Rat is a four letter word, suppose Nix is as well

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th edition.

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Assassinate, Scout the Rooftops

My list:

Hamelin, Piper & Benny Wolcomb
Nix
Fumigator
Tunnel Rats
Johan Creedy
2x Rat Catcher
Stolen

Pool: 4

Opponent had:

C. Hoffman, Inventor & Edie
Peacekeeper
Clipper
Warden
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 4

Turn 1: 
Plague picks Scout the Rooftops, Augmented leaves their mark.

Early on Guild put Peacekeeper on the central platform without having even been activated yet. I was horrified, all my models were easily within reach of a 12" charge threat. 

Nix had to spend an eleven and a twelve from my hand to land Blight token on Peacekeeper before walking within 3" of the scary robot. In the end it was a good trade since it kept the scary robot in check, unable to do much. 

Clipper had flied with Hoffman closer, and they both went to drop enough scheme markers to center point to account for Rat King's devour abilities.

Benny and Hamelin had spawned more than enough rats for that Rat King to form. Rat Catchers had not managed to do the same, especially when Benny turned one of the rats into a scheme marker for Scout the Rooftops. Rat King did little else except that it removed a pylon.

Johan Creedy managed to leap to Peacekeeper. He started hammering Hoffman with relic hammer, but managed barely to scrape off some paint.

Stolen and Tunnel Rats dropped enough schemes for Scout the Rooftops. Augmented had over-secured their Leave Your Mark, so that was two points for both. However, two Watchers and the Hunters ensured that Plague fell behind in scenario and Guild took the lead with 3-2.

Turn 2:
Plague picks Detonate Charges, Augmented Makes It Look Like an Accident

A Hunter pulled down Rat King from center platform, but didn't manage to kill it. The Rat King got to Watcher before it was able to activate and surprisingly enough killed it. This was incredibly good news for Tunnel Rats, who were then able to deliver a strategy marker to enemy deployment zone.

The platform saw some intense fighting. Nix charged in to guard two strategy markers, and to get Hoffman, Peacekeeper and Clipper within loose bowels range. Hoffman lost his Blight token, though, because Nix considered it better to stun him.

Hoffman beat Johan down to two remaining, and Johan smacked five points of damage back with a Red Joker. Both Peacekeeper and Clipper spent most of their activations trying to kill Johan, but only brought him to one remaining. At moments like those the cost of ten makes sense for Nix. Clipper did snipe the Rat King off from the board, though.

Fumigator charged in to guard a strategy marker he just threw around. Attacks missed, checks failed.

Hunter attacked him back and brought him down to four remaining. At least Hunter took two points from hazardous terrain throughout the turn. 

Hamelin and Stolen played volleyball with two strategy markers with Watcher and Warden. 

Rat Catchers brought in so many rats that another Rat King formed and tore Hunter down to three health remaining. The catchers managed to throw away one enemy strategy marker back to their side, which meant a strategy point for me this turn.

However... I had been so busy navigating the high-stakes puzzle at the center that I was not able to get enough schemes to score even one point from Detonate Charges. I decided to keep the scheme, though, since I think I managed to bluff Leave Your Mark of my own.

So, Guild kept the lead at 6-3. Sure, point situation was not ideal, but board state did not look too bad.

Turn 3:
Plague kept Detonate Charges, Augmented takes Breakthrough. 

... things were really starting to heat up at the center. And holy moly Nix is a terrifying model if opponent lets it be - the doggo absolutely dominated the platform, essentially continuously giving Slow to Clipper, Hoffman and Peacekeeper. However, Peacekeeper was able to kill Johan as the first activation. Not much I could do about that. 

Hoffman and Clipper placed schemes on the centerline. One was removed by a devouring Rat King, another was removed by obeyed Clipper. 

Third one, late in the turn, was placed by Warden, and that one stuck.

Edie placed one in the deployment, so I kept a keen eye one the surviving Watcher. I left Benny as my very last model to activate, and that was enough for Guild to ditch their Breakthrough. Instead, Watcher delivered a strategy marker to my deployment. 

However, Stolen had managed to throw another strategy marker to enemy deployment, so Plague managed to claim the upper hand at strategy. They finally managed to score Detonate Charges as well, so scores tied exactly at 6-6. Round ended with seven rats on board without me particularly even trying to summon them... those raises just kept coming.

Turn 4:
Plague picks Take the Highground, Augmented tries to Assassinate Nix.

Guild started by taking out one of my strategy markers out of their deployment zone, and then guarding it with a Hunter. 

I considered my options. I wanted to kill Hoffman before he'd activate, so I thought that opening up two strategy markers by moving Nix behind Peacekeeper would work, especially as Hoffman had blight token to remove for the spectral bite, and I had a 13 in my hand.

Nix landed Red Death just fine, just ripping off Shielded from Hoffman. Then the good boy bit Hoffman, and Hoffman said: bad boy! Nix was so shocked from those words, which essentially functioned as the Red Joker for Nix.

Then Peacekeeper activated, and beeped as well: Bad, bad boy! Nix was so devastated that he drew Black Joker for defense. 

After Peacekeeper was done castigating Nix, he was reeling with five health remaining, and Guild got their first point from Assassinate.

Hamelin activated and went to guard the strategy markers Nix had left. He did crew action on Hoffman, leaving him down to four health. Then he obeyed Nix to attack. Attack hit home and Guild master was done.

Losing master's full activation was a hit Guild could not take. Tried as they might, Nix endured all the attacks made against him - thanks to blight tokens. 

And because Nix refused to die, Guild didn't have enough actions left to challenge strategy. 

A 10-7 victory for Plague.

This was first time I used two Rat Catchers and Nix with the piper, and I was almost horrified at how well they all functioned together. Last two turns there was a constant mass of six to seven rats on board, which meant Nix could wantonly cancel enemy actions, after which they'd just get blight right back. 

