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.

Christmas in a Pine Box

 Some Christmas games of Malifaux.

First game:

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

Schemes: Information Overload, Protected Territory, Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie with the Whisper
Forgotten Marshal with the Whisper
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Protected Territory, Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman, Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa K.O.R.E
Peacekeeper
Guild Steward
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 2
Schemes: Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual

Turn 1:

For a change I did not deploy Crooligans via From the Shadows, and deployed them instead to both of my corners. There they were able to bluff Power Ritual while making Information Overload more difficult for opponent.

Guild also had Watchers to their farthest flanks, and one of them placed a strategy marker to one of their corners. 

Hoffman, Peacekeeper, Steward and Mechanical Attendant were closing in from the middle, while Hunters were also at flanks, just not as far there as Watchers.

Peacekeeper was Guild's spearhead, and Forgotten Marshal went to summon a Night Terror to engage the scary enforcer. 

Night Terror was providing concealment for Molly, Necrotic Machine and Philip. Archie thought it was safe to leap, walk and place an explosive near a trench, but Hoffman offered him some electric current. Melissa was more traditional and filled Archie with lead. Worried for his safety, Molly ran to remove one pylon near trenches and heal Archie for two by making him discard a moderate card.

Turn 2:

Turns out I overestimated Archie's survivability once again. Melissa didn't manage to do much, so Necrotic Machine went to heal Archie back to seven health. But then Hoffman himself activated, walked and charged Archie - and killed him with two strikes.

So, instead of spamming explosive markers around the board, Night Terror and one Crooligan from one of my corners went to tie up Guild Steward and Mechanical Attendant so that it would be difficult for them to come and heal Hoffman. I had plans for that guy.

And once healers were tied, Molly started disturbing Hoffman with her stories. She had to turn Archie's corpse into Lost Knowledge first, and still was able to land only one batch of three irreducible damage to Guild master. 

Rabble Riser was fighting a Hunter on the left, while Hunter did the same with Rabble Riser. Neither was doing any progress. Watchers were flying towards my corners, and one of them planted an explosive token on board. 

Hunter on right tried to shoot Forgotten Marshal, but was distracted by Philip and the Nanny's boring conversations.

After Guild Steward removed Slow from Peacekeeper that had been caused by Philip and the Nanny, Peacekeeper smacked a summoned Night Terror dead and rather walked than charged to engage the prams. 

Another Crooligan teleported to Necrotic Machine in the middle and went to place a strategy marker. 

Forgotten Marshal put on a camera and filmed his most successful boxing video ever and uploaded it to youtube - Hunter was put into Pine Box. Summoning failed, though. 

Necrotic Machine was engaging Charles Hoffman, and by then I was misremembering that Guild Steward was five points. I thought I didn't have Hold Up Their Forces secured, so Philip and Nanny didn't push away from Peacepeeker with Deadly Pursuit. 

Soo... Guild scores Sweating Bullets and strategy, Resurrectionists got Hold Up Their Forces and strategy for a 2-2 tie. 

Turn 3:

Necrotic Machine poisons Hoffman and drains his last soulstone away. Melissa shoots Rabble Riser away from board and opens way for Hunter to go and place an explosive. And it does that, but only after Molly had disturbed Hoffman down to one health remaining. 

Hired Night Terror attempts to sacrifice itself by killing Guild Steward, but only manages to bring him down to one health. I see a pattern emerging here.

Guild Steward fortunately fails his motivational speech, but poison was dispelled from Hoffman's system. 

Forgotten Marshal walked on top of hill to summon third Crooligan and shoot Hoffman with Peacebringer, thus avenging the butchering of Archie.

Hunter inside Marshal's pine box wasn't able to get out. Peacekeeper also didn't manage to destroy a baby carriage. I suppose that didn't sit well with its protocols. Although it took all of my soulstones to protect the henchman.

A Crooligan that was engaging Mechanical Attendant went back to Forgotten Marshal and placed scheme marker and third explosive for me. Another one went to hide behind building, hiding a scheme marker there. 

Both players score strategy, but Resurrectionists also snatched Protected Territory for a 3-4 lead.

Turn 4:

Crooligans began to spam scheme markers all over the place. Melissa tried to discipline the kids a little with her gatling gun, but not a child listened. Watchers essentially did the same to my corners.

Night Terror was finally able to kill Guild Steward that had an explosive token, but died itself to reprisal. 

Hunter still wasn't able to get out of Forgotten Marshal's pine box. Another one attacked Molly and dealt good enough damage if we don't take into account it was turn four already. Forgotten Master disengaged, and disturbed Peacekeeper to death. Necrotic Machine moved forward to place fourth explosive marker next turn.

Guild wasn't able to get their strategy point this round, but did scored Power Ritual. Resurrectionists got strategy, still continuing with one point lead of 4-5.

