nearly scrapped itself in trying to remove Jaakuna. It did well enough, so Kari had to heal Jaakuna with her entire activation.

And then Guardian came to swing the greatsword at Jaakuna. She survived, and had caused seven or eight points of damage via vengeance and drowning aura in total.

Desperately trying to get bounties to score, Ferryman tried to wreck the Hunter. Ferryman managed to claw only a couple of damage points, which left Hunter with two. Looked like Ikiryo would have to delay her proceedings to not lose points from this round.

Lost Love teleported to Ikiryo and gave her Fast with a trigger. He tried to heal the damage he had caused, but didn't get it quite right. 

Ikiryo projected voice over Hunter. She had Focus +1 from last turn, and used that to get through friendly fire - and scored a severe wound! Yay, two bounty tokens and two action points to get as far from the action as possible. 

Both players scored strategy, but no schemes were revealed. It was a 1-1 tie, but situation on board looked miserable from my point of view.

Turn 3:

Jaakuna was able to activate to put up her drowning aura. This combination continued to plink and plonk Guardian, until Guardian halved Jaakuna. Before opponent would bring in the heals, Kari charged Hoffman to get Peacekeeper and Guardian within no-heal aura. This was a high risk move so early in turn, but I might be able to score Let Them Bleed this way.

And surely enough, Kari spent most of my soulstones. Lost Love had to teleport in to double-heal Kari, and so did Kirai. Without the teleport, of course. But, in the end phase, Kari was all alive and well. Same could not be said about Guardian and Peacekeeper that had been hitting themselves for quite a while. 

As situation in the middle had devolved into a gigantic melee, Ikiryo was able to walk and plant a scheme for Breakthrough. Yay. Kari had survived to give me Let Them Bleed. But no robots were dismantled this turn, while opponent had plenty enough bounties. 

Opponent did no reveals, so Urami took the lead with 3-2.

Turn 4:

Ikiryo and Lost Love went to spam scheme markers to enemy corner, so they were out of action.

And in the middle... uh. Huh. 

Kari died, which put heals back on the menu for Augmented. I needed to hurry to get kills. Guardian went down easily enough, but unfortunately that meant that Hoffman and Tanuki doubled up on heals for Peacekeeper. 

Drowned kept putting dents into Peacekeeper, and another Drowned charged Melissa, who was also near the middle by now. 

Opponent needed four tokens for a victory point, which wasn't available. Kirai had managed to kill Guardian and Watcher, so that was the three bounties required for a point. Scores went 4-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

Opponent had a chance for a difficult draw. We played until it became impossible to achieve.

And the only proper way to get at that was to punch some damage in to Tanuki after it had activated. Let Them Bleed was secured. Breakthrough was, too. 

Oh, but Guild can't have Tanuki's, you say? Okay, okay, Guild Steward, then. Anyway.

Opponent also got both of their scheme end conditions for a 6-4 victory for Kirai. 

Game 2:

Strategy: Wedge Symbols of Authority

Schemes: Sabotage, Spread Them Out, Vendetta, Take Prisoner, Runic Binding

My list:

Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Ferryman
Malifaux Child
2x Hanged
2x Guilty

Pool: 5
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Runic Binding

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Soul Battery
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 6
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Ferryman), Sabotage (Fallen arch in bottom-left quarter)

Turn 1:

We were playing Wedge from left to right. 

I had two strike teams of Guilty and Hanged attempting to flank. Oh, and Malifaux Child, too, was flanken' at the bottom. Oh yeah. All the kid did was to pull Kitty Dumont to center line. What's this? This is no McCabe? Surely Lynch would not take children as prisoners?

Montresor, Lady Ligeia and Jack Daw guard one symbol of authority near my wedge corner. Montresor gives Ferryman a walk, so it was able to either go charge Kitty Dumont, or place first marker for my schemes. It decided to interact while still able. 

I don't remember who or what shot a severe damage to Ferryman. It was probably Lynch with his derringer. Suddenly no access to Kari's heals... felt. 

Hungering Darkness went to harass my second Guilty/Hanged team on top, but there were no exchanges just yet. 

Turn 2:

Ferryman charged into the thick of Honeypot crew. It dropped a second scheme marker. However, that half of a boat had been adept with flipping ones, and had somehow ended up with at least five brilliance tokens. A couple of damage points here and there, and Ferryman was looking at a real possibility of developing a crippling drug habit.

And surely enough, Jakob Lynch offered the figurehead a free sample. The undead mermaid shook off the ropes, descended down from the front and started doing brilliance right there. Lynch had convinced her to become Honeypot's new Beckoner. 

Jack Daw goes to place a third scheme marker for Runic Binding, and charged Mr. Graves. As a move it was... less than ideal because of Black Blood. But I needed Jack to stand on top of the scheme marker so that the multitude of as of yet unactivated models would not just go and pick it up. 

Montresor was in range to perma-stagger Mr. Graves. Lady Ligeia made a shout at Mr. Tannen, bursting the little man's ears with a shriek. Shriek blasted a nearby Beckoner, staggering her too. 

Guilty and Hanged below tried to engage and hold up people near the wreckage of Ferryman.Before Soul Battery had activated, Hanged gave him the psychotic upgrade when opponent no longer had any cards in hand. That was a 3" push towards the triangle of Runic Binding.

Jack Daw's valiant sacrifice paid off, but he wasn't in a good shape at all. This lead to a weird move by me. Guilty on top had charged Hungering Darkness to tie it up. Hungering Darkness didn't do too much damage, so Hanged gave the Forbidden Knowledge for Guilty and teleported next to it. Then he hit Guilty with the noose and walked away, healing Jack Daw for one. 

Beckoner, Mr. Tannen and Jakob Lynch in close proximity are a terrible bubble for Jack to be in. 

But, at least I scored Runic Binding, while opponent got nothing. A 1-0 lead for Tormented.

Oh, Malifaux Child had disengaged from Kitty, hopefully activating soon enough next turn to drop a scheme marker, until Kitty comes to claim the prisoner.

Turn 3:

Shock! Taking kids as prisoners is McCabe's business indeed. Kitty just went to drop a scheme marker to sabotage target. Malifaux Child walked and dropped a scheme marker. 

Shock and awe! Illuminated kills Guilty, Hungering Darkness kills Guilty. I'm not sure if I have ever had eight card hand, but next turn I would.

Shock and horror! After draining pretty much every resource at my disposal, Lynch is able to give Jack Daw a firm handshake. I suppose that's what Jack Daw's tormented spirit was looking for, because he disappeared after the fact. 

Montresor and Lady Ligeia are able to finish off Mr. Graves. 

Hanged on top places a scheme and walks towards the unknown.

The ultimate shock!

At the end of turn three, scores were still 1-0. Has it ever been so before? Not going to check, but it must be about as rare as having scores of 4-4 at the end of second turn.

Turn 4:

Hungering Darkness goes to pick up first ever Symbol of Authority. 

Hanged on top and kid below continue to walk and drop schemes. 

Montresor could have dropped a scheme marker and charged on top of it, trying to kill Mr. Tannen. But instead I chose violence, trying to remove Mr. Tannen with two attacks. Reason was Hanged below that had managed to drop two scheme markers next to Illuminated with lucky triggers. 

Too bad that Lynch turned Hanged into another Beckoner. Thus, Illuminated had all the time in the world to remove both scheme markers with just one action.

What a mess. I didn't get a point this turn, but fortunately opponent wasn't going that strong either. Perhaps because they had already killed their chosen prisoner. But, Ten Thunders took the lead at 2-1, when they finally had enough markers for Sabotage.

Turn 5:

Hopeless turn. Hopeless game.

Somehow I had failed in my scheme marker placement in such a way that I had the capability to get Spread Them Out or a strategy marker, but not both.

Two points for me throughout the game. Woohoo.

Kitty was able to pick up a strategy marker, and also go to place the required scheme marker for sabotage end condition.

A clear 4-2 victory for Jakob Lynch. And let me say, he deserved it. He killed Ferryman, Jack Daw and Hanged, plus managed to summon ten stones worth of extra models.

Jakob Lynch 1 is my #1 opponent in play count, and out of all of my masters that has played a game against him, Jack Daw1 is the only one that hasn't scored even a single victory. And this was third such game. 

But I guess black blood and all those cheat auras count for something if I have to park Jack Daw in the range of every one of them.

Deep Satisfaction

 Had a couple of 50ss game of Malifaux. Both of us have been getting weary of Gaining Grounds season 3 - it's been going on for, what, fifteen months now? - so we decided to shake things up a little with season 1.

Strategy: Flank Symbols of Authority

Schemes: Vendetta, Leave Your Mark, Research Mission, Take Prisoner, Runic Binding

My list:

Hamelin with Servant of Dark Powers & 3x Stolen
Mad Dog Brackett
Benny Wolcomb
Nix
Disease Containment Unit
Prospector
Winged Plague

Pool: 4
Schemes: Research Mission, Vendetta (Benny and a Hunter)

Opponent had:

Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa
Peacekeeper
2x Hunter
Guild Mage
Riotbreaker

Pool: 2
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Vendetta (Peacekeeper and Mad Dog Brackett)

Turn 1:

Nix, Prospector, Disease Containment Unit and Winged Plague place the scheme markers for Benny's rats. I was afraid that various enemy long range shooters would be able to snipe off one of the rats, so I waited and waited until they activated - and surely enough Melissa almost killed the Winged Plague as she was speeding towards marker I had placed to bottom-right corner.

Guild Mage, Mechanical Attendant, Hoffman, Riot Breaker and Peacekeeper were stomping towards Plague in the middle. Benny's Vendetta Hunter was going to harass Mad Dog Brackett on left side of the board, and another was hiding behind the lower building on the right. 

I had a horrible hand, no card higher than seven, so Loyal Rats with Tiny Hats was a bit of a gamble. And once Benny failed the first attempt, I decided to buy an extra card with a soulstone. Lucky I did - would have failed without it!

Hamelin was then able to craft a Rat King out of the cute lil' rats, take a double walk and place a scheme for Mad Dog Brackett. He took Fast from it, and ran near top-left corner where there were two symbols of authority, and tossed Blasted Away at one of them.

Winged Plague charged Melissa with Hamelin's bonus action, missed but managed to give her a blight token with end phase movement trick.

Turn 2:

Benny's vendetta Hunter was barely able to charge Mad Dog Brackett, which pretty much tied Hamelin's hands for that round - the hound-cat-robot-thing needed to be lured off for Outcasts to get any strategy points this round.

Winged Plague Scraped a super tainted claw attack at Melissa. Since every other model than Mechanical Attendant would kill the Winged Plague with weak damage, I thought to try and slow down Melissa by making a scheme marker out of her blight tokens. In the end, opponent didn't take the bait, but at least it took both of Melissa's actions to kill the minion.

But, Hunter from behind a building emerged and claimed one of my strategy markers. Whoops. Didn't realize that was so easy.

Prospector became stunned and charged the Hunter, dealing random singular points of damage. 

Hoffman had overcharged proxied Peacekeeper, and went to telegraph Leave Your Mark by placing a scheme in the middle. 

Rat King gnawed it away and went to offer Diseased aura for Hoffman and proxied Riotbreaker in the pond. Unfortunately Riotbreaker and Guild Mage were able to kill the king. Also Peacekeeper landed its harpoon on Disease Containment Unit and charged it dead. 

Nix placed a scheme marker for Benny and walked to drink Peacekeeper's and Hunter's spirit. Only Peacekeeper had anything to drink.

Since most enemy models had now been activated, it was time to make my gambit for strategy points. Hamelin walked and lured Benny's Hunter away from Mad Dog Brackett. He charged it too, but attack failed to connect.

And there appears to be something going on with vomiting kids and Hunters... Two Stolen were able to inflict four points of damage on the Armor +2 minion with three attacks.

Benny was now free to get Fast from scheme marker that Nix had placed, took a double walk and shot the Hunter with his trusty derringer. Unfortunately he had no vomit bullets in his gun, and the attack missed. But he did score vendetta with his bonus action. Phew!

The Hunter still had two points of health left. Last kid activated, walked and took a vomit on the Hunter. Dead Hunter. So it is again one of these games, where insignificant totems are the main damage dealers? Who knows, maybe.

Mad Dog went to claim a strategy marker, bringing scores to 1-2 for Outcasts when opponent revealed no schemes.

Turn 3:

Hoffman didn't want to leave free reign for Hamelin at the western flank and went to charge him, dealing a couple of damage points. 

Prospector charge Hunter that had escaped his reach with deadly pursuit, chipping steadily through Hunter's plating one damage point at a time. 

Scary, scary Peacekeeper nearly killed Nix - and in return Nix wasn't even able to scratch the Peacekeeper even once to make it fail some duels. 

So, it was time to call in the kids for help. 

They started throwing up on Peacekeeper so aggressively that Guild Mage had to reposition itself to heal the big guy. Feverishly absurd, those damn kids. And thanks to them, Nix was back online.

Hamelin beat the heck out of Hoffman, but was not able to kill him. Neither were the only kid who attacked the guild master despite his injured +3. 

Mad Dog Brackett went to place a scheme near Blasted Away marker and strategy marker. Mechanical Attendant tried to shoot the bandit, but wasn't much of a nuisance.

Last but least, even Benny Wolcomb charged Hoffman, but could secure the last few points.

Riotbreaker had been able to place the scheme marker for Leave Your Mark without contest this time around, but so did Mad Dog reveal Research Mission. Melissa had been too far from my strategy marker, so neither player scored strategy points this turn. Scores went to 2-3 from schemes alone.

Board state looked really strong for Plague.

I had Benny quite far from other threats than Hoffman, so he'd be able to escape and run far from any- and everything next turn, thus guaranteeing a point for me. Nix might be able to screw Hunter over with Loose Bowels so that it would not be able to score strategy when that would be relevant. And Hunter wasn't that far from dying. And Hoffman himself was just about dead. Melissa wouldn't contribute to anything else than strategy point next turn.

Turn 4:

... and then, things just happened. What I love about this game is that the situation is rarely if ever as clear as it seems. Guild won the initiative, and Hoffman started to beat Benny. And surely enough, my end point from vendetta disappeared despite me having two soulstones to protect Benny. Well, my mistake for even putting Benny in a situation where bad luck would even be able to kill him. But sheesh... Hoffman is a grown up man in an exoskeleton, not a vomiting kid. He should not dish out damage like that.

Prospector goes to do his daily work of clipping a point of damage in to Hunter.

And then Peacekeeper clobbers Nix into oblivion. Two such unlikely deaths was... not ideal, to say at least. But at least Hoffman had spawned some rats around. Hamelin activated and started beating Hoffman, but somehow didn't manage to land even a single severe damage despite multiple attacks with plus modifiers for damage - injured +4 from first hit tends to do that. With last action Hamelin buys tomes with the soulstone Prospector had spawned, got an extra rat and formed a Rat King.

Kids had emptied their stomach, and somehow weren't able to do score the last damage point in to Hoffman. In the end that duty fell to newly formed Rat King, who happily obliged. 

Melissa took a strategy point and runned and gunned Prospector dead.

One of the kids had to go and charge Hunter now, and actually hit with frantic flailing. Hunter had two health remaining. But that started to look too much when Hunter killed the Stolen with one hit, and the resulting Malifaux Rat with another. 

Mad Dog Brackett took a strategy marker while Riotbreaker and Guild Mage were spawning scheme markers in the middle. 

Scores went to 3-4, still in favor of Plague, but how had the tables turned!

Turn 5:

Hunter went to take third strategy point, so there was little I could do to help that. So, instead, a frantic kid with frantic flails went to charge Peacekeeper instead in an attempt to stop if from placing a scheme marker. But let me tell you. Those heartless Peacekeepers don't care if there is a child on the spot where they need to plant a scheme marker. 

Opponent had Red Joker in hand, which was unfortunate because that way he was able to stun Mad Dog Brackett. I had had plans of taking scheme marker for Fast, then taking a double walk to get to another strategy marker and drop a Blasted Away marker with bonus action for Research Mission end condition. 

Eventhough Research Mission looked rather secured, I ultimately decided that a strategy point was 100% guaranteed if picked up. So Mad Dog ate the scheme marker anyway and charged Mechanical Attendant. Idea was that I might get Research Mission anyway from its scrap marker, but attack failed. Boo. But he did get the strategy marker. 

Another kid went to enemy table side and sacrificed itself to make a corpse marker... for science. Hamelin took a double walk and placed a scheme marker on top of the kid's corpse... for science.

Then he commanded the rat that had emerged from the kids body to charge Mechanical Attendant... for science. And look at that, the stat 3 attack hit and even got a Red Joker for damage. Shame that their damage track is 0/1/1 when alone, because that didn't change a thing. 

Guild Mage had quite a way with words, as he spoke Mad Dog Brackett dead, making all of Plague's efforts with science for naught. And to make it worse, it soon came into my attention that Peacekeeper was still very much alive, and had vendetta on Mad Dog Brackett.

Well, if I didn't get points from my scheme, then opponent wouldn't, either! Rat King gnawed one of the required scheme markers from Leave Your Mark, and that was the last consequential action for the game.

A rather exciting 5-5 draw!

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Recover Evidence

Schemes: Sabotage, Catch and Release, Take Prisoner, Leave Your Mark, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Jack Daw with Servant of Dark Powers & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Auguste Hart
Hanged with Servant of Dark Powers
Crooked Man
Drowned
Guilty

Pool: 4
Schemes: Sabotage (large cloud on bottom-left), Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 2
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Guilty), Sabotage (a rock formation in top-right corner)

Turn 1:

Opponent picked left table edge for deployment.

Herald move enabled Jack Daw to walk to middle, plant a scheme and expose some suppressed memories for Mr. Graves. Lady Ligeia and Drowned had the ungrateful duty of removing some hazardous terrain markers from Montresor's way. The Guilty in electric chair had even more ungrateful duty of diving into water. But the keyword isn't Tormented for nothing, I guess.

Auguste Hart and Hanged were doing flanking maneuvers below. Hanged especially was horrified of Mr. Graves' fencepost, so it kept its distance until the bouncer was finally staggered. 

Kara, who had no intel token, was coming to greet Hanged and Auguste, so my sabotage didn't look so easy after all.

Hungering Darkness charged Jack Daw, and Montresor offered emotional support by charging Hungering Darkness back. Nobody was really doing anything in the melee. But the important bit was getting that sweet suffocation aura to center point.

Mr. Graves, and Illuminated and Jakob Lynch were only a tad behind Hungering Darkness, with Tanuki being the only one of the bunch over 6" away from Montresor.

Another Illuminated and Gwyneth Madddox were hiding between the two buildings north-west. Beckoner had been biding its time in activation order, and eventually launched herself rapidly towards rock formation at top-right corner of the map... surely it wasn't going to sabotage my rock formation?! Damn them! I'm gonna sabotage their smoke formation, then!

Turn 2:

Then came the second turn... where nothing happened. Nothing at all. 

Every plan and attempt was foiled, and nothing worked for either player.

Ten Thunders had a little more luck in beating an intel token off from Montresor, but did not manage to claim it or kill Montresor. 

Jack Daw unsuppressed the memories of an Illuminated next to Mr. Graves, and Hanged was able to unlock some forbidden knowledge in Kara, making it have a psychotic break.

While it wasn't apparent yet that whatever we tried would fail but too many models had already failed activation, I decided that having Tanuki heal those precious damage points I had managed to cause would be catastrophic. So Hanged activated Entropic Curse.

And yet the Tanuki healed Mr. Graves. Only one point with a severe, but still that was an insult to injury, or, well, heal actually.

Beckoner went to place a scheme marker to the rock formation, but that wasn't quite enough to sabotage it yet. 

Only point that was scored this turn was Leave Your Mark from the scheme marker placed on first turn.  

Turn 3:

Last turn it had looked like everybody and their pet was highly resistant to dying. But that was about to change in one of the most brutal turns I have seen. 

Montresor activated and was cursed to watch how Crooked Man would fail its first earthquake, but blast spectacular damage on Mr. Graves and Jakob Lynch. I had no crows in hand, so it was a lucky shot when Montresor did his bonus action and flipped crows straight from the deck, killing both Mr. Graves and Illuminated. 

Joy was for such an action was short lived, when Jakob Lynch activated and succumbed Montresor to darkness, turning the resilient henchman into an insignificant Depleted. 

Auguste went to pick Illuminated's intel.

Another Illuminated who had hanged with Gwyneth started flinging absolutely horrifying scintillating clouds that were able to reach Drowned, Jack Daw, Crooked Man, Lady Ligeia and Guilty. I was lucky to pass most checks naturally, but Drowned fell down to one health remaining. 

I had Black Joker in my hand, and so Hanged was able to teleport to Tanuki with Horrifying Whispers. First attack missed, so I lost hope of killing the miserable furball. Which wasn't exactly a bad thing, because I also wanted to draw cards - I had not received even a single crows to my starting hand or at any other point I drew cards. And Crooked Man needed those to place third scheme marker for Leave Your Mark. Anyway, Hanged declared Weigh Down trigger for +1 damage, and flipped a Red Joker for damage. I can't quite describe the deep, sincere and transcendental satisfaction of killing an uninjured Tanuki with a single strike. 

Gwyneth shot Drowned dead and charged Jack Daw, which started to look like a critical mistake when it became apparent that no other model was able to reach a strategy marker and claim a victory point for Ten Thunders that turn. It was probably. I don't remember who in the end killed the Depleted that once had been Montresor - either Jack Daw or Lady Ligeia. 

Guilty placed a scheme marker and walked on top of it. 

Kara charged Auguste, and Hungering Darkness and Lynch probably kept mauling Jack Daw. He was down to two health remaining when turn ended, which made next round's initiative quite of a concern.

Crooked Man charged Kara and failed to place a scheme marker with Malifaux Mining Law. 

Beckoner was not able to place the required second marker for Sabotage. 

Scores went 2-0 for Outcasts, when they got strategy.

Turn 4: 

I had two unspent pass tokens from last round, and I got a 13 to my starting hand. I cheated fate with that to activate Jack Daw first.

Fun fact: this was second time in row I received no crows in starting hand.

And Jack Daw had to heal himself - he spent all three action points to activate Hungering Darkness' suppressed memories and thankfully succeeded with the last. Thus, thanks to Kara's psychotic proximity, he was able to heal two with bonus action and one when activation ended. 

Illuminated didn't wait to get engaged and walked to pick strategy marker for a victory point.

Hanged did the same with Tanuki's remains and walked to Outcast sabotage target. 

Auguste survived what Lynch was able to throw at him, but wasn't as lucky when Hungering Darkness abandoned its position and tickled Auguste dead with his tentacles. 

Kara attacked Crooked Man, leaving him with three health remaining. I was afraid that Kara would be able to kill Crooked Man next turn, so the cat's psychosis lead it into contact with intel dropped from Auguste, trying to persuade it to spend an action point before charging Crooked Man.

Guilty charged Illuminated, not doing anything. Gwyneth continued to play card with Jack Daw. 

Beckoner was finally able to sabotage rocks.

Crooked Man failed to place a scheme marker - but he did flip the correct suit. But card value was five, when the action needed a six.

Both players scored strategy, and Ten Thunders got sabotage for a situation of 3-2.

Turn 5:

Third turn in a row I received no crows in starting hand. Why, why was I Tormented like that? 

But in the end it didn't bother as much, because Kara activated first and killed Crooked Man before it had a chance to activate. So even if I had had crows, I could not have used them.

Then something of an unexpected turn of events happened. Hanged placed a strategy marker after Lynch had secured a strategy point for Ten Thunders.

Hanged flipped Black Joker on terrifying check against Hungering Darkness. Nice, some mileage out of Forever Doomed. Then it attacked the beast with Horrifying Whispers - and opponent flipped Red Joker on defense. I was able to cheat a Masks 1 to teleport back into action.

My grand plan was to attack Hungering Darkness, score a tomes and drop third scheme marker. Well, highest tomes in my hand was a four, and Hanged had spent all of his luck already. No scheme for me.

Ten Thunders weren't doing anything of consequence with their last actions except for Beckoner, who scored Sabotage end.

I did consider it somewhat excessive, when opponent cheated a severe card when Guilty tried to disengage from Illuminated and Gwyneth. But soon enough it would make all the sense in the world - I mean, he was Guilty, and opponent had Take Prisoner as their scheme.

But fortunately Guilty had gone far enough that Jack Daw was able to teleport to him with Suppressed Memories, place the third scheme marker and walk over it to protect his final mark.

So, Outcasts did not receive strategy point this turn while Ten Thunders did. They also received end condition from both of their schemes, but so did Outcasts. It was a 5-5 draw, although it feels like a victory for Ten Thunders because they missed one point just from a slight lapse of attention.

Malifaux Vassal Tournament part I

I took part in a Vassal tournament for Malifaux. It was a round robin style tournament, which means five rounds. Here are the first three games. 

 First game was Corner Deployment Symbols of Authority, and scheme pool: Breakthrough, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump, Spread Them Out.

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Bete Noire
Grave Golem
2x Crooligan
Dead Doxy
Dead Dandy
Gravedigger

Pool: 6

Schemes: Breakthrough, Spread Them Out

Opponent was playing Neverborn:

Nekima + Inhuman Reflexes & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
2x Corrupted Hound
2x Black Blood Shaman
Mature Nephilim
+1x upgrade somewhere

Pool: 9

Schemes: ???

Turns 1-2:

An aggressive advance by Resurrectionists ensures a bloody fight ensues sooner rather than later. Turns out Bete Noire isn't holding the entire Neverborn crew all alone, and she barely survives with one health point remaining after Hayreddin says hello. 

Nekima then charges Grave Golem, who had been nearing middle field along with Dead Doxy and Seamus. Five points of damage was worrisome, since I had no idea if Nekima had any anti-demise tech available. 

Crooligans and Gravedigger score Spread Them Out on second turn. 

Seamus somehow manages to bring Nekima down to one hit point remaining. Sadly worthless minions couldn't deliver the last point, so Nekima would activate at least once more.

Turn 3:

Nekima activates first, shoves aside Grave Golem and attacks Copycat Killer. Killer doesn't die thanks to minimum damage, but then something happens as a bonus. Dead Doxy in same melee with Nekima had suffered a little from Black Blood already and was at one hit point remaining, too.

Boom. A zero-action killed two of my unactivated models. 

At least Seamus managed to kill Neverborn master, but it was a heavy price to pay. Black Blood Shaman grows up as a Mature Nephilim and tosses a corrupted hound at Dead Dandy.

I had grand plans of scoring strategy and breakthrough on this very same turn, but unfortunately it happened so that my opponent ran out of available time - just when things started getting interesting. Game scored as a victory for me, but it certainly doesn't feel like a victory. Oh well. Such happens, even on Vassal. 

Game 2:

Flank deployment, Public Enemies. Scheme pool: Vendetta, Catch & Release, Let Them Bleed, Leave Your Mark, Research Mission

My list was:

Seamus & Copycat
Madame Sybelle
Mortimer
Grave Golem
Bete Noire
Mourner with Grave Spirit Touch

Pool: 6

Schemes: Catch & Release. Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

Titania & Gorar
Hinamatsu
Aeslin
Malisaurus Rex
Hooded Rider
Autumn Knight

Pool: 5

Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Research Mission

Turn 1-2:

This game had a brutal start. Resurrectionists were ambushed at the Arctic Lodge and butchered to pieces - Grave Golem went dead on the first turn, as did Mortimer thanks to Red Jokerin' Hinamatsu. Mourner died at the start of second turn and somewhere in the process Titania beat up Seamus down to four hit points remaining.

I had sent Bete Noire to flank around, which was a mistake as the situation went from bad to critical in the blink of an eye. Or maybe a few blinks. 

Madame Sybelle and Copycat Killer took on Hinamatsu together, dealing in some minor points of damage.

My best luck was in getting a Red Joker with Seamus' damage flip against Hooded Rider. This had Madame Sybelle later kill the rider with a Critical Strike damage track of 5/5/6.

At the end of second round, both players scored strategy and opponent revealed Research Mission, bringing points to 1-2 for Neverborn.

Turn 3:

Seamus disengages, teleports to shoot Hinamatsu and teleports again to relative safety. Madame Sybelle only tickles Hinamatsu before dying herself to the puppet-thing. Malisaurus Rex eats Copycat Killer, and Titania, Autumn Knight and Aislin scare off Bete Noire from trying to scramble Leave Your Mark points. 

Grave Golem pops up behind Hinamatsu and smacks it dead, bringing me another strategy point. Opponent's points for this round were on Hinamatsu, so points went 2-2.

Turn 4-5:

Rest of the game isn't much of a game any more - sure, Grave Golem stood strong (which means dying repeatedly to a wet sock)  and opponent wasn't able to score strategy easily, but he did manage to munch Seamus with Malisaurus Rex. That thing charges FAR.

But it was really Neverborn playing whack-a-mole with Bete Noire and Grave Golem constantly going up and down. 

In the end, it was a steady victory for Neverborn with 5-2, when he scored both end conditions from his schemes.

Game 3:

Scenario was Recover Evidence with standard deployment. Scheme pool was Breakthrough, Vendetta, Assassinate, Spread Them Out and Runic Binding. This time I was against fellow Resurrectionists. I thought I might as well give Kirai a go with following list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
2x Drowned
2x Seishin
Hanged with Grave Spirit Touch

Pool: 9

Schemes: Breakthrough, Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Molly & Necrotic Construct
Rogue Necromancy
Archie
Forgotten Marshal
2x Crooligan
2x Night Terror

Pool: 4

Schemes: Breakthrough, Spread Them Out

Turns 1-2: 

These turns saw lots of action. I had deployed Ikiryo, Kirai, Seishin, Drowned and Lost Love around middle of the board, Datsue Ba far left and Hanged, Seishin plus another Drowned far right. Ikiryo challenged a Crooligan in mid-field right next to Rogue Necromancy, and Kirai summoned an Onryo to tie up Archie. Datsue Ba failed to startle a little kid, but did enter midline almost unchallenged.

Ikiryo brought a Crooligan down to one hit point remaining, having it drop its intel marker. Rogue Necromancy obviously bit a severely damaged Ikiryo in two halves, having her drop her intel marker. 

Night Terrors and one Crooligan bunch up on the right, and Hanged manages to put its upgrade on one of the Night Terrors and remove half of its hit points. Another Night Terror runs to a forest deep in my side of the board, which probably meant opponent had Breakthrough as his scheme. But the Night Terror did not survive a spiritual triple barrage by Kirai - who flipped two 13's with a negative flip on attack against target in concealment, and then a red joker for her last attack.

Neither player revealed any schemes yet, so points were 1-1 at the end of second round. 

Turn 3:

I waste Kirai's, re-summoned Ikiryo's and Drowned's full activations trying to take down Rogue Necromancy at 6 hit points. Only Drowned managed to do two points in. More damage was done to my models via Molly's Lethe's Caress.

Datsue Ba speeds into enemy deployment zone, hopefully getting a point of Breakthrough next turn.

I learned that Hanged are not  especially good models against Night Terrors - the attached upgrade only helps them! Had not Seishin managed to walk another Drowned twice, I'd have had bat beasts flapping in my deployment zone to whom I'd not be able to do a thing. But the Drowned came and secured another strategy point to me. 

Enemy Crooligans schemed somewhat, but nothing I considered worrisome just yet. I had my Gaki sitting next to evidence marker, most likely giving me third strategy point on turn 4, so I didn't want to commit it to remove enemy scheme markers.

Archie fails to jump but does not fail to destroy Onryo. 

Kirai scores strategy, getting ahead in points 2-1. 

Turn 4

Forgotten Marshal had been a bit of a useless model for the entire game, failing at every summon he tried to make. To make up for his deficiencies, he killed two of my models with Peacebringer. Gaki and Seishin were gone. Fortunately Gaki had already managed to pick up Evidence marker. 

Datsue Ba interacts for a scheme marker and walks as deep into enemy territory as possible. Hanged walks to enemy deployment zone on the other side of board. 

Archie leaps and smacks already injured Drowned dead with one attack, and flurried a second attack at Ikiryo, killing it too. With his final action Archie picked up evidence marker.

Kirai barrages a Crooligan dead and re-summons Ikiryo, who then positions for next round to collect that particular Crooligan's evidence or scheme marker. 

Rogue Necromancy chases Datsue Ba, but doesn't get near enough to deny Kirai a point.

Kirai scores Breakthrough and Strategy, and Molly scores Strategy for 4-2

Turn 5

Lost Love collects last evidence marker for Kirai, and Kirai collects enemy scheme marker since I was suspecting opponent had Spread Them Out. 

Rogue Necromancy slaughters Datsue Ba, who had left a scheme marker deep into enemy deployment zone. But not deep enough - Molly was able to reach it with her marker removal ability. This meant I wouldn't gain Spread Them Out. 

Archie leaped, walked and schemed into my deployment zone. Kirai parked right next to the big boy. 

Kirai scores Strategy for a final result of 5-2 for Kirai.

Up until fourth turn it was a difficult game, and even there had its terrifying moment when Peacebringer downed two of my models, while one died to Molly's Caress and one to Archie. But as I had some success in denying Molly's scheme runners, losing that many models in a couple of activations wasn't enough to turn the tides that were favoring Kirai.

Reaching Tendrils

Had a game of Malifaux with 50 soulstones. Strategy: Corrupted Ley Lines. Deployment: Standard. Schemes: Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Research Mission

My crew:

 Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love (martyr)
Drowned
Shikome + Killer Instinct
Seishin
Onryo (martyr)
Dead Doxy

Pool: 7

Schemes: Breakthrough, Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

Asami & Amanjaku
Ama No Zako
Ohaguro Bettari
Minako Rei
Kamaitachi
Shadow Emissary
Akaname

Pool: 6

Schemes: Breakthrough, Assassinate

Turn 1:

On first turn, Kirai summons a Shikome, who tries to navigate to get to enemy deployment zone soon enough. It is slowed down by a Minako Rei summoned Katashiro, which I try to charge with Seishin. For some reason Seishin failed to remove it.

Datsue Ba, Drowned and Ikiryo were closing in to the middle, while Ama No Zako, Shadow Emissary and Ohaguro Bettari were doing the same on the opposing side. Both masters were behind their respective frontlines. Ama No Zako already engaged Ikiryo and did some heavy damage in.

Asami summons an Obsidian Oni to engage my hidden martyr Onryo whom I had pushed to the front to hopefully get it killed.

Turn 2:

Summoned Shikome gets to enemy deployment zone after disengaging from Katashiro. 

A brawl in the middle ensued in its full. Lost Love soothed most of the apparently spiritual damage away from Ikiryo. Ohaguro Bettari lured Datsue Ba to forefront where Shadow Emissary charged the old judge and heaved her to Ama No Zako.

Duel of the lanterns burned through plenty of my soulstones, but the judge of souls survived. In turn, she (along with Drowned) brought Ama No Zako down to three or two hit points remaining. Ikiryo was still left to activate, but she was not the one who would kill Ama No Zako, thanks to slow from Akaname, and, well, the fact that when she activated, Ama No Zako was no longer there. 

I tried to take Ikiryo by the hand and lead her out of the melee, but there was this "drats" moment when I said that "now's the time for black joker since it hasn't come up yet." And there it was. 

Obsidian Oni bursts into bits and damages Onryo, but doesn't kill.

Katashiro isn't interested about Seishin engaging it, and instead flutters to my deployment zone and slaps a scheme marker on board. 

Both players score strategy, and opponent reveals Breakthrough. Ten Thunders leads 1-2.

Turn 3:

Either last turn or this turn there was a sudden explosion of Tengus everywhere. Two of them were summoned with one action. These were then trying to heal Ama No Zako with mediocre success. Ama No Zako didn't have the time to wait and charged Onryo instead, killing it. Your sacrifice was much appreciated.

Minako Rei charges Seishin, who had not been activated yet. She gained Fast from the deed and speeded to strategy marker on my left side.

I didn't want so many models there sowing scheme markers, so Kirai disengaged from Shadow Emissary or Ohaguro Bettari and shot Katashiro dead with spirit barrage. 

Summoned Shikome plots a scheme marker in the enemy deployment zone, and the other Shikome runs as fast as it can towards enemy strategy marker on the right. 

Both players score strategy, but Resurrectionists get to reveal two schemes, Breakthrough and Hidden Martyrs. Points go 4-3 for Ressers.

Turn 4:

My first activation is to bring Shikome to enemy strategy marker and put a scheme marker to enemy deployment zone.

Kirai has... some troubles. Namely, a dragon and Asami's mother look-a-like raining death on her for two rounds. Resurrectionist master was in a bad shape that even Lost Love couldn't fix to healthy levels. Certainly she drained action points away from opponent like Hamelin, but she was not able to hold on to her hit points - opponent would score assassinate reveal this turn.

Even Minako Rei had charged her, and to deny her from reaching my strategy marker on the right, Kirai summoned Onryo to block her. To my horror I realized then that I might actually kill Kirai with the two summon upgrades I had going on.

Opponent charges Ama No Zako to my point scoring Shikome and kills it. Then one of those pesky Tengus removes the essential scheme marker. Two victory points, gone.

Opponent reveals Assassinate, and points even out to 4-4.

Turn 5:

Since game was far from complete, we continued for fifth round. Ohaguro Bettari and Datsue Ba had died somewhere along the game, but Ikiryo was still in the game. Dead Doxy had received the lodestone from dying Shikome. 

After Shadow Emissary fails to kill Kirai, she is down to two hit points remaining and I had two models with summon upgrades. Doomed. Just for giggles Kirai then hit Minako Rei and got the karmic debt. Kirai had just one hit point since summoned Shikome had activated.

Minako Rei succeeds in one of the more stylish assassinations I've yet seen: she attacked Onryo, which procced vengeance, which killed Resurrectionist master.

Since reaching tendrils is a gun action, Ikiryo had engaged Asami, as well as Dead Doxy. Asami ends the game by killing Ikiryo with a random severe injury, and had used last stone to get Pulled here & there trigger. She pulled herself away, then pushed Minako Rei to corrupted ley line in the middle and pushed Dead Doxy away.

Opponent scored assassinate and strategy, and I had to suffice for only Hidden Martyrs. 

It was tough and exciting game where draw hinged on just one reaching tendrils.

Public Nightmares

I found some time for a game of Malifaux. Round was standard 50 soulstones. 

Strategy: Public Enemies with Wedge deployment

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Mortimer
Bete Noire
Hanged with Grave Spirit Touch (Vendetta)
2x Rotten Belle
Dead Doxy
Gravedigger

Pool: 1

Schemes: Breakthrough, Vendetta

Opponent had (something like):

Dreamer with Ancient Pact & Lord Chompy Bits with Inhuman Reflexes
Serena Bowman
Coppelius (Vendetta target)
Stitched Together
Insidious Madness
Daydream with Ancient Pact
Daydream

Pool: 8

Schemes: Assassinate, Breakthrough

Turn 1:

It was wedge deployment, so action started right from the first turn. Seamus shot a severe injury in to Coppelius, which was a bit more than I was comfortable with - killing Coppelius was tempting, but he was my vendetta target!

Coppelius returned the favor with dealing casual six points in with a moderate damage, push and poking Seamus' eye a bit.

Bete Noire charged Lord Chompy Bits, dealing four points of damage which was nice surprise, although it might be inconsequential because of regenerate and various heal abilities. 

I forget which model, perhaps Dreamer himself, dropped Seamus down to three health remaining which was the moment when Copycat Killer had to come in to save the day. 

Belles, Mortimer and Hanged kill off the Daydream who has Ancient Pact, and I'm left wondering if it was worth about six action points or what. Perhaps it is safe to say that a daydream happened - a model died to black joker! 

Turn 2:

Hanged activates, desperate to whack Coppelius with dead man's collar for vendetta. Hanged succeeds, but it wasn't until my second attack was half-way through when I realized that if I killed Coppelius, I wouldn't be able to reveal Vendetta. Dang. Fortunately opponent denies Hanged's kill by cheating fate. 

Seamus kills Coppelius, sure, but not before it could land its pulse effect on four models, slapping Slow on Mortimer and getting one Alp to manifest. 

Dreamer charges Gravedigger and switches positions with Lord Chompy Bits. Gravedigger tries to kill Lord Chompy Bits who only has four health remaining. After he was done and Lord Chompy Bits activates, it is back at seven health and there is another extra Alp on the board. Gravedigger dug his own grave. Badum-tshhh.

All Rotten Belles and Dead Doxy charge the newly emerged Alp, and fell it down to two wounds or something.

Bete Noire speed towards enemy deployment zone, but is followed by Stitched Together. 

Then there was this brawl at the middle of the board that included Serena, Insidious Madness, Alp and Dreamer versus Hanged and Mortimer. This fight continued for pretty much the rest of the game with neither side getting to do anything useful.

Resurrectionists score two, and opponent reveals Assassinate.

Turn 3:

Bete Noire takes a run deeper into enemy deployment zone, and Seamus does the same. 

Lord Chompy Bits kills a Belle, which means opponent can score strategy this turn. 

Stitched Together charges Bete Noire, who buries herself. Later I, for some reason, deny myself a point from Breakthrough by teleporting Seamus away from a Daydream.

Belle kills Alp and starts backing off with a precious bounty token. Hanged kills another Alp, so now I'd need one extra point from already wounded Insidious Madness. Mortimer, go! Well. Decay does a little damage, but alas, not enough. He manages to summon a Mindless Zombie, though.

No other reports from the middle. Just whiffs and failures.

Neverborn evens out scores to 2-2.

Turn 4

Seamus continues to lay eggs on the enemy deployment zone. On top of everything, he is also the Easter Bunny. 

Lord Chompy Bits moves to my deployment zone and interacts. Mortimer has to come and deny the initial point from Breakthrough. 

Nothing happens against the Hanged. Sure, he's around half health remaining or so, and that was only because of one lucky severe injury. But still going "strong." 

Bete Noire jumps from Gravedigger's corpse and runs back to enemy deployment zone. 

Resurrectionists go 3-2 with revealed Breakthrough.

Turn 5

I think the important bits from turn 5 can be summed: neverborn murders Mortimer, and as last activation Copycat Killer comes and teleports Seamus within 4" of Lord Chompy Bits, denying the point that would have given draw.

Neverborn go to 3 points from strategy, and resurrectionists to 4 from Breakthrough end condition.

It just had to come

 

A couple of days ago I played the last game of the year. It was 50 soulstones worth of Malifaux, strategy beingSymbols of Authority with Corner Deployment.

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge + Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
The Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Rogue Necromancy
2x Crooligan
Dead Dandy
Rabble Riser

Pool: 4
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Take Prisoner (Dawn Serpent)

Take Prisoner, Assasinate, Claim Jump, Leave your mark, Runic binding

Opponent had:

Asami + Amanjaku
Ama No Zako
Shadow Emissary
Akaname
2x Tengu
Katashiro
Obsidian Oni

Pool: 7
Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Claim Jump

Turn 1:

Apparently my camera is starting to fail after 13 years or so. I clearly remember taking a picture at the end of turn 1, but there is none. 

Fortunately it's the corner deployment, so not much engagement happened. My two Crooligans had deployed in top-left corner to start scoring strategy as fast as possible. A Night Terror was summoned on the first round to aid them.

I had grand shenanigans in my mind with Philip & Nanny, summoned Night Terror and discarding a card for healing. However, I played far too aggressively with Premonition, discarding my hand left and right. Unfortunately this trend continued throughout the game. 

I think it was first turn when Molly re-activated Rabble Riser, who then charged a Katashiro dead. 

A big brawl was going to brew up in the middle. Opponent had laid a scheme marker near the center point, which I took for Leave Your Mark.

Turn 2:

Rogue Necromancy charges the Shadow Emissary and throws a high five for damage. 

Ama No Zako sped up towards my blob of Molly, Necrotic Construct and Forgotten Marshal. 

And oh boy did I do my best at removing the flying goblin. Molly, Necrotic Construct, a Crooligan and Philip & Nanny wasted all their action points in the attempt. And the thing was left alive with two hit points and two poison. There may have been some grinding of teeth involved. Especially when the one thing that eventually, sooner or later, would have come to pass. Red Joker and Black Joker coming up in the same flip. And to make it worse, a 13 in the middle too, when Philip pram rammed Ama No Zako with three cards in the duel.

Shadow Emissary heaved Rogue Necromancy away, and entered the immediate proximity of a strategy marker. 

Crooligan had no trouble in scoring one strategy marker from Ten Thunders either, so it'd be at least 1-1 after first turn. Just not in the way I anticipated.

Dead Dandy removed the enemy scheme marker from the middle and left my own there. But opponent somehow re-applied their own scheme marker and removed mine, so they managed to score Leave Your Mark. 

But when Tengu tried to Dark Bargain Shadow Emissary, a black joker came up.

Turn 3:

Even four action points from Night Terror and Crooligan are not enough to remove a pesky Amanjaku that was guarding a strategy marker. I was overconfident with that one, and was not able to remove the Insignificant totem. I could have probably advanced with Night Terror and Interact the point, but because I first charged with Crooligan, there was no space left for Night Terror where it wouldn't be engaged with Amanjaku.

I do finally remove both Ama No Zako and Shadow Emissary, but a wild Jorogumo appeared and foiled my plans of using Premonition on Philip & Nanny, then running fast forward and then teleporting a Crooligan in to score strategy.

By the way, Shadow Emissary was my model of choice for Take Prisoner. Clever thing I did there.

Removal of Rogue Necromancy was a creative one. As it was still standing with just one hit point remaining, Asami pushed the beast with her hair, causing Rogue Necromancy to fall 2" from a wooden platform it had earlier been heaved to. That equals exactly one point of damage.

I didn't get a point in strategy, opponent got the lead with 1-2, or even 1-3 if it was this turn when he revealed Claim Jump on a Tengu.

Turn 4:

At least we both had lost a whole lot of models from the board. Since Philip & Nanny couldn't deliver a sudden child delinquent to enemy strategy markers, they tried to somehow contest the middle and perhaps deny opponent from scoring Leave Your Mark end condition.

Another Tengu had escaped so that I had little chances of catching it before it'd score my entire board half. And thanks to extra survivable Amanjaku I was not able to do the same.

Situation was so hopeless for Resurrectionists that we did not continue for a fifth round.