This is not a dispute, this is a massacre

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Wedge Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Frame Job, Take the Highground, Public Demonstration

My list:

Seamus, Last Breath & Copycat Killer
Strange Lady
Madame Sybelle
2x Dead Dandy
2x Mourner
Gravedigger

Pool: 3

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 2

Turn 1: Resurrectionists took Public Demonstration, Guild picked Take the Highground

Lines were closing in with such almost never-seen-before symmetry. Guild did take it further to the centerline, but they had to with their scheme, which Augmented scored without issues.

Resurrectionists had a bit more issues since they had no effective placement tricks outside of Seamus. Strange Lady at least gave interacts left and right so that both players got all of their strategy markers past centerline.

Public Demonstration did require some struggle. Clipper didn't go where I expected, so Madame Sybelle had to move it on top of the highest building near my deployment. Hoffman had not yet activated, so I was worrying he would give a walk for Clipper. It was about half an inch away from Strange Lady's aura, so Seamus had to Secret Passage, strike twice to score Shove Aside and then Secret Passage away. 

Thus, both players scored full points turn one for a 3-3 tie.

Turn 2: Resurrectionists took Assassinate on Clipper, Guild picked Search the Area

Seamus activated and killed Clipper with a line of 13, 12 and 11 in my starting hand. In a perfect world, that is. Opponent was flipping good and cheated severes from hand as required. Clipper was brought down to three, after which is just activated and ended activation within 6" of Hoffman to heal four. Strange Lady got to the building as well, charged and moved Clipper off the building. I still had Dead Dandy and Mourner to deal with it.

Despite Dandy attacking it with a stat of 6 versus willpower of 4 and a three for minimum damage, the bugger just somehow wriggled until the end of turn with three health remaining. Infuriating.

Oh, ho, ho. You sweet summer child. THAT was supposed to be infuriating? How about this.

Hunter activated, charged Dead Dandy. Red Joker and a Pouncing Strike to Mourner that deals in damage. Second action point was to attack Mourner, which killed her and scored Pouncing Strike to Dead Dandy, which killed a second minion that still had not yet activated. Hunter got Fast, but fortunately at least that harpoon attack missed it's target, but that... that stuff right there was crippling.

Gravedigger died as well before it got to activate.

At least all of these models dying before they got to activate had something positive to come out of it. Augmented got zero points from their scheme, because there was no-one left to activate to score those points.

However, Augmented absolutely dominated the strategy this round, and Resurrectionists only got one point from their scheme as well. Scores were a 4-4 tie.

Situation was grim, but we still continued because there was some game left thanks to no points from Search the Area.

Turn 3: Resurrectionists took Runic Binding, Guild picked Breakthrough

I tried to block opponent from scoring full points from Breakthrough, and at least I did make him exert some effort to do that. 

Sybelle was in a good position to affect strategy, but Hunter was in a better position to affect Sybelle. Hunter would need to die, but Sybelle just wasn't able to do that alone in one activation.

Copycat Killer was able to press strategy a little, but that was not enough because Madame Sybelle was tied up. Usually it should be the other way around with Madame Sybelle, I suppose. 

At least Dead Dandy had been able to remove Clipper before it activated.

Seamus was imperative in making the Runic Binding go off, so both crews took full points from schemes. Only Guild did strategy, though, so they got a 7-6 lead.

Turn 4: Resurrectionists took Ensnare, Guild picked Assassinate on Seamus

Although it was a desperate situation for Seamus, we did some activations to confirm. Strange Lady was able to get a point from Ensnare easily enough. Opponent activated Hoffman first to get rid of one of my strategy markers, which in itself was bad but Seamus did a secret passage to a Watcher that had Hastened and Fast conditions. He was able to kill it, but it took all actions so he wasn't able to push back the strategy marker Hoffman had just tossed away. This put Seamus out of reach from most Guild models.

Madame Sybelle was able to kill the Hunte



r that was tormenting her, but since that took both actions as well, there was little she could do to affect strategy. 

The surviving Mourner was able to damage the second Watcher before it got to activate, but did not score a kill. 

Around there we stopped game, because Dead Dandy alone in my deployment zone wasn't going to tip the strategy over to me. In the end scores werent' that terrible despite the outrageous rampage of Hunter on turn two. Game was a 9-8 loss which could have been a 10-8 loss if opponent was able to deal a couple more points in to Seamus.

Eekiryo's once-in-a-lifetime hat trick

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th edition on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Plant Explosives

Schemes: Runic Binding, Scout the Rooftops, Leavy Your Mark

My list:

Kirai, Envoy of the Court & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
Goryo
Shikome
Gwisin
2x Enslaved Spirit

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman, the Inventor & Edie
Peacekeeper
Melissa
2x Hunter
Warden
2x Watcher

Pool: 4

Turn 1: Both crews pick Scout the Rooftops

Edie overclocks a bunch of robots, namely a Watcher, Hunter and the Peacekeeper. The peacekeeper wreckingballed on top of the platform in the center.

Before that, something transpired. Warden went to hug the centerline, which prompted Goryo to walk and charge at it. Signature action gave a Seishin, and the charge attack sliced a good chunk off of Warden. The seishin walked through the warden to give it Spiritual Chains token. 

Let's go back to the Peacekeeper. It tossed an explosive down from the platform, and did another wrecking ball to get to Goryo. The ghost thought his time was up, and procced two irreducibles on Peacekeeper. Goryo was left with three health. Melissa charged and did two Gatling Guns on Goryo, who procced vengeance again. And yet the ghost was standing, with one health remaining. Well, he was incorporeal and behind a cover, after all. It was finally electrocuted off the board by Hoffman. 

Let's go back to the Peacekeeper. Kirai had attempted to save the Goryo by coming to swirl it away from danger. She summoned a Gwisin to Warden as well, and hit the Peacekeeper with Sundering. Rams and one raise did a whole lot of damage to it.

Finally Ikiryo used her bonus and charged Peacekeeper and flipped no other than the Red Joker. Five damage. Peacekeeper dead. Removing that bot has always been such a migraine. I was dumbfounded. Anyway, Ikiryo then walked on top of the platform, past Hunter to give it Spiritual Chains. The Hunter had come on top of the platform to drop an explosive.

Enslaved Spirits dragged along the both edges of the board. Datsue Ba on the left swirled the spirit a bit forward and went to place a scheme on a hill. Shikome did the same on the other side on a huge poison container.

Watchers did the scheme for Guild, and the hastened version even went as far as to drop an explosive. Hired Gwisin walked and charged at it, no doing anything at all. 

Lost Love tried to deny opponent Scout the Rooftops by going on top of the building on the left, but another Hunter dragged him down from there. He used his soulstone ability to leap behind Ikiryo, but Hunter leaped to tease him even further. Luckily the shot missed.

Urami got no strategy, but both crews took a point from scheme. Guild took the lead at 2-1.

Turn 2: Both crews pick Detonate Charges

Enslaved Spirit and Datsue Ba on the left didn't have much else to do other than to drop bombs. Hired Gwisin managed to scrape off Shielded off from the Watcher, who leaped away from melee, dropped a scheme and went to guard the strategy marker it had dropped last turn.

Ikiryo tried to kill off a Hunter that came to engage with Deadly Pursuit... and it wasn't that far off. Again. Red Joker straight from the deck. Hunter was left with two health remaining. 

Lost Love teleported to Kirai, swirled Seishin closer and ate it to heal. He picked up enemy strategy and tried to heal the summoned Gwisin, but didn't succeed.

The summoned Gwisin killed the Warden with vengeance, and during it's own activation went to engage Hoffman as a delay tactic. That tactic failed when Melissa single-handedly shot the Gwisin off the board, shot some damage to Enslaved Spirit and Lost Love. 

Fortunately Hoffman had a miserable activation. He walked on top of a rock.

That's it. 

But that wasn't his only contribution, though, because Edie climbed on top of platform, dropped a pylon, which made Hoffman blast three points of damage to Ikiryo and stagger her.

Shikome used bonus action to walk and drop a couple of schemes next to Melissa. 

Enslaved Spirit to the right had walked and dropped the bomb right after Melissa had shot it, just in case. Watcher nearby dropped two schemes to the spirit, which basically confirmed Detonate Charges at that point. Kirai spent a couple action points to get to the other side of the container, swirled Enslaved Spirit away from those schemes and for some odd reason used her last action to give a charge to Shikome. The bird lady charged Hunter who had two points left, and scraped a one point in. I mean... Kirai could have also interacted a scheme near Watcher. Somehow that completely escaped my attention.

Urami got a point from scheme and a point from strategy. Guild lost their scheme, but took a point from strategy as well. Scores tied at 3-3.

Turn 3: Urami picks Take the Highground, Augmented took Grave Robbing with Remains markers. 

Guild started. Hunter leaped away from melee, planted a scheme marker near Lost Love and charged it dead, thus scoring first half of Grave Robbing already. Melissa and Watcher handled the second half.

Then Ikiryo activated, moved Shikome for a bit, and attacked Edie. She, uh, Flipped Red Joker out of deck. Does this count as a hat trick? She managed to kill Edie with her activation.

Kirai summoned an Enslaved Spirit to Hunter who was at two health, moved and dropped a strategy.

The Spirit shot Hunter for a single point of damage, wheee. Hoffman had to spend all his activation removing that spirit, and failed to construct a pylon.

Second Hunter went to drop a bomb on my deployment after Datsue Ba made Take the High Ground impossible to deny. In the end, Urami was controlling five terrain pieces. 

Shikome was able to deny strategy point for Guild this turn. Both crews scored full points from scheme, and scores went 6-5 for Urami.

Turn 4: Urami picks Search the Area, Augmented picks Make It Look Like an Accident

Seriously injured Hunter went to place a second explosive to my deployment zone. Ikiryo did the same vice versa, and moved Shikome right next to a neutral marker dropped by Edie. Watcher would have none of that, so it leaped and walked to engage Shikome. It placed a pylon as well, which shot Gwisin on a rock, and scored convulsions. This gave Guild a point from scheme.

Gwisin was still in quite good health, so I decided to put two more schemes with an Enslaved Spirit to the right. It had started scheming last round, so there were four markers there. 

Unfortunately the second Hunter managed to kill Gwisin, securing Guild a second point from strategy. But it was also a point from Search the Area for Resurrectionists. Melissa charged and shot Kirai with riot rounds. She placed an explosive as well.

Riot rounds forced Kirai to take a walk, pick enemy strategy and swirl to place it to enemy table half. 

Hoffman went to place yet another marker.

Datsue Ba was able to swirl Shikome away from melee with a Watcher, so she was able to pick up neutral marker and deliver it to enemy deployment.

Both got strategy as well as extra point from strategy, and both got two points from their schemes, so game ended in a 10-9 victory for Resurrectionists.

Rusty New Year

Two 50ss games of Malifaux 4th Edition.

Strategy: Corner Recover Evidence

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Scout the Rooftops, Reshape the Land

My list:

Rusty Alyce & 2x Hollow Waif
Marlena Webster
Ashes and Dust
Maurice
Vee
Scavenger
2x Abomination

Pool: 4

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 3

Turn 1: Amalgam picks Public Demonstration on Lynch, Honeypot picks Scout the Rooftops

I built up an awkward chain of activations to bring Rusty Alice to pick up the first strategy marker. I had placed it quite far to the left, well out of easy reach of both Amalgam and Honeypot models.

So in the end, Maurice tossed Ashes and Dust into mud for 2", and then Ashes and Dust went to drop a scheme marker for Alyce to jump into. Then all it took was a double walk and interact.

Honeypot had placed their marker closer to center, but terrain on my side blocked an easy denial of picking up that one. I had originally chosen Public Demonstration on Lynch based on his positioning - I thought he also might take a double walk and interact to pick up the evidence. However, I didn't take into account various abilities Honeypot had for additional movement. Instead plain Illuminated went to pick it up.

I didn't have any options to block Scout the Rooftops either. At least Honeypot wasn't fast enough to get the second point from scoutings.

After Illuminated had picked up strategy marker, I was sure Amalgam lost their scheme points this turn. However, Scavenger had advanced mid-field. He had shot the scoring Illuminated with shotgun without much of an effect. Although failure, this baited Lynch to eclipse himself closer and start hacking at Scavenger. I still had one Abomination left to activate, and it took a double walk to hug Lynch.

Both players scored strategy and one point from their schemes for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 2: Amalgam picks Detonate Charges, Honeypot picks Leave Your Mark

Amalgam minions were lit this turn. Scavenger and Abomination scared Lynch away after they brought him down to six health remaining or so. The second Abomination was able to kill the Illuminated that had picked up strategy last turn. 

After Lynch escaped, Hungering Darkness entered the brawl in his place, and got shot four points of damage from Hollow Waif thanks to a Red Joker.

Honeypot wasn't quite as adept at dishing out damage, but didn't fall much behind. Especially Maurice was a sorry punching bag, missing all of his attacks. At least he bled Injured all over enemy models while going down to four health remaining.

I was quite powerless to stop Honeypot from leaving their mark on the centerpoint, especially after Mr. Graves, Kitty and Illuminated spawned a total of four scheme markers there. Rusty Alyce could have gone and removed one of those, but instead she went to a terrain to place two scheme markers to it, thus scoring extra points from scenario.

Vee is amazing model to spawn a bunch of scheme markers, too. Her and Marlena were able to score Detonate Charges for two points from Hungering Darkness.

Both players scored strategy, but Amalgam did it twice. Both crews got two from scheme, so Amalgam got the lead at 6-5.

Turn 3: Amalgam picks Grave Robbing, Honeypot picks Take the Highground

With great trouble Amalgam was eventually able to score Grave Robbing reveal from Hungering Darkness. Ashes and Dust was able to pick one enemy remains for the second point, but Mr. Tannen used his invisible hand to turn another remains into a scheme marker. So I needed to kill one more model for two points from scheme. I certainly tried, but Mr. Graves was too difficult to take down with the models I still had left to activate.

Oh well. At least Rusty Alyce was able to royally screw Honeypot by taking a walk to contest bridge terrain that was controlled by Kitty Dumont. She took a shoot at Beckoner to summon Abomination, and shoved Kitty off the bridge for good measure anyway.

Mr. Tannen had one terrain for Take the Highground, but the summoned Abomination was now contesting the second piece Honeypot had.

Illuminated was able to take a double walk to scale on the hill, but would have needed to also succeed in his bonus action, since you have to go 100% supported with scale terrain. This action failed when opponent didn't have any cards in hand, which robbed Honeypot scheme points this turn.

Honeypot did manage to claw strategy point from Maurice, though. Hungering Darkness gave the point for Amalgam, so Alyce's lead grew to 8-6.

Turn 4: Amalgam picks Runic Binding, Honeypot picks Make It Look Like an Accident

Mr. Graves was able to fell a Hollow Waif from top of terrain, but she was left alive with two health remaining or so. To deny Make It Look Like an Accident, she tried to hide behind the same building she had stood on. Lynch did some odd shenanigans with eclipses and whatnot, and went to kill her anyway.

Vee had managed to craft a perfect Runic Binding if Lynch had stayed in place. I was weighing if I should reveal the scheme for just one point now that Honeypot had surely secured two. In the end I decided to take the one point as I was ahead in points anyway.

Various models were able to kill the summoned Abomination. Rusty Alyce attempted a hail mary set of perfect actions. First, she needed to shoot Beckoner dead with one shot, then Scrounge to Abomination's corpse to touch both Abomination's strategy marker and pick up Beckoner's strategy. She managed just that, and we called it a game. Game ended in 10-8 victory for Rusty Alyce. At best Lynch could have narrowed it down to 10-9.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Detonate Charges, Harness Ley Lines, Public Demonstration

My list:

Rusty Alyce, Rider Remade & Soul Battery
Marlena Webster
Vee
Hard Stop Herbert
Scavenger
Abomination
Necropunk
Angel Eyes
2x Bloodwretch

Pool: 3

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 4

Turn 1: Amalgam: Public Demonstration on Peacekeeper. Augmented: Public Demonstration on Hard Stop Herbert.

Early on Vee pushed Alyce and Marlena a wee bit forward. That was the first mistake. 

Hoffman gave Melissa fast and extra walk, so she got into position to blast Rusty Alyce four times, hitting with each shot. Each shot dealt two damage. 

I had a bunch of 13's on my hand, so Marlena Webster took a walk and shot Melissa with her healing shot, but only managed to heal two points from Alyce.

And then Peacekeeper walked and used Wrecking Ball to charge Marlena. Fortunately it did only three damage or so, but this left Marlena a prime target for assassination next turn.

However, Peacekeeper was now in easy to reach position for Public Demonstration, and that was indeed what happened. Rusty Alyce jumped over a fence to get Peacekeeper within 6", and summoned two Abominations to the demonstration target before galloping away much like brave sir Robin.

Hard Stop Herbert and Bloodwretch were delivering a strategy marker to top, where it looked like Warden and Watcher would be the main adversaries. 

Another Watcher as well as Hunter were delivering two strategy markers towards bottom, where I had Scavenger and Bloodwretch.

I was able to present Augmented a dilemma to either score one point from Public Demonstration or one point from strategy, but not do both. They took the strategy.

Amalgam took the lead with 3-1, as their public demonstration was a SMASHING success.

Turn 2: Amalgam: Detonate Charges. Augmented: Assassinate on Marlena Webster

Peacekeeper started smashing Marlena as the first activation of the turn, scoring Assassinate both reveal and end condition instantly. It still had actions left to smash Necropunk in one hit.

I wanted to bring Rusty Alyce to middle, but Melissa's gatling gun had put the fear of god in Alyce. Both Abomination and even Bloodwretch went to engage Melissa. They were all dealt with easily enough, but Melissa wasn't able to blast everyone dead, as she had to scale on top of terrain to yeet my strategy marker back whence it came.

Angel Eyes took a shot at Watcher, who stumbled out of her reach with crew card shenanigans. The thing leaped to bully my strategy markers even more. Finally Scavenger was able to put an end to the Watcher's rampage over my precious little markers, and out of spite scrounged Watcher's corpse off from board. Which was a short-sighted mistake.

Vee was important model to score Detonate Charges, as she passed Secret Inspection checks left and right without cheats. This left Hard Stop Herbert able to walk, scale and interact Augmented strategy marker away, which in the end was the factor that forced Melissa's hand.

Lastly, Rusty Alyce charged Peacekeeper after detonating some charges, and managed to dish out five damage or so. However, she was now in a precarious position even if she had managed to heal up back to seven or so, and Augmented had the start next turn.

Only Hoffman scored strategy this turn, but Rusty Alyce got two scheme points easily enough.

Amalgam was still leading with 5-4.

Turn 3: Amalgam: Graverobbing. Augmented: Detonate Charges

... and this is where everything fell apart.

Although Peacekeeper failed to kill Rusty Alyce, she was equally unable to kill Peacekeeper. I had the option to run away with last action, but instead I was greedy and tried to finish the thing for graverobbing purposes. I didn't have the cards to secure that, so obviously it failed miserably, and now Alyce was sitting with two health remaining.

Hoffman healed Peacekeeper a little, charged and killed Rusty Alyce.

Peacekeeper was at three health remaining without Shielded. Abomination tried to claw it dead. I thought that if I a managed to land a total of two points and Injured to the robot, it'd die. But damage was only one, without Injured. So Mechanical Attendant just moved, schemed and healed Peacekeeper back to unfortunate amounts of health.

I still threw everything I got at Peacekeeper to score schemes, but killing took the effort of my entire remaining crew. The flips were absolutely miserable.

However, Scavenger was MVP of sorts. He took off from melee with Hunter, Scrounged to Guild scheme marker and shot the Peacekeeper dead. This gave me a point, and denied a point for Augmented. But the thing was, Scavenger was my second to last activation - it was impossible to get extra point from Graverobbing. And Augmented dominated the strategy markers, and most of the board so totally that we didn't continue the game even if Amalgam was still leading the scoreboard with 6-5.

Turn 4: Amalgam: Runic Binding. Augmented: Take the Highground.

Third turn was such a horrid spectacle that we did not play fourth turn. It was clear Augmented would get four points, while Amalgam had a minimum and maximum of one. 

Augmented won with something around 9-7.

Fun fact: I didn't receive Red Joker in any of my flips throughout the game. Not even in checks that essentially waste Red Joker. Same can't be said of the Black Joker, who certainly made an appearance every single turn. 

It Just Had To Come vol whatever

 Two 50ss games



of Malifaux 4th edition.

Strategy: Wedge Informants

Schemes: Assassinate, Harness the Leyline, Runic Binding

My list:

Molly, Harbinger of Havoc & Necrotic Machine
Archie
Philip & Nanny
Night Terror
2x Rabble Riser
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5

Opponent had:

Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Eclipse
Gwyneth Maddox
Kitty Dumont
Kara
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 4

Turn 1: Forgotten picks Assassinate on Mr. Tannen. Honeypot picks Assassinate on Philip & Nanny.

Eventually Archie leaped, walked and charged to punch a point out of Mr. Tannen. Respectively, same didn't happen for Honeypot, because I wasn't measuring up my distances correctly, and a Crooligan wasn't in fact contesting a marker on my side's quarter after she climbed on top of a building.

In the end, Archie's reckless charge was not a good choice, as opponent was able to remove him from the board. Certainly he disrupted most of the first round for Honeypot, ultimately leading to situation where Honeypot didn't score even a single point this turn. 

Well, not only Archie. There were other choices too, like taking a double walk to contest rightmost strategy marker with Molly, which left her in a precarious position for the upcoming turns.

Also, a Crooligan attacked a contesting Illuminated at the leftmost strategy marker, which didn't do much. But the way the kid shrieked from shadows had the Illuminated jump to Necrotic Machine, letting Crooligan to control the strategy.

From top of my head, I think it was this turn when Kara tried to take the highground, but Molly gave her a walk off from top of building, essentially to the joint corner of the two rightmost buildings in the picture.

Scores went 2-0 for Resurrectionists. Was the Archie gambit worth it? We'll see!

Turn 2: Forgotten picks Scout the Rooftops. Honeypot picks Detonate Charges

I had been playing Scout the Rooftops from turn one forwards, but it still took a lot of work somehow to claim two points from it. Molly and her jinkies were essential in achieving that after Mr. Tannen took a double walk to block my earlier set up.

Kara came to block the marker on my side after shredding up a kid on the roof of a building. Fortunately Philip & Nanny kept pram ramming the cat so hard that during end phase it died to feeling utterly abandoned.

The second kid cheered and ran to Gwyneth to play some exciting new card games, but was beaten to death by a card deck instead. One of the Rabble Risers also died, and the other one at something like two points remaining was moved right next to a bunch of scheme markers for a Detonate Charges.

At least Necrotic Machine was also able to remove one illuminated, so there were losses on both side.

But Forgotten had the heavier toll, so Ten Thunders were able to start collecting strategy points.

Both teams got two from their schemes, so scores went 4-3.

Turn 3: Forgotten picks Grave Robbing, Honeypot picks Take the Highground

... Allrighty, oh-kay'y. 

I mean, once you play this game enough, statistical anomalies are bound to happen.

The turn was a total disaster. My own estimation was that Resurrectionists were struggling in this game, and were rather fighting for a draw rather than victory. But this turn just tilted the scales so far into loss.

The thing was, that I had just a single 13 in my hand. That was from previous turn, by the way. Meaning that I did not draw it on turn three. This is important information.

After we ended the turn, I tallied my discard pile AND my hand. Here we go:

1x 13
1x 11
1x 8
2x 7
3x 6
3x 5
1x 4
3x 3
4x 2
3x 1
Black Joker.

I mean, it was hilarious in its own way. But it did lead to such a one-sided situation, that we could end the game right there and then to a 4-6 victory for Ten Thunder. Sure enough, that point difference wasn't too bad, but Ten Thunders had such an overwhelming majority in contesting models that not scoring two points from strategy was just not going to happen. 

I had the 13 in my hand, and figured that if I just would receive 11+ in my hand, opponent would be able to deny two points for my scheme only with a Red Joker. But that 11 in the stats was not in starting hand. 

So, let's get on to the second game.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Plant Explosives

Schemes: Assassinate, Ensnare, Make It Look Like an Accident

Last Breath Seamus & Copycat Killer
Strange Lady
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Dead Doxy
2x Mourner

Pool: 5

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 5

Turn 1: Redchapel picks Ensnare, Augmented picks Make It Look Like an Accident

I must admit I was dreading those harpoons. But you got to move some models in this game, I guess. Mourners seem rather good for their extra walk to drop bombs right off the bat. Unfortunately there were mechanical bats doing just the same for Augmented, and also four legged canine/feline hybrids, that the lone Mourner found herself against top-right.

Another Watcher went to place a strategy marker bottom-left. I managed to arrange Bete Noire there doing just the same, but also charging it with bonus from crew card. Damage was good, but most of it was healed by Mechanical Attendant anyway.

Another Mourner went to place a scheme marker near center point, trying to bait either Peacekeeper or Hoffman himself there, but neither seemed to be that interested. Although I think Peacekeeper attacked her once, but she leaped away with concealment token. Strange Lady did the same, and last attack went to Seamus who had been moved there by Copycat Killer. By then Hoffman had already committed to everything but attacking.

I did realize my Seamus shenanigans were off by a large margin, because I could have done what I wanted so easily with just a well placed Secret Passage. Oh well. At least Seamus was able to claim Ensnare with two points.

Opponent couldn't make Make It Look Like an Accident work, but they did claim strategy. So did Resurrectionists for a 3-1 lead.

Turn 2: Redchapel picks Frame Job with Mourner, Augmented picks Breakthrough

I tried to bluff Madame Sybelle as the potential Frame Job target, but I had picked Mourner who had just three health remaining. However, this particular opponent had a history for giving me easy Frame Jobs, so he was really hesitant to attack anything at all near the center. Some non-damage action pulled Madame away, but she just charged right back. Mourner walked away to place a bomb, but charged right back. And in the end, Hoffman refused to frame a job. 

To confuse opponent even more, Seamus wasted his activation by dropping three scheme markers on top of a building to bluff for Search the Area. Well, it wasn't a total waste - I was also building up for Scout the Rooftops next  turn.

Copycat Killer also had teleported on the building, and shot Melissa that had climbed on top to contest Search the Area. He shot Melissa with the monster cannon, and fell from the building, nearer enemy deployment zone to place a strategy marker there.

Fortunately all this also lead to a situation where he couldn't claim Breakthrough, so neither player got scheme points.

Bete Noire managed to slice a Watcher into scraps, but it took every action she had.

Warden, Hunter and Peacekeeper punched through Dead Doxy, who took admirably long before she died. 

With great difficulty both players had managed to drop five bombs. Augmented, however, had placed two of those on my deployment zone, so they received the bonus points, catching up on the scores to 4-3 lead for Redchapel.

Turn 3: Redchapel picks Scout the Rooftops, Augmented kept Breakthrough

Augmented kept Breakthrough. Although I did have first activation, I wasn't in a position to deny it. 

This turn, however, went absolutely horribly for Redchapel in other ways as well. 

My plan had been to discard walk with Mourner to pick up the bomb she had placed earlier, then take a double walk. Later, Strange Lady would give her the interact required to score extra point from strategy. However, I wasn't paying attention to the actual deployment line, and the Mourner scaled a terrain to get on top of a fateful building to receive cover from possible attacks. She did receive those, sure, but wouldn't be able to plant the explosive! Strange Lady did give her at least the interact to place a scheme marker for Scout the Rooftops, but... wait, there's more.

Seamus had to teleport in to save the day, but even that I managed to mess up. He teleported, placed bomb in enemy deployment, walked to scale terrain and placed a second scheme marker for Scout the Rooftops bonus points. Except that he didn't. Instead, he picked up the neutral bomb Mourner had left when she eventually had died.

Last two paragraphs summed up probably my most horrible case of self-sabotage in the entirety of my Malifaux career. First, the Mourner robbed me of a point - I was one strategy marker short of receiving victory point from strategy. Then, I didn't have the models to place enough scheme markers for Scout the Rooftops bonus points. GAH.

Opponent was able to score Breakthrough with ease, and then focus on killing my models and ensure strategy.

Scores tied at 6-6, as Resurrectionists had been able to claw at least the bonus points for strategy. 

Turn 4: Redchapel picks Leave Your Mark, Augmented picks Assassinate on Strange Lady

I had the option to pick either Detonate Charges or Leave Your Mark. Since I already got one next to center point, I thought I'd have my shot at that, because opponent likely would avoid my scheme marker like the plague. 

Opponent was quite sure I had picked Detonate Charges, but decided to drop some scheme markers to the center anyway, just in case. Once that started happening, I tried to redirect what was left - mostly just Bete Noire - to engage models there so they'd not make even more schemes. 

I won't say opponent had easy time killing Strange Lady. She did take some effort for sure, but if Peacekeeper, Hoffman, Hunter and Melissa decide with all their action points that you're getting assassinated, you kind of... are. 

I was passing as much as possible to make my last move, Seamus dropping three schemes for Leave Your Mark. Unfortunately Augmented still had one activation left, and that was Mechanical Attendant, who was able to teleport to Hoffman, walk and drop a scheme. This denied me one point.

Resurrectionists were the worse bombers this turn, too, so opponent got three points and Resurrectionists only one. This ended the game in 7-9 victory for Guild.

Those Foamy Cliffs

 A game of Malifaux4th edition. Since 4th edition requires a bit more terrain, especially terrain heights, I'm going light with the pictures since some of our terrain choices

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

Schemes: Make It Look Like an Accident, Search the Area, Public Demonstration

My list:

McMourning, Malpractitioner & Zombie Chihuahua
Rafkin
Leftovers
Kentauroi
Flesh Construct
Batsch & Amalie
Oskar
Dapperling

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Sonnia Criid, Unmasked & Kazamir
Samael Hopkins
Witchling Handler
Hex Bow
2x Thalarian Queller
2x Witchling Stalker

Pool: 4

Turn 1:

Schemes: Search the Area (both)

This game my opponent was a beginning player in third edition, and this was very first game of fourth edition he had. I knew this so I left Rogue Necromancy home.

However, at the end of first round it became clear that opponent was quite overwhelmed by the system, and I get it - if you last game was a year ago and it was third edition, first you got to learn again how models interact with each other, how they attack, what are raises and all the basic mechanics around them. 

I wasn't quite aware of the starting point on turn one, so I was able to grab quite the headstart building up scenario and schemes. I had picked up Search the Area purposefully so that I'd just build up for Breakthrough next turn, not scoring points just yet.

Hex Bow and Samael proved to be ideal combo, and together they were able to shoot Flesh Construct off the board on turn one. Their side of the board also had Witchling Stalker and Thalarian Queller against Oskar and Batsch & Amalie. I guess Leftovers were there, too, but they were kind of all over the place anyway.

Remaining models were on the right. McMourning was able to walk and charge a Witchling Stalker, carving a Little Gasser out of it. It was an honest mistake, it completely slipped my mind that Sonnia summoned models by killing them... yeah. 

Someone was able to land the killing blow on the hired Witchling Stalker, so at least Witch Hunters sort of lost power by having a summoned model instead of a hired one. 

McMourning took in quite a bit of damage, as Witch Hunters directed most available attacks on him. This caused most of their crew barely leaving deployment zone. 

Oskar and Leftovers had brought a strategy marker past centerline, and Dapperling did a scheme marker on my deployment zone, and Kentauroi did one on the centerline.

Scorest went 1-0 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 2:

Schemes: McMourning picks Breakthrough, Sonnia keeps Search the Area.

Witch Hunters kept focusing on my models, and while they did respectable damage - both Kentauroi and McMourning would be gone in the end phase - it was clear opponent wasn't playing the scenario or schemes at all. I asked if he needed a hand with those. I had scored two points from Breakthrough after opponent's first activation so it wouldn't matter that much if opponent revealed his scheme to me, and we figured out a way to move forward a tad more aggressively. 

Since Search the Area for Witch Hunters looked next to an impossible one this turn, we decided to focus on building up Harness the Ley Line for next turn. After all, Witch Hunters had pretty much claimed the right half for them to do whatever. There was only Dapperling around.

McMourning died mostly because he black jokered Vial of Goo to poison a Witchling Stalker. He charged and killed it with two strikes, but without that black joker that would have been four points healed. Without thinking I went ahead with summoning one more Little Gasser, which got turned into a Witchling Stalker, which got turned into a Witchling Thrall.

Elsewhere my attacks were meager in their results - but I think by now every single one of my models had dropped their explosives to enemy table half, except for the Flesh Construct who died before being able to. Only Batsch might have been holding on to his explosive, I don't remember.

Scores went 4-0 for Resurrectionists, but at least Witch Hunters were now in way better position to play turn three. 

Turn 3:

Schemes: Late McMourning picks Frame Job with Rafkin, Sonnia takes Harness the Leyline.

Oskar died, Dapperling died, and I think opponent still had the same number of models with which they started the game. I had to make most of my action points.

For a while it looked like Rafkin wouldn't get to frame any jobs, but fortunately Sonnia deliberated on figuring out a way to go and scorch Batsch & Amalie or shoot Rafkin. But Rafkin was standing there, easy to shoot, so he got two points. 

Witch Hunters also had to spend quite a few actions securing their Harness the Leyline, so they weren't able to pick up or drop that many strategy markers just yet. Strategy went to Experimentals.

Scores went 7-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Schemes: Both pick Scout the Rooftops.

Since we were quite exhausted at that point, turn four was mostly theorized through. Claiming two points from Scout the Rooftops would have been an easy job: Opponent already had required terrain pieces, only the scheme markers were missing.

There was zero chance Experimentals wouldn't get their extra points from strategy, but that wasn't too hard for Witch Hunter either. They also had plenty enough actions points to rob me from a regular strategy point and claim it for themselves. Barring any unexpected results, most likely end scores looked like 8-6 for Resurrectionists.

Totem Duel

 A game of Malifaux, 4th edition.

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Harness the Leyline, Frame Job

My list:

Kirai, Lady of Vengeance & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Carrion Fate
Kuchisake-Onna
Lost Love
Shikome
Gwisin
Seishin

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Hoffman, Inventor & Edie Clark
Peacekeeper
Melissa KORE
Guardian
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 4

Turn 1: 

Schemes chosen: Urami: Frame Job with Shikome. Augmented: Harness the Leyline

I was considering either Harness the Leyline or Frame Job, but then I noticed hard nerfs that Harness Leylines had received at some point. However, I decided try and bluff it by moving Shikome as my first activation to the centerline and planting a scheme marker.

Augmented took the bait, and Peacekeeper walked down from a stone formation and charged the minion for two victory points for me.

Shikome survived relatively well, but her position so vulnerable that Kirai walked for a bit and pulled her back with a heal. 

Soon enough Ikiryo walked and charged Peacekeeper and slapped it down to seven health remaining. 

Melissa shot a bunch of damage to Kirai, some of which was redirected to Gwisin.

Kuchisake moved a strategy marker, walked and shot two seishins right to Peacekeeper. One of the seishins gave a walk for Ikiryo for her to go and engage Melissa as well as Peacekeeper, and be in contact with a strategy marker.

Edie gave an action to one of the Hunters, who tried to shoot Ikiryo with harpoon. This failed, but Hunter felt confident that throwing enough harpoons at Df 3 target would eventually do the trick. Which it did. 

Carrion Fate interacted a strategy marker, flied with Gwisin towards  top-left quarter and interacted again the same marker.

As I was running out  of actions at the center, Lost Love had to reposition there to throw a strategy marker past centerline. This left Datsue Ba alone with a Seishin to face against Hunter, Hoffman, Watcher and even a Guardian. 

Oh, minus that Seishin, because Datsue killed the thing herself with Lantern of Souls. Well, thanks to Seishin's valiant sacrifice, both players (and not only Guild) scored a point from strategy. Guild didn't get their scheme and abandoned it for a 3-1 lead to Resurrectionists.

Turn 2:

Schemes: Urami picked Scout the Rooftops. Augmented picked Assassinate on Datsue Ba.

Going from top to bottom, Gwisin eventually placed two schemes - one to corner, one past centerline to bluff both Harness the Leyline and enable double points from Scout the Rooftops.

And, uh, Peacekeeper. Yeah. That thing killed Carrion Fate in just one activation. Didn't even empower anything. Carrion Fate had a rotting fate. 

Kirai wasted two actions to get in a summon. An extra Shikome tried to engage Peacekeeper before it had wronged fate.

Melissa and Hunter smacked the summoned Shikome down to two remaining. Watcher had ran to a strategy marker, and as my last activation Kuchisake tried to kill both Watcher and another Hunter to the right, but failed the attacks despite benefiting from Adversary.

Hired Shikome activated late in the turn and went to place a scheme for Scout the Rooftops. Edie spammed actions here and there.

There was this final gathering of Watcher, Hunter and Hoffman against a granny. Hunter started clawing her, which got her down to six health remaining. She had to activate to save herself, and summoned Ikiryo to bodyblock Hoffman. She tried to skin a metal robot, but did only a few points of damage. But she scored crows and healed for a bit.

Watcher had interacted, leaped and interacted a strategy marker deep into Resurrectionist deployment zone. To at least remove that terrifying schemer, Ikiryo charged it, but failed to kill. I don't remember what actually killed the Ikiryo - probably some combination of Edie's shenanigans. But yeah, Ikiryo died, but Lost  Love teleported in to re-summon it. She smacked Hunter down to two remaining from the summon attack, and then charged the Watcher dead.

However, Hoffman had walked on top of terrain when first (or second, however you count it) Ikiryo had blocked Datsue from view. He scored two beam attacks, managing to stagger her and bring her down to two health remaining. 

Guardian went to toss one of my strategy markers back to wrong table half.

Resurrectionists fell behind in strategy, but had scored doubles from Scout the Rooftops. Datsue was still clinging to her dear life, so Assassination succeeded only in half. Scores went 5-3.

Turn 3:

Schemes: Urami picks Detonate Charges, Augmented picks Scout the Rooftops.

Hunter started beating Datsue Ba, who was at two health remaining. And look at that - she survived. It did take two of my highest cards from hand, though. But then the granny skinned Hunter, healed for a bit and even infused a soulstone. That somewhat eased the pain of losing Carrion Fate that easily.

The other Hunter went to engage Gwisin at top-left corner after shooting summoned Shikome dead.

Kirai attempted to remove Peacekeeper, and did it in a costly manner. She walked on top of a stone, used crew action to bring Ikiryo to hit Peacekeeper - and then hit it again with soulstone trigger from Soothe Spirit. Not sure how that counts as soothing, but at least Peacekeeper fell to two health remaining.

With a single raise and soulstone trigger, Peacekeeper would be able to smack Ikiryo off the board and not die to Vengeance. The robot decided to take it's chances, and died to vengeance. Ikiryo did go down to one health remaining, though, so she activated and walked and charged... somewhere? She didn't  really accomplish anything, though.

Melissa shot Ikiryo dead with quick reflexes, and damaged Kuchisake down to four health remaining. Kuchisake, feeling threatened by the presence of a tiny, not yet activated Watcher, summoned Ikiryo back after walking to within 12" of Lost Love. Ikiryo was able to kill the bat with summon attack.

Hoffman went to place a couple of scheme markers on top of terrain, and shoot Datsue Ba down to one health remaining.

Edie spammed actions again, but used one action to go and engage hired Shikome. Ikiryo charged Edie, and while she landed a hit, she wasn't able to free Shikome to do any scheming. Shikome walked away from melee, then, and walked and charged Hoffman on top of the terrain to block Scout the Rooftops.

Lost Love teleported to Ikiryo to plant a couple of scheme markers to Edie for a victory point.

Augmented scored strategy, but missed Scout the Rooftops. They didn't abandon the scheme, because they had it set up pretty well.

Scores went 6-4 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Urami was able to even out the number of strategy markers and claim a point from Take the Highground. Augmented scored the strategy too. They weren't able to remove Shikome from blocking the double points from Scout the Rooftops.

Game ended 9-7 for Resurrectionists. 

Both totems seemed... Intense. For both crews I'd dare to say that they were the MVP's of the match.

Survival Elections

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

Strategy: Standard Cursed Objects

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

My list:

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

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

Opponent had:

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

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

Turn 1:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hunter was speeding towards my deployment zone.

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

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

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

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

Turn 3:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 4:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 5:

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

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

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

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

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Covert Operations

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

My list:

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

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

Opponen had:

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

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

Turn 1:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scorest went 3-1 in favor or Hamelin.

Turn 3:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lynch went to place a scheme near Benny. 

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

Scores evened out to 4-4 tie.

Turn 4:

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

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

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

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

Turn 5:

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

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

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

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

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

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