Turn 5:

Situation looked difficult for Guild. Watcher failed to kill Philip and Nanny who had only one point of health left. That could have given at least strategy point for Guild by giving Peacekeeper an opportunity to plant an explosive. 

Resurrectionists had so many vectors to score at least two of the three possible points, and it seemed unlikely that Guild would get strategy point this round that we ended the game when Molly managed to kill Peacekeeper. Victory for Molly. 

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: In Your Face, Outflank, Information Overload, Power Ritual, Take Prisoner

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Grave Golem
Rogue Necromancy
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
2x Crooligan

Pool: 4
Schemes: Information Overload, Take Prisoner (Mr. Graves)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Soul Battery
Illuminated with Silent Protector
Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 3
Schemes: Outflank, In Your Face

Turn 1:

Information Overload and Power Ritual in the same scheme pool in same deployment made for a quite similar start as last game - both Crooligans were deployed regularly to place a scheme marker to both of my corners. 

Ten Thunders had Hungering Darkness in far-left with Mr. Graves nearby. Hungering Darkness took a double walk and concentrate, guarding the strategy marker with its 2" melee range. Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror that eventually went to engage Hungering Darkness in hopes of wasting its action points, or perhaps walking away next turn to place a scheme. 

Noxious Nephilim flew to the hill on right, within walking distance of both strategy markers. 

Grave Golem inside a cloud for some concealment. Rogue Necromancy had a whopping 6" move from activating near Molly and ambushing. It walked and interacted with strategy marker, and later interacted a scheme marker past centerline

Even if I had two 10-point rather resilient models in the center, a whole throng of everything else than Hungering Darkness, Mr. Graves and Kitty Dumont looked overwhelming in a big blob like that. Kitty was going towards the rightmost strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Hungering Darkness slapped Night Terror dead and charged Rogue Necromancy, almost killing it. Scared of such a display of power, Rogue Necromancy activated, pushed itself out of melee by discarding a card with Molly, and then took a double walk away from action to protect the intel token.

Mr. Graves ran to cover the same leftmost strategy marker that Hungering Darkness had been guarding. History repeated itself when Forgotten Marshal summoned another Night Terror to block future interacts for Mr. Graves.

A Crooligan jumped to Forgotten Marshal to plant a scheme past centerline, in contact with table edge. When the Night Terror activated, it charged Mr. Graves to deny him any meaningful interaction.

Soul Battery, an Illuminated and a Beckoner all claimed an intel token from strategy markers. Necrotic Machine was also able to claim one intel, and so did Grave Golem while it was walking with pride. 

Lynch made a scary opening by taking two walks and a charge against Molly. I didn't feel like I had enough tools to deal with Luck Thief, so Lynch was now at just about the worst position imaginable. 

Another Crooligan teleported to Noxious Nephilim to walk and scheme.

Since opponent was holding Kitty's activation, I had to activate Noxious Nephilim first and bring it to guard strategy marker - just not interact with it, because Kitty might steal the intel. However, Kitty did not she walked to where centerline met table edge and planted two schemes.

Both players scored strategy, Resurrectionists got Information Overload, Ten Thunders Outflank for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

After Night Terror had clawed Mr. Graves within 1" of Crooligan, he killed the summon, but left the kid intact. 

Lynch shuffled around for a bit and summoned Hungering Darkness next to Molly, and with last action Red Jokered a damage flip to Molly. At least damage block was a severe.

Concerned for master's safety, now somewhat healed Rogue Necromancy charged Hungering Darkness and managed to deal quite a bit of damage that were all healed when Hungering Darkness activated. Hungering Darkness managed to bring both Molly and Rogue Necromancy to low levels of health, but at Molly proved to be an adept healer when she Red Jokered her own heal flip, and gave a little boost to Rogue Necromancy, too. Getting savagely mauled by a monster and a drug addict disrupted Molly's parade and she failed to connect Parade Route to Grave Golem. 

Grave Golem had been pushed into melee with Lynch's delirium, but I wasn't too worried about this turns strategy. I had intel on Rogue Necromancy and Necrotic Machine, and both Lynch and Hungering Darkness had already activated. Grave Golem flailed fruitlessly at something, while an Illuminated killed second Crooligan. Tanuki did... something? and Beckoner ran forward to bring her problematic brilliance aura to middle. 

Noxious Nephilim tried to claw at Kitty, but didn't do enough. At least opponent burned through their soulstones in the process.

To make surviving a little easier next turn, Necrotic Machine came to attack Hungering Darkness and managed to poison it for two. Yay, no more triggers.

However, very last activation was an Illuminated in the middle that had to walk over a wall. It charged Necrotic Machine, and scored severe with a +1 from sharpened brilliance.

It had been a tough situation anyway, but losing an intel point like that made me lose strategy for this turn.

At least the Crooligan on left tagged Mr. Graves a prisoner, so scores were still a 3-3 tie.

Turn 4:

Molly tried to keep me playing the scenario by letting Grave Golem walk with pride to a strategy marker, then parading Rogue Necromancy to spam some movement duels to Lynch, Hungering Darkness, Beckoner and Illuminated. That didn't have much of an impact, though. 

This turn Hungering Darkness managed to kill Rogue Necromancy before it had even activated. Mr. Graves tried to beat a kid with a fencepost, but didn't succeed. The kid then jumped to Forgotten Marshal and charged Soul Battery. Crooligan scored severe damage, but that just triggered hard-to-kill. And then it was perfect opportunity for Soul Battery to sacrifice itself. Yay. First dead honeypot model in this game where I had two 10-point and one 9-point beater. And that kill was opponent's bonus action anyway.

Forgotten Marshal hadn't been able to summon anything for two full rounds. I was running out of activation points to claim points. At least Forgotten Marshal was able to put Mr. Graves inside the Pine Box. I was considering to smuggle my prisoner to my side of the table in a casket. 

Grave Golem claimed a second intel token on its own activation and speeded away from any sources of counter-intelligence. Lynch, however, disengaged and engaged the enforcer in melee. 

Noxious Nephilim nearly killed Kitty Dumont, but "nearly" wasn't enough. Kitty's unassuming demeanor started to actually threaten Nephilim's existence. 

Both players scored strategy, but Ten Thunders also claimed In Your Face from Rogue Necromancy.

Turn 5:

Kitty and Illuminated removed Noxious Nephilim after it had failed to kill Kitty once again.

Lynch summoned Hungering Darkness on the hill so that it was able to go outflanking with a scheme marker. Forgotten Marshal brought Mr. Graves as far past the centerline as possible, and then Crooligan teleported to block Mr. Graves advance as well as possible. It removed Hungering Darkness' scheme marker and scraped two points of damage to Forgotten Marshal. 

I had planned that if all else fails, Grave Golem might distance itself from melee, charge Forgotten Marshal, kill him and thus unbury my prisoner back on board. 

But unexpectedly I was able to claim enough intelligence to get third victory point from strategy. I had also Information Overload secured. Crooligan had ruined opponent's Outflank, and Kitty had chosen to try and secure Outflank, thus Ten Thunders also missed In Your Face end condition.

Miraculously Resurrectionist managed to carve a 6-5 victory although they did not manage to kill even a single model. The only one that Ten Thunders was Soul Battery, to it's own bonus action.

Vague Necromancy

Two 50ss games of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Covert Operations

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Leave Your Mark, In Your Face, Set the Trap

My list:

McMourning1 with Grave Spirit Touch & Zombie Chihuahua
Rogue Necromancy
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse 
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: In Your Face, Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 2
Schemes: In Your Face, Sabotage

Turn 1:

Corner deployment, so not much engagement happened. More so than usual, when both were stacking conditions and non-conditions on their own models (Brilliance from moving Kitty and Rafkin's formaldehyde galore.)

A large building was dividing my crew, with Zombie Chihuahua, Nurse and Rogue Necromancy were aiming for top-left quadrant, while all the others bubbled up in the middle. Dogs were mercilessly biting Corpse Curator into bits, with Dr. McMourning blaspheming focus out of what was left. 

Ten Thunders were in even more coherent bubble than Resurrectionists, with only Hungering Darkness making a slight exception by being a spearhead.

Turn 2:

One Canine Remains ran to rightmost strategy marker to claim it uncontested. 

Both sides seemed hesitant to engage. The other Canine Remains took a bite off from Corpse Curator, which made it possible for McMourning to summon a Flesh Construct. It was given doctor's orders right away.

Tanukis and Illuminated had formed a nice conga line, so Flesh Construct tried to rain vomit on their parade, failing at that. This however aggravated an Illuminated enough that it charged Flesh Construct. This opened up the game a little, and Rogue Necromancy went to puke over the little furries, scoring a severe blast over Mr. Tannen, Illuminated, and a Tanuki. 

That puke was almost punishable by death. An Illuminated started softening up Rogue Necromancy, and was quickly joined by Hungering Darkness. The henchmaster would have needed a single moderate wound in its three action points to kill the Rogue Necromancy, but fortunately for the chimera, no moderates came and Rogue Necromancy was left alive with one health point. That was a relief, considering it was my model for In Your Face end condition.

Kentauroi transported McMourning a little, and proceeded to stomp one Illuminated dead with a couple lucky damages.

Both players claim a strategy point, and Resurrectionists score Leave Your Mark with a scheme marker that Nurse had planted. Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Resurrectionists cheated initiative for themselves, