My First Very Own Ratsplosion

 Two 50ss games of Malifaux

Game 1:

Strategy: Flank Break the Line

Schemes: Catch and Release, Breakthrough, Spread Them Out, Assassinate, Bait and Switch

My list:

Leveticus, the Pariah with Servant of Dark Powers & 2x Hollow Waif
Rusty Alyce
Johan Creedy
Soul Battery
Scavenger
2x Necropunk
2x Abomination

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

Opponent had:

Hoffman the Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Peacekeeper
2x Hunter
2x Watcher
Medical Automaton

Pool: 4
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Assassinate

Turn 1:

I somehow had misread Leveticus's card horribly, and for whatever reason I was thinking he had Armor +1. This lead to me severely overestimating his durabilitiy. So before game even began, he heralded himself inside forest, all way too close to a Hunter and Hoffman himself.

Eventually Leveticus went to strategy marker, moved it next to himself on the opposing table side and put a scheme marker for Spread Them Out. 

Hoffman laser beamed Leveticus for three points of damage, and the Hunter landed another three with a Red Joker on damage. Though the damage block had been a severe, Leveticus was already down to half of his health remaining!

Other than that both crews played it safe. In or near Leveticus' quarter there was Hollow Waif, Catching and Releasing Necropunk, Abomination and Soul Battery against Hoffman, Hunter and a Watcher.

In the center Johan and Rusty Alyce were slowly getting themselves towards center to face Peacekeeper, Medical Automaton and perhaps Melissa. 

And to the top-right quarter we had the rest, Scavenger, Necropunk, Abomination and Hollow Waif facing Hunter, Watcher and Mechanical Attendant.

Turn 2:

No masks in starting hand for Necropunk leaps, but surely things would change over the course of this turn? 

Abomination went to throw a strategy marker to Hoffman, hopefully trading action points with a master. And it succeeded... kind of. Hoffman did walk and throw the thing back to the centerline, but he also lasered Leveticus down to three health remaining. Leveticus sheepishly trotted away and went to pick a fight for someone his own size - a Watcher. He did get the heal trigger, but that just wasn't enough to deny opponent a possible assassination.

Watcher disengaged and went into contact with strategy marker Leveticus had moved last turn, and Hunter tried to do some damage in to Leveticus - fortunately failing with that.

Medical Automaton ran to base contact with Hoffman's strategy marker.

Soul Battery went to drop Desperation on Catch and Releasing Necropunk, just in case. 

Melissa, Peacekeeper, Mechanical Attendant and even Hunter top-right spent their activations both advancing and shooting Scavenger that was in melee with Hunter. And eventually they managed to do it before Scavenger had even activated. 

Watcher top-right did schemes and flew towards my deployment zone. 

So, after all the studied opponents and whatnot, I still didn't have any masks in my hand for Necropunk leaps even when they were left as the very last models to activate. 

Necropunk top-right had concentrated earlier, and spent his Focused to attempt leap with two cards. Nope. So instead he just scraped Hunter for a bit.

But the more important Necropunk below used his Focus for a leap, too. Nope. But he was able to cheat from top of deck with Desperation. Aaaand... nope. No Catch and Release for me this turn, or even a single additional scheme marker.

Fortunately my models had given Augmented hard time while getting killed, so they had not been able to deliver even one strategy marker to my side, unlike Leveticus. However, Hoffman was able to reveal Assassinate for a 1-1 tie. 

Turn 3:

... and then came the turn when everybody just exploded. Hunter top-right? Gone. Watcher bottom-left? Gone thanks to 3x Soul Reaping. Medical Automaton? Dead. Peacekeeper? No more. 

That might have looked good if Amalgam didn't also lose Necropunk top-right, both Abominations and Johan Creedy. 

Points-wise Augmented took a leap, and pretty much claimed strategic victory, as I had only four models left that were able to interact. 

But, Necropunk did get to Hoffman to score Catch & Release. Opponent got their first strategy point, and even Spread Them Out on top of that for a 2-3 lead for Guild.

Turn 4:

Outcasts got the initiative, and Necropunk leaped the heck away from Hoffman. He did drop a scheme marker for Spread Them Out, which was a mistake as both Hoffman and Melissa pursued him. They didn't get the little guy, but he did went down to two health remaining.

Rusty Alyce had been a total beast throughout this game, killing Mechanical Attendant and getting the second Watcher down to one health remaining, as well as dealing most damage in to Peacekeeper. So that gave a little hope for the remaining match.

But, Hunter bottom-left managed to pounce on Leveticus's chest, thus engaging him and denying him double walk + interact for third Spread Them Out marker. 

Hollow Waif tried to come and remove the construct that was now at one health remaining, but even with focus and bonuses from Entropic Siphon, she didn't get the kill. Leveticus had to smack the thing, buying two Rams with now plentiful Fate tokens. Essentially he healed four points, again being almost full health.

But you know what else was actually full? My table side, with ALL the strategy markers. 

Outcasts get no points, while Guild claimed second strategy point for a 2-4 lead.

Turn 5:

After Hoffman mauled my scheme runner and rudely bulldozed the scheme marker it had placed, Leveticus ditched the idea of Spread Them Out. 

That was 50% of activations available for Guild, though, as they only got Melissa and the master on board. Hollow Waif had shot the second Watcher dead by now. 

However, neither did I have enough significant models for, well, pretty much anything. But at least Rusty Alyce was able to lob one strategy marker past centerline, and Leveticus did the same for a surprise comeback... of one point. Though Guild didn't get any more points, they still won with result of 3-4

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Catch and Release, Detonate Charges, Death Beds, Claim Jump, Vendetta

My list:

Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny
Hans
Fumigator
Tunnel Rats
Obedient Wretch
Malifaux Child

Pool: 5
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Vendetta (Hans on Mr. Graves)

Opponent had:

Lynch Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
KOTO
2x Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 3
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Vendetta (KOTO on Fumigator)

Turn 1:

I deployed Hans to top-right corner slightly inside a building along with all the Stolen. I waited and waited his activation so that I might possibly get a good shot at something - perhaps Mr. Graves already - all the while building up a Rat King with Hamelin, Benny, Fumigator, Nix and Tunnel Rats. 

And lo, Hamelin was able to lure Mr. Graves quite a bit forward, eventually. But it was then that Hungering Darkness did a freaking triple walk to get to Hans. Uh. I did not anticipate that. To make matters worse, Hans failed to disengage twice, moving 0" with the first, and only 2" with the second attempt. 

Uh oh. 

Other than that, Malifaux Child went to flip bottom-right turf marker for Outcasts.

On the opposing side, Beckoner did the same bottom-left, where she was hanging around with Kitty Dumont. Lynch, who had pulled Hungering Darkness a little closer, was nearby with an Illuminated bodyguard.

Thanks to Hamelin's lure, Mr. Graves was way past the centerline. KOTO, Illuminated and Tanuki were holding top-left quarter. 

Turn 2:

... aaaand there went my two points. Hans got smacked off the board with just two attacks by Hungering Darkness. 

So that was super devastating. Fortunately there was some unexpected developments throughout the turn that still kept me in game. Mainly, Nix doing Nix things. 

Benny and Nix both attempted to maul Mr. Graves, but opponent managed to keep him alive with the help from KOTO, Tanuki and even Jakob Lynch himself. In turn, most of those models were also beating up Nix, who kept on hanging by the thread. This did take most of my soulstones, though. 

Eventually Hamelin had to lure both Nix and Benny away from the melee with Mr. Graves, as the amount of black blood getting spilled was going to get prohibitive. Kids with their vomiting disease and Obedient Wretch with bleeding disease managed to kill off the bouncer. 

Fumigator placed both scheme markers for Detonate Charges on a top-left Illuminated.

In the center, Kitty Dumont ran to center marker, so it was being held by both Lynch and Kitty. 

The other Illuminated managed to pull off a charge against Nix, but not killing the puppy. Right after Rat King tore the minion to pieces. I'm not sure if I've ever seen such a performance from Rat King... but that Focus+2 and Strength In Numbers certainly adds up!

Tunnel Rats and Malifaux Child went next to a building in the bottom-right quarter to perhaps teleport to bottom-left quarter one turn, as there was only Beckoner challenging both these models now. 

So, both players scored strategy, but Outcasts also got their Detonate Charges for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

Ten Thunders really hated that dog. 

Lynch, KOTO and even Hungering Darkness tried to slap the last few remaining damage points in to Nix, but opponent kept failing enough flips so that Nix had the insolence not to die second turn in a row.

This gave Fumigator free reign to flip top-right turf for Plague, as he was no longer engaged. 

Rat King went to engage remaining Illuminated, and nearly killed its second model. They didn't, but neither did the Illuminated remove Rat King.

Tanuki and Kitty claimed the center turf and dropped scheme markers there.

Beckoner took a double walk right next to bottom-right turf marker. That was time for Malifaux Child to teleport to bottom-left turf marker and flip it neutral. Tunnel Rats were then able to overpower Beckoner with two strikes from the mining tools. 

Both players scored strategy, for a 3-2 continuation in Hamelin's favor.

Turn 4:

Nix proved to be quite the survivor. I activated the dog early to get him away from bottom-left quarter to save that turf. I guess Lynch and Hungering Darkness figured out that killing the dog was not in their best interested, and removed Benny Wolcomb instead. Illuminated and KOTO did the same for Rat King.

Malifaux Child claimed bottom-left turf, while Tunnel Rats teleported right next to Tanuki and started to shoot Tanuki with a trench gun. 

Once it got to Hamelin's activation, I had the choice to either try to prevent scheme points from what looked like Detonate Charges setup against Nix, or kill Tanuki with a rat bomb. 

I never say no to a guaranteed Tanuki kill. 

So, Ten Thunders scored their Detonate Charges, but Outcasts got third strategy point for  a 4-3 lead.

Turn 5:

We didn't play the entire turn, as a key piece for any points died. Or, a couple did, in fact. I just didn't know that the Illuminated was one with Vendetta against Fumigator. Nix bit the Illuminated dead.

But what eventually ended the game was Obedient Wretch and a Stolen meeting their inevitable end of getting consumed from within by a total of four rats. Hamelin succeeded to surround Kitty with Malifaux Rats thanks to Unclean Influence, and then had enough successess to use Pustulent Tumors a total of four times right next to Kitty.

I don't think I have ever seen so many Pustulent Tumors happening all at once. Yikes.

That essentially ended game with a 5-3 victory for Outcasts.

Screw You, Benny!

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Break the Line

Schemes: Death Beds, Assassinate, Detonate Charges, Hidden Martyrs, Catch and Release

My list:

Piper Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny Wolcomb
Fumigator
Tunnel Rats
Malifaux Child
Rat King
Winged Plague
Malifaux Rat

Pool: 5
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
2x Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Tanuki

Pool: 4
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Hidden Martyrs (Tanuki & Rough Rider, the one below)

Turn 1:

Nix started by planting a scheme marker for a new Rat King. He went hiding behind a wall. 

Opponent started shuffling about, slowly claiming both markers in the middle. Whenever wastrels had action points yo spare, they took small shots at Nix. And damage kept piling in, leaving me worried fur the pup's safety. 

Before Sidir had activated, Hamelin took his shot. He stunned Sidir and made Malifaux Child interact a scheme for Benny. Last action went to move away from easy range of Machine Gun.

However, Lucas dug up a Timeworn Blade for Sidir, took a couple of walks and rode Sidir closer to Nix, again.

Sacrifices needed to be made, so Fumigator walked and charged to engage Sidir. Sidir dodged, disengaged and began to shoot. After all attacks targeted against Nix, the dog was still at four health remaining. But it had cost me three soulstones. 

Stolen grind out activations from Ten Thunders. I realized I had spent all of my 8+ cards when protecting Nix, so Benny didn't have a guaranteed Rat King coming up. Fumigator that had been supposed to plant at least one scheme to the rat bomb had had to relocate.

To boost Benny's chances of getting an 8+ straight out of deck, Malifaux Child backtracked to place a fourth scheme marker. Thus, Benny was able to get Fast. After all enemy models had activated, Benny began to activate Loyal Rats with Tiny Hats. First one failed, second one failed and third one...

Failed.

Great job, Benny. 

Rat King had walked and charged Ruffian who was hugging center-left strategy marker without much of an effect. Looking back now, that turn was a hideous mess. The only good things were stunning Sidir and Tunnel Rats going to toss a strategy marker to enemy side. 

Bah.

Turn 2:

Tunnel Rats continued their success story by using Secret Passage to get to strategy marker and toss it out of Rough Rider's reach. They also planted some minefields to discourage trampling hooves. Unfortunately minefields did not discourage rifle shots, one of which dealt a couple of damage points in.

In the center, Sidir actually was the first model to activate, and started shooting Fumigator. Sidir softened up the target, gave the Timeworn Blade for Rough Rider. The horseman shot Fumigator dead with double severes with negative modifiers. He also interacted a strategy marker and threw Timeworn Blade for Lucas.

Looked like Nix would reach three models with Drink Spirit, so Nix walked and charged Lucas to complicate the middle. Attack dealt respectable damage, but then came time to drink some spirits. Nix's future suddenly appeared to not... exist. Black Joker. And Fast master about to activate. 

Sure enough, Lucas activated next and started whipping the ghostly dog. It took the remainder of my soulstones and high cards from hand, but Nix was still standing! Only that... he had just one hit point.

Hamelin tried to come to save the day and stun Ruffian closest to Nix and offer some TN 13 willpower duels for, like, six enemy models from Fumigator's corpse. However, all my good cards had already been spent, so Hamelin needed 8+ straight from the deck. Both actions failed, so Nix was... still... at one health remaining. 

Lucas had given Timeworn Blade for Ruffian, who activated next. He chainganged himself into melee with Nix, and... failed first attack. Nix healed to two remaining. Unfortunately second attack hit, and Nix was back to one health. And the last attack? Missed! Woo hoo, who's a good boy?

Rat King healed Nix for one, and Stolen that were spitting on Lucas healed Nix up to five health. I love it how messed up that survivability is. 

Since Desper had leaped to Nix to plant a scheme, that gentleman burglar was going nowhere else this turn. Benny ditched his sorry attempt to bring in more rats, and ate a scheme marker for Fast. He took a double walk to drop a scheme near Desper. Winged Plague removed Desper's blight tokens to drop another scheme marker for Detonate Charges.

One Ruffian below brought a strategy marker to my side.

Both crews scored a strategy point, and both got Detonate Charges for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

Lucas started with a headlong charge against Nix. While the wastrel master didn't do a whole lot against Nix, he did dole out a Phantasmal Mask for Sidir before riding away from melee. I figured Nix with four health might be able to take a whopping from Sidir, so Tunnel Rats activated. Strategy Marker was thrown just over 8" away from centerline and walked over 6" away from Rough Rider. 

Sidir charged Nix and put it down with two strikes. He was buying Rams for critical strike, so there was at least that expenditure on Sidir's part. Last action point went into shooting down Malifaux Child with a machine gun. 

The kid had been my other hidden martyr, so I was looking at the real possibility of fully losing points from Hidden Martyrs if Rough Rider on top decided to land two weak damages on Tunnel Rats. That was too big of a risk after losing Nix and Malifaux Child before they had even activated.

Hamelin took a double walk near the center, and at first tried to stun threatening Rough Rider. Piper's Influence failed, but at least Obey worked. Rough Rider took a dip inside minefield before running 5.5" away from Tunnel Rats.

Rat King tried to gnaw Ruffian off the board, but their majesty was offended by Ruffian's manners. Benny Wolcomb had to come and stick a blade into the wastrel minion's last hit point.

Those were the most important developments of the turn. Rough Riders relocated to middle and tried to shoot Rat King, but not getting it below half of its health remaining. 

Sidir had tossed Phantasmal Mask for Desper, who had leaped to transform Winged Plague into a soulstone. He couldn't charge because of Hamelin's aura. 

Kids were spitting at Lucas, Tanuki was swiping those way.

Both players scored strategy point, but Malifaux Child was turned into a victory point for Outcasts, so they got the lead with 4-3.

Turn 4: 

Outcasts actually got the initiative for change. And what a beautiful activation Hamelin had! First he Obeyed Rat King to interact strategy marker. Marker went next to Rough Rider. Then, Hamelin landed both a stun and an Obey to Rough Rider to throw the strategy marker even further. I think the last action was Obey, too, but I'm not sure about the target. 

Opponent didn't prioritize the situation in middle. Instead, Tanuki healed Lucas for a bit and threw a strategy marker deep inside my territory.

Rat King charged the pipered Rough Rider, and missed. Second attack, however, hit and got masks from Piper's Influence. Two attacks later, Rough Rider was dead before it had activated. So yay for that.

However, Desper recognized the danger of Outcasts getting four strategy points, so he leaped and walked to throw the strategy marker a little closer.

This, however, put Desper in the range of Tunnel Rat's trench gun. Rats were above half of their health, so they didn't have too much trouble in landing a moderate damage - which was enough to kill Desper. How? Well, Stolen kid had almost killed Desper by spitting at him. Had it not been a full three for damage block with a stone, the kid would have scored a henchman kill.

Benny had... done... something, I guess? Maybe he tried to attack Rough Rider or Sidir? Anyway, he did engage both for some added nuisance and apparently placed a scheme marker at some point. 

Rough Rider rode away from Benny along with Sidir. Their combined efforts resulted in dead Rat King and dead Stolen, plus some damage in to Hamelin.

Another stolen brough Lucas down to three health remaining, while the last Stolen attempted to deny enemy fourth strategy point, maybe. He went frantically flailing to Ruffian coming from the right, but missed. Ruffien killed the kid and charged resulting Malifaux Rat so that it was in contact with strategy marker. Ah well. At least the kid tried.

Both players score strategy for a 5-4 lead for Outcasts.

Turn 5:

Lucas tried to tie down Benny Wolcomb, and soon enough the godfather was within 2" of two enemy scheme markers. 

Hamelin does another awesome activation. First, he Obeys Tunnel Rats to use Secret Passage to get closer now that Lucas was securely in place. Then he stuns Rough Rider with Piper's Influence - and obeys Tanuki away from fourth strategy point for Ten Thunders. Last Obey went to Benny in an attempt to disengage him, but that didn't amount to anything.

Lucas had difficult choice to make now. I had no idea, but both Rough Rider and Tanuki were enemy martyr's. He would be able to get fourth strategy point even with stunned Rough Rider, but that would leave Hidden Martyrs with zero points. 

In the end, Ten Thunders went to get their fourth strategy point. Benny beat up a few rats to get two schemes within 2" of Lucas, and Tunnel Rats just ran to get engaged with Lucas. 

A close fought 7-5 victory for Hamelin.

Remember Dismember

A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Symbols of Authority

Scheme pool: Breakthrough, Vendetta, Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua Mortimer (Vendetta on Samurai) Rogue Necromancy Rafkin (Martyr) Kentauroi 3x Canine Remains (one of them martyr)

Stones: 7

Schemes: Vendetta, Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

Asami Tanaka & Amanjaku Ama No Zako Fuhatsu (Martyr) Jorogumo (Claim Jump) Samurai Tengu (Martyr) Akaname

Stones: 6

Schemes: Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs

Turn 1:

When deploying, I kind of noticed how most of my models were tied to each other somehow. All perverse metabolists obviously wanted to be near Rafkin except perhaps for the Canine Remains, but they on the other hand were required to move corpse tokens around. So, I had one giant blob of Resurrectionists on a strategy where objectives were spread near and far.

In addition, the start was real slow for my crew. First, Rafkin had to activate and spam Poison around.

Next Mortimer activated and did a corpse, and I erroneously beat Rogue Necromancy with dismember, which is enemy only trigger. I blame amputation trigger for this, which is fairly similar but works on friendlies too. After these two activations I had used over half of my deck, and had two cards in hand remaining. Must be some kind of a record here.

Asami had summoned an Obsidian Oni, and I was all too familiar with what they could do to a tight formation. Thus, I took care of it with

Kentauroi and Rogue Necromancy, the latter of which got a lucky Pouncing Strike and went to engage Jorogumo and Asami.

But, as Mortimer had already beaten up Rogue Necromancy, and there was an Oni explosion and even a dark bargained attack against my 10-point beater, I was suddenly looking at two of my 50mm based models in middle of board nearing death, with Rogue Necromancy at one health.

My plan of getting Dr. McMourning in some relevant place and summoning a Flesh Construct there would just work even if it had been legal. Fortunately this mistake at least had McMourning entirely waste two of his action points in moving forth, then healing Rogue Necromancy with blood poisoning, moving back to summon a Flesh Construct, which also failed to accomplish anything.

Kentauroi was blasted away by either Samurai or Fuhatsu, which was unfortunate as the mobility of my list just went down a few notches too many. I had considered keeping McMourning as a sort of cruise missile to anywhere needed, and Ride With Me would've been a necessity for that.

Canine Remains tried to keep their heads low from enemy shooting, except for the hidden martyr that was reasonably visible to perhaps eat away an enemy activation while giving me a point.

Turn 2:

Since Ten Thunders won initiative, I lost Rogue Necromancy without a fight.

Amanjaku had blocked the strategy marker I had been aiming to get this turn. Flesh Construct tried to take care of that, but failed while a Canine Remains succeeded. But then Asami just summoned a Jorogumo to block that place, like, forever, for at least this turn.

The Jorogumo kills the wrong puppy for me.

Zombie Chihuahua had tried to go and hopefully delay enemy models from scoring strategies. That didn't work out when Ama No Zako killed it with one strike, walked and took a strategy marker anyway.

Rafkin doesn't do anything useful, and while Dr. McMourning did summon additional Flesh Construct, it took once more two action points to even get into position. That Flesh Construct was of exceptional quality, however, when it took down what was left of Jorogumo in the middle with one strike, charged Akaname and killed that too. Little did I know it back then, but Jorogumo had been the Claim Jumper.

Scores go 1-0 for Ten Thunders.

Turn 3:

Samurai charges my hidden martyr dog and kills it. Then I spend quite a few activations in grinding through Samurai's ungodly Armor +2, and get within threshold for Mortimer to get his vendetta. Which he did.

Dr. McMourning took a strategy marker and charged into melee with both Asami and Fuhatsu. This didn't work as planned when Fuhatsu managed to stun Dr. McMourning and push him away from catalyst range.

Flesh Construct tried to attack Asami, and she did get to around two health remaining. Then she just left the melee, ate three markers to heal for six and walked to middle. ThereAsami summoned... was it Akaname? And Tengu to engage Rafkin and last remaining Remains. Canine Remains surprised everyone when it took Akaname down with just one critical striking bite. Tengu flew away from the scene, and Rafkin was free to try to come and kill Samurai, failing at that.

So I had Mortimer and Rafkin almost in base contact with each other and Samurai there with like two hit points or so. Two strategy markers too in the close vicinity of the melee.

Ama No Zako took a strategy marker, and scores went 2-3 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

I think it was Resurrectionists that won the initiative, because taking down Samurai succeeded without that much of a hassle.

Dr. McMourning chooses to take strategy marker instead of contributing to fight. Being stunned ain't nice with such a damage track that relies on critical strike to deal with the likes of Fuhatsu.

Ama No Zako and summoned Tengu go and take third strategy marker. Asami summons a Jorogumo that kills Rafkin.

Flesh Construct finishes Asami and comes to engage the summoned Jorogumo.

Turn 5:

Last turn Dr. McMourning went and scored third Symbol, and remainder of my resources went into keeping Mortimer alive.

One of the Jorogumos also failed to kill a Mindless Zombie that was summoned last turn with one strike, so it couldn't lend its spear to damaging Mortimer.

Fate was on my side this time, when I ran Flesh Construct to engage Ama No Zako. Fuhatsu then shot the Construct, who flipped black joker. This was second time when I black jokered an action that opponent wanted to fail. Second try worked better, and Ama No Zako was free to remove my Vendetta model. But it was not to be.

Tengu took last strategy marker from my side, and scores went 4-6 for Resurrectionists.

The cactus that decided a game

A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Standard Break the Line

Schemes: Research Mission, Detonate Charges, Breakthrough, Bait &  Switch, Death Beds

My list:

Molly2 & Necrotic Machine
Archie
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal
2x Crooligan
Gravedigger
Bone Pile

Stones: 3

Schemes: Detonate Charges, Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Pandora2 & Poltergeist
Klaus Norwood
Candy
Iggy
Hooded Rider
2x Sorrow

Stones: 7

Schemes: Detonate Charges, Breakthrough

Turn 1

Gravedigger used Blasphemous Ritual to put some focus over the blob of Necrotic Machine, Noxious Nephilim, Molly and Archie. I had deployed a Crooligan right next to strategy marker on left. Iggy came to tie up that flank, not doing much damage. Same happened on the right with another Crooligan and a Sorrow, except this time Crooligan took some damage and got Stunned. Pandora activated and summoned an Aversion, replacing the Slow with Fast.

Crooligan didn't want to take another beating from a three-AP model, so it teleported to Molly.

Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror and took a shot against Poltergeist that was hanging around in the middle forest. For fun and profit the damage flip was Severe even with negatives. 

This was my first game I had Archie on board. He activated, took a parade, leaped to strategy marker, interacted and charged the Poltergeist dead. This was rather risky since Hooded Rider had not activated yet. 

Then I activate Molly, and move Archie even further to the Rider and interact with strategy marker again. I got so carried away doing these movement shenanigans that I actually brought Archie away from Molly's Remember the Lost aura. Well played. Fortunately opponent wasn't able to kill Archie. Noxious Nephilim used Bring It on Archie, but sadly only after Hooded Rider had activated. 

Candy somehow arrived in the middle of my crew, getting Noxious Nephilim, Molly, Croolihan and Necrotic Machine to that annoying aura of hers. Necrotic Machine tried to poke two Poisons on Candy to at least deny her triggers next turn. It got only one in, though.

Turn 2

Neverborn wins initiative, so it was time to say farewell for Archie. 

The Night Terror that was summoned earlier took a casual 8" move with Molly, walked and interacted to enemy deployment zone. Sorrow came to block my rather apparent attempt to get Breakthrough. Then Iggy somehow completely failed at its three AP activation to kill Crooligan. Crooligan slaps Iggy dead with just one attack, so it was still able to interact the marker to opponents side. 

Bone Pile buried itself.

Pandora nearly kills Gravedigger and turned it into a hazardous terrain. Then she brings another Poltergeist on board. Noxious Nephilim charges it for a couple points of damage.

Forgotten Marshal moves and interacts a strategy marker, plus summoned another Night Terror. Night Terror charged Hooded Rider and triggered "you're coming with me", bringing Rider further away from middle for no reason.

Crooligans and Aversions and Mollies, Klauses and whatnot were playing football in the middle with the end result of my having three marker past centerline, while Pandora was next to one strategy marker that was still on center line.

Molly had dropped a scheme marker near Candy, and Necrotic Machine scored me Detonate Charges on Candy with Ceaseless Advance. 

Score of 2-0 for Resurrectionists looked promising, although the actual situation on board was so-and-so.

Turn 3

Well, uh. 

Then I saw a turn that is probably one of the most devastating turns I have had to suffer in Malifaux.

Sorrow kills Night Terror in enemy deployment zone. Gravedigger and Necrotic Machine die to whatever, Necrotic Machine just from activating. A Crooligan tosses a strategy marker a bit, and another Crooligan teleports to Molly and charges Hooded Rider in an attempt to buy a chance for Bone Pile to appear nearby and go to score Breakthrough.

Then Hooded Rider activates and kills both Crooligans with just its bonus action. And game had looked so good just a while ago...

Noxious Nephilim kills Poltergeist and tries to tie Sorrow in melee.

So... Opponent scores Detonate Charges, Breakthrough and Strategy, and I had four models left. At least I got strategy and Breakthrough as well, so I was still in lead with 4-3.

Turn 4

My crew is overrun completely. Noxious Nephilim died to a freaking Sorrow. Forgotten Marshal is down to one health remaining. Molly dies, but only after she went to toss a strategy marker back to enemy side. 

Forgotten Marshal puts Hooded Rider into pine box just for giggles.

Bone Pile buries itself, so at the end of round I got only one model with one hit point on board. Not ideal.

Still, situation wasn't entirely hopeless. Opponent had failed to bring a second strategy marker to my side, and I still had three of those.

Scores: 5-3 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5

Candy, Pandora and Sorrow lay like five scheme markers on my deployment area. 

Forgotten Marshal runs to a cactus and dies, so opponent wouldn't be able to score Detonate Charges. But I can't stop opponent from getting strategy markers to my side as I now only had one (1) model left.

Neverborn scores Breakthrough and strategy, and game ends in close fought draw 5-5.

Two Reds in one attack

A 50ss game of Malifaux. 

Strategy: Corner Turf War

Scheme pool: Assassinate, Breakthrough, Hidden Martyrs, Claim Jump, Detonate Charges

My list:

Jack Daw & Ligeia
Montresor
Jaakuna Ubume
Midnight Stalker
Hanged
Guilty
Catalan Rifleman

Stones: 7
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Hanged & Guilty), Detonate Charges

Opponent:

Titania the Autumn Queen & Gorar
Malisaurus Rex (Claim Jump)
Hooded Rider
Rougarou
2x Autumn Knight

Stones: 7
Schemes: Claim Jump, Assassinate

Turn 1:

Knowing I would most likely get the horrible corner of bottom-right, I tried to take models which would actually get out of that bottleneck before turn 3. By then I didn't know that my side of the board would be filled with severe terrain templates right away.

Well, at least I had Jack Daw, Hanged, Jaakuna and Lady Ligeia incorporeal enough. Guilty, Montresor and Catalan Rifleman were the only models severely hampered by severe terrain since Midnight Stalker would just leap over things. Or so I thought. Midnight Stalker wasted its first turn because I didn't draw a mask for my hand. So he kind of got about 2" past my deployment zone.

Anyway, I opted to shovel pretty much the entirety of my crew to threaten the board center. Catalan Rifleman took bottom-right turf marker.

Neverborn were a little more spread out with Hooded Rider rushing to bottom-left marker and Malisaurus Rex as close to top-right marker as middle marker. Gorar, Rougarou and Titania were chilling around top-left marker while both Autumn Knights engaged middle marker.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists win initiative, and Jaakuna puts up a hazardous aura. What a waste.

Then goes Titania. I had Red Joker in my hand, so I wouldn't have needed to let Third Law pass on Jack Daw... This was because I woefully underestimated the distance that is 4" - I thought it wouldn't bring Jack Daw into melee with Autumn Knights. Well, it did. And now Jack Daw was stunned.

To make matters even worse I somehow didn't register that stunned doesn't let you declare triggers on your own models, too. Because of this I walked Jack Daw a little forward to place Curse of Injustice on Malisaurus Rex. After that I only needed to use Suppressed Memories on The Guilty and buy a trigger to escape... oh wait, stunned.

At least Autumn Knight received Curse of Injustice, too.

Malisaurus then charges Jack Daw and after a brutal mauling and a staggering expenditure of stones and cards, Jack Daw is at two health points remaining.

The Guilty tries to save the outcast master by charging another Autumn Knight, not doing much. But neither did the Autumn Knights. Both tried to attack The Guilty, which all but confirmed opponent had taken Assassinate.

Midnight Stalker runs towards top-right turf marker while Rougarou seems to have the same idea.

Hooded Rider takes bottom-left marker and rides into woods to collapse my lines next turn. Or not.

Catalan Rifleman takes a point of damage to get tomes for a warning shot against Hooded Rider,  fails on purpose and then takes the actual shot. He takes a point of damage again to get stun trigger.

Hooded Rider wins the duel hard, so I have to cheat Red Joker from my hand to hit. Then I get to do a damage flip with some negatives. My deck went empty, so it was reshuffled. Damage: Red Joker. 

Then Hanged walks, charges and fails its attack on Hooded Rider. Last, it uses bonus whispers on the Rider, buys crows and kills the Rider with Mental Trauma.

What just happened?

Both players score turf, and Neverborn gets Assassinate for a score of 1-2.

Turn 3:

And again, Red Joker in my starting hand. Luckily this game was played on a virtual platform, because by now I'd have become really suspicious about my shuffling skills had we played a live game.

My starting hand was pretty good otherwise, too. I "won" the initiative, but opponent cheated a 13 for initiative (he had one pass token). I thought that I had good chances to win even if I wasted my Red to get a re-flip. So I did. I lose, but cheat in a 13. Opponent also cheats 13, winning the initiative. So he had two 13's in starting hand.

I suppose I can't complain, though, because past 10 cards or so had included three Red Jokers for me...

Titania butchers Jack Daw, but at least she spends all of her stones while doing that.

Remaining Outcast forces gain a good position in the middle, because Malisaurus and both Autumn Knights have staggered on them and Montresor nearby keeping that stagger in place. Jaakuna Ubume is offering hazardous terrain and Lady Ligeia making all cheats costly. While my wet noodle attacks weren't impressive, damage was steadily pouring in via these eroding abilities.

Hanged takes a charge against Autumn Knight and scores a lucky tomes, placing an unsuspicious scheme marker.

Malisaurus beats Montresor and Montresor fails to Execute Malisaurus even when opponent had no stones or cards in hand.

Midnight Stalker jumps to top-right turf marker, interacts and charges Rougarou for a couple points of damage.

Scores go 2-2 when Outcasts manage to get their second turf.

Turn 4:

Neverborn wins initiative and Titania heals 80% of all damage I managed to do last round. Feels good.

Malisaurus doesn't manage to kill Jaakuna Ubume, who then walks to offer Autumn Knights some hazardous terrain. Autumn Knight then tries to kill my enforcer, and fails. And last but not least - Gorar takes a ranged attack against Jaakuna Ubume who has Serene Countenance and gets Friendly Fire. And scores a kill. Thanks to Black Joker Jaakuna flipped.

Rougarou smacks Midnight Stalker down to two health remaining, and Midnight Stalker pays the debt, bringing the beast down to one.

Montresor & Jaakuna and their various abilities had brought Malisaurus down to one health remaining.

Hanged & Catalan Rifleman brought Autumn Knight down to one health remaining.

Gee, wouldn't it be a shame if enemy master was able to heal six points and hand out shielded as required in a situation like this? (Well, at least she wouldn't do anything else.)

Alright, there were reasons for this, though. Lady Ligeia didn't succeed to deliver the last point required to Malisaurus, which honestly was to be expected. But Hanged could have killed Autumn Knight, but chose to get Draw Out Secrets instead, securing me reveal condition for Detonate Charges.

3-2 for Outcasts.

Turn 5:

Red Joker in my starting hand again. Opponent flipping 13 for initiative again while having a pass token.

Titania heals Malisaurus for six and gives Shielded +3 for it. Malisaurus doesn't get to do anything useful, though.

Montresor kills one of the Autumn Knights with his bonus action and then is cursed to watch while Hanged takes a walk and interacts with turf marker. Autumn Knight then attacks The Guilty and declares Into Thorns. I win, but as a perverted act of mercy I cheat to lose the duel. Unfortunately it's minimum damage and I didn't get Hidden Martyrs.

Autumn Knight then interacts with middle turf. Hanged then interacts with middle turf and places a scheme marker for Detonate Charges. Catalan Rifleman takes a double walk and interacts with bonus action.

Outcasts get third turf and end condition of Detonate Charges, and Neverborn declares Claim Jump on Malisaurus.

Outcasts win 5-4 this tough game that was considered confusing by both participants.

Chilly day for the good doctor

 A 50 soul stones game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Symbols of Authority

Scheme pool: Claim Jump, Outflank, Detonate Charges, Death Beds, Hidden Martyrs

My list:
McMourning with Grave Spirit Touch & Zombie Chihuahua
Dead Rider
Rogue Necromancy
Hanged with Grave Spirit Touch (Martyr)
Nurse
Canine Remains (Martyr)

Stones: 7
Schemes: Death Beds (Ice Pillar), Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

Euripides & Primordial Magic
Thoon
The Damned
2x Geryon
2x Bultungin (Martyrs)

Stones: 7
Schemes: Death Beds (Ice Pillar), Hidden Martyrs

Turn 1

Never having played against Euripides, I was scared even if my starting hand was absurdly good. Lowest card I had was 5, and lowest next was 10. I was counting the black joker as red, because I had Hanged hanging around.

Zombie Chihuahua, Nurse and Rogue Necromancy were sort of holding the middle, or maybe it was more like that nobody was contesting that area. Except for a ton of Ice Pillars that Euripides had tossed around.

My 50mm bases had hard time moving around various terrain pieces, which kind of ruined some of the mobility I had with Dead Rider. I still managed to Ride With Me Hanged next to the building in the middle. Idea was to charge Bultungin, smack it down to one health with black joker and then kill it with remaining attack. I didn't know it, but that would have been wonderful indeed, since that Bultungin was opponent's martyr.

Euripides had dealt a worrying amount of damage to Rogue Necromancy, Dead Rider and Hanged, but Rogue Necromancy was patched up by Nurse and Hanged regenerated a bit.

Geryon was turned incorporeal by Euripides' totem, and it charged the Hanged inside building, but didn't deal damage. Although that was thanks to soulstones.

Speaking of which, The Damned tried to go skulking somewhere in top-right quarter. Doctor McMourning had to discard my last card (the black joker) to get within charge range of The Damned. And then, without cards in hand, Dr. McMourning killed the enforcer in one activation. This took some stones, though, as he needed critical strikes.

Next Thoon comes and charges Dr. McMourning. And this is when I take a closer look at Thoon's triggers, notably Frozen Trophy. So. This model just needs to score tomes on a successful attack and the defender is gone for good, unless it receives helping hand from another friendly model? Cool. Literally.

Thoon did not succeed, but both players were spending stones as if they were mere pennies. Out of seven available for both, opponent had spent three and me four on first turn alone.

Another Bultungin starts to block path to one strategy symbol next to corner in middle-left, and disheartened Canine Remains wonders if it can ever score that.

Turn 2

What's the worst that could happen?

Opponent winning initiative and me drawing a terrible hand? Why... that's exactly what happened. 

Before he was even able to activate, McMourning had turned into a frozen trophy with only one action point from Thoon, who then walked to a strategy symbol.

Situation is less than ideal, but I do figure out a way to perhaps free my master.

Nurse charges Zombie Chihuahua and plants some poison into it. Then, she offers the puppy some painkillers which pulls Chihuahua here and there, and lastly the dog is seduced to walk a bit forward. Now, it was within walk & slam distance to the frozen trophy of Dr. McMourning.

Next we see some absurd mental image. 

Considering that there is an enormous undead chimera and one of the riders of the apocalypse, plus an eternally doomed undead spirit of a hanged man in the middle challenging both Geryons and Euripides, you might imagine that situation somewhat more pressing than, say, running away from everything just to smack dead a tiny chihuahua. But that's what Euripides did. 

Oh well. Doctor won't come online at least this turn, and prospects for that in any of the upcoming turns were looking grim.

Both Geryons succeed in killing the Hanged, and Rogue Necromancy fails to offer them some projectile vomit. At least Hanged manages to kill the Bultungin before perishing.

Dead Rider takes a flight with Canine Remains to hopefully next turn score strategy on the left that now had two ice pillars in front of it.

Both players score Hidden Martyrs, and opponent also gets Death Beds for a score of 1-2 for Neverborn.

Turn 3

Nurse tries to charge Thoon in an attempt to deny scoring a point, but that was unlikely as there were essentially four action points Euripides and Thoon would be able to rain on Nurse and still score strategy. Failed.

Geryon turned incorporeal charged Dead Rider, but doesn't kill - although does give slow for the rider.

But Dead Rider still had everything it needed to Ride With Me on Canine Remains and slam one of the ice pillars. Canine Remains was, in fact, able to score one point.

Rogue Necromancy tries to come and bite Geryon for a bit, but Geryon just heaves it away still within its own melee range - this way Rogue Necromancy would need to waste an action point again to take a shot at it. Scores go 2-3.

Turn 4

We did not play fourth round. In an imaginary wonder land I might have scored two or three points in the last two rounds, although realistically we were looking at one or zero.

Opponent, on the other hand, would have no trouble at all to score at least three points with likely chance of success for four.

Lesson learned. No more offering isolated masters for Thoon.

Leave it to the kids

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Symbols of Authority with Standard Deployment

Scheme pool: Assassinate, Claim Jump, Catch & Release, Hidden Martyrs, Research Mission

My list:

Molly2 & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal with the Whisper
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Catch & Release (Night Terror), Hidden Martyrs (Crooligan & Nephilim)

I think in this matchup I actually had no other scheme choices. Assassinate and Claim Jump were out of the window straight away - I wouldn't be able to deal with enemy models if they stormed the middle. And Hoffman isn't an easy model to kill at least with my list. I pondered on Research Mission, but if I somehow managed to drop scrap markers, Hoffman would just eat them right away. Corpses would come from my own models, and a strategy marker for scoring would be a strategy marker I wouldn't collect. So yeah. Catch & Release and Hidden Martyrs it was.

Opponent had:

Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Guardian
Riotbreaker
3x Hunter

Pool: 2
Schemes: Claim Jump (Guardian) Catch & Release (One of the Hunters)

Turn 1:

First turn was more action packed than Molly would have hoped. It didn't help that time after time I realized how I had screwed up this or that. 

I was taking my time in figuring out how Noxious Nephilim's Memories of Blood worked. Molly and Nephilim were hiding behind a bush that also hid one of my strategy markers. 

A Hunter, Hoffman and Guardian went to the middle with the aid of Mechanical Attendant's magnet. Below, Philip & Nanny tried to gift Slow for Hunter in the middle, but failed despite advantage of 2. However, I think I got pretty good mileage out of Molly's bonus action even when I forgot that I might get to draw cards. 

But yeah. Middle of the board and below where my turn was, if not great, at least not horrible. Up in the north it was catastrophic.

Both Crooligans jumping on a strategy marker was no big deal at all. Neither was Rabble Riser that took cover from behind a rock formation. But then Forgotten Marshal came to summon in a Night Terror that used Fading to move forward. I tried to use it as a distraction for Guild, and I was so sure my sitting duck would eat up at least one activation from the enemy.

I didn't even leave it within 3" of Marshal to offer some enveloping darkness.

So, Hunter shot a harpoon at Marshal, dragged it 6" closer. Night Terror then charged the Hunter to completely wrong side - I wanted to offer enemy some Negation Aura. And I did, and it had a considerable effect, but still Melissa and Hunter were able to shoot Forgotten Marshal down to one health remaining. And because of my placement of Night Terror the Hunter was now able to Deadly Pursuit into Forgotten Marshal.

Turn 2

Guild wins initiative and proceeds to kill Forgotten Marshal right away, and with Assassin the Hunter casually Red Jokers with Critical Strike the only Rabble Riser dead.

Non-martyr Crooligan takes enemy strategy marker from north. Noxious Nephilim was guarding my middle marker with its 2" melee range. To protect Necrotic Machine and possibly even Molly, Noxious Nephilim put up Rancid Smell. Then it challenged Hunter with Bring It to draw the machine away from Molly's totem. 

Guardian lobbed Hoffman into the thick of the melee in the middle. To further protect Necrotic Machine, Molly used Parade Route on Noxious Nephilim in an attempt to leave Hoffman less room to maneuver. Turned out Hoffman didn't need that.

He had the insolence to knock aside Noxious Nephilim and get the strategy marker in middle.

But hey. Necrotic Machine survived despite all the Hunters that were raining on it!

And because Hunters were busy in the middle, Philip & Nanny ran as close as possible to enemy strategy marker that was hugging south board edge. Martyr Crooligan teleported to Nanny and got into position to interact next turn.

Summoned Night Terror kept Melissa busy, and Catch & Release Night Terror came to engage Hoffman.

Both players score strategy, Resurrectionists get Catch & Release for 1-2 lead.

Turn 3

Catch & Release Night Terror runs to enemy middle marker. Melissa kills summoned Night Terror and runs and guns Catch & Release Terror, lobbing even a grenade to it, but couldn't put a dent on the bat.

Crooligan interacts with strategy marker, and Philip & Nanny dislodge themselves from Mechanical Attendant with accidental roll-over. Unfortunately they just couldn't quite reach Melissa. Attendant starts taking shots at the baby carriage and despite them burning soulstones, their health fell to six. And even got themselves stunned, so no accidental roll-overs next turn.

Riot Breaker shoots non-martyr Crooligan, and one of the Hunters go and take one of my strategy markers. 

In the middle, Noxious Nephilim regurgitates a corpse and uses Bring It on Guardian that I suspected as a possible Claim Jump target. Yeah, moderate wound on double negatives. I had tried to regurgitate with Nephilim to make it a more enticing model to try to kill, but still requiring at least some effort.

Now it just took one swing from Guardian to finish it. Oh well. At least it was a Hidden Martyr point for me.

Molly and Necrotic Machine do impressive job in dealing with two Hunters and Hoffman himself. Molly even gets to do the full three irreducible damage to one of the Hunters, and thanks to her encouragement, Necrotic Machine doesn't even die and prevents Guardian from scoring Claim Jump.

Both players score strategy, Resurrectionists score Hidden Martyrs. Sadly though Guild reveals Catch & Release on one of the Hunters engaging Molly.

3-4 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4

Beginning fourth round, much to my horrification I realized I had three pass tokens. That's quite a model difference when the entirety of enemy list has Armor +2...

I had this grand plan of activating Necrotic Machine first and dealing some damage in to a Hunter that was at four health, and then using accomplice to activate Molly to finish the job. It had a promising start when Necrotic Machine dealt severe injury on a negative flip. Sadly remaining attacks missed. But, the thing had only two health remaining. 

With first action Molly tried to use parade route on Catch & Release Hunter to bring it to a more reasonable position. This failed, so Molly started swinging her baton at the Hunter with two health. Attack hit and dealt a damage. Last action point was a baton attack again, which hit its target. With two negatives obviously, of course, it was the black joker that came up! That would have been my first kill in the game.

But no, Hoffman just healed it back and then even killed my Most Valuable Player, the Necrotic Machine. 

Night Terror charges Mechanical Attendant dead, so I did, in fact, get my first kill this turn. A four point totem. Whee.

Philip & Nanny walk around Melissa and use Boring Conversation. Since they were stunned, that was all. Crooligan teleports to Nanny and goes to interact with second marker in the middle. Melissa then disengages and goes running and gunning against Crooligan, once again accomplishing nothin.

Guardian threw the healed Hunter around, and then it walked and charged martyr Crooligan. Two points of damage were taken - still above 50% required for Hidden Martyrs!

One Hunter runs to a strategy marker while Catch & Release Hunter disengaged and ran as far as it could.

Guild scored Claim Jump with Guardian, but failed to take a strategy marker. Scores are 4-5 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5

Crooligan teleports to Philip & Nanny, interacts with last strategy marker and charges Riot Breaker in hopes of surviving all attacks the construct would make. But no, Riot Breaker bashed Crooligan with its shield - twice - so now the kid was at one health remaining and nowhere near engaging a valid target. Well, let's not be too harsh on the child - he scored three of the four markers I managed to gain! And come to think of it... it was a Crooligan who took the first symbol of authority.

One of the Hunters interact a strategy marker, and the Catch & Release version runs to bottom-right corner.

Molly concentrates real hard and has Guardian parade over the hills and far away - too far to get it back within 2" of center point!

Melissa nearly shoots Catch & Release Night Terror dead, so it takes flight behind some crates to benefit from concealment and cover.

Philip & Nanny charge Hunter to prevent it from attacking my point scoring Night Terror. But that was of no use when it just disengaged, walked and used Deadly Pursuit to come and engage the terror. If I just would have placed it a quarter of an inch further...

Oh well. Both players scored strategy, and Guild even got Catch & Release end condition. 

A real tough 6-6 draw that lasted until the very last activations of turn 5.

Martyr of sorts

A 50ss Malifaux game from almost a week ago. There is quite some proxying involved.

Strategy: Corrupted Ley Lines, Wedge deployment

Scheme pool: Assassinate, Vendetta, Hidden Martyrs, Let Them Bleed, Bait and Switch

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba (Vendetta on Mature Nephilim)
Lost Love
Shikome
Onryo
2x Seishin
Hanged with Grave Spirit Touch

Pool: 9

Schemes: Vendetta, Hidden Martyrs (Ikiryo & Lost Love)

Opponent had:

Nekima2 & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
Mature Nephilim with Eldritch Magic
2x Young Nephilim
Black Blood Shaman
Corrupted Hound

Pool: 6

Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Corrupted Hound & Hayreddin), Let Them Bleed

Turn 1

Neverborn starts by doing this "Focused +1 for while team" move with Blood Hunter and Black Blood Shaman.

Ikiryo takes my bottom-left marker while Corrupted Hound takes enemy top-right. Mature Nephilim goes to hug marker in the middle while Datsue Ba makes this evil old witch laugh thing as her target closed in so nicely. Hanged plants a scheme marker in an attempt to bluff Bait and Switch. Then it tries to connect its upgrade to Nephilim, but it's been so long I don't remember if it succeeded or failed.

Kirai deals some damage in to Nephilim, summons a Gwisin to threaten mid field, and then she goes into hiding inside ruined building. Shikome hangs around bottom-right strategy marker for unknown reasons.

Young Nephilims and Nekima hang around or within wedge zone and Hayreddin, Black Bloos Shaman and the aforementioned Mature Nephilim contest middle.

Turn 2

Corrupted Hound takes enemy top-left strategy marker through a convoluted series of interact actions with the help of Young Nephilims. It's been too long to remember those in detail, but it sure was weird to see in action.

Onryo charges from inside the building on the left and declares Mature Nephilim as target. Damage was done and Mark of Vengeance was landed successfully.

Blood Hunter ties up Datsue Ba.

Then Blood Hunter dies. Black Blood Shaman dies. Gwisin dies. Onryo dies. Everything just dies!

Datsue Ba weighs Mature's sins and they are heavy indeed - the thing would have died so I needed to cheat damage to minimum to be able to score Vendetta reveal

And then Mature Nephilim dies!

A Drowned is summoned and a Terrot Tot appears, only to die later on. Well, actually the Drowned doesn't die but I just added it to the list for dramatic effect.

Blood Hunter didn't die to Kirai's activation when she unleashed two Spirit Barrages over the totam. I don't quite remember if something else damaged Blood Hunter, but the final kill was made by a Seishin.

I don't remember how Gwisin or Black Blood shaman died, but when Onryo died, the vengeful spirit revealed it's true form - that of an evil babby devul. A Terror Tot.

Shikome probably charged Hayreddin or perhaps it finalized Mature Nephilim. Whatever the case, it challenged Nekima. Usually not a very wise thing to do, but this time Nekima just could land the killing blow.

Then Drowned pukes over Hayreddin, Nekima and a Young Nephilim. I must say it must have been a terrifying sight - blood and puke showering just about everywhere - yet it didn't really accomplish anything. 

Ikiryo runs to take middle marker.

Both players score strategy, and Resurrectionists did Vendetta for a score of 2-1 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3

Lost Love uses By Your Side to move to Ikiryo and runs to engage a Young Nephilim. This did result in me getting a kind of a secured point for Hidden Martyrs, but it did have the unfortunate side effect of growing Terror Tot into a Lilitu. I suppose you can declare a screaming loony throwing itself against your blade a martyr. I don't know about these things. Do sacrifices need to have a purpose?

Hanged manages to use On Your Heels effectively, bringing itself to deny the heals of Hayreddin and Nekima. Lilitu goes to punch Seishin in the nose and made it disappear.

Datsue Ba lucks out and kills Lilitu and even calling an Onryo on board in the process. Then she gets into a more safe position as she was a victory point for me if she'd be alive in the end.

Drowned tries to do something to Hayreddin, but isn't very effective in doing anything.

Ikiryo runs to bottom-right marker and Corrupted Hound to bottom-left. 

Finally Kirai is able to summon a Goryo, which she does, which removes Corrupted Hound from the equation. I think the lodestone got transferred to Young Nephilim engaged with Onryo.

I don't quite remember what Nekima actually did this turn.

But both players score strategy, and both players score Hidden Martyrs for 3-4.

Turn 4

This turn is time for Kirai to luck out when killing... umm... something? Probably Hayreddin. Gaki appears from Spirit Barrage. 

Hanged acts again as a super nuisance by denying heals. This doesn't however, stop growing. Suddenly there is one Mature Nephilim on board again.

Ikiryo runs to top-right strategy marker with a little help from Datsue Ba.

Considering how thin Neverborn forces had become by now, getting those two lucky suits to summon two additional models started to have its toll. There just wasn't enough actions points around to get rid of the trash. And one more Young Nephilim died, but at least that brought lodestone to secure a point.

Both players score strategy for 4-5.

Turn 5

Nekima throws lodestone to Mature Nephilim with Dark Bargain and gets off a charge against Datsue Ba. Once Kirai heals her back to full we stop playing. Scoring Let Them Bleed was impossible now. 

Resurrectionists score additional strategy point and Vendetta for a score of 4-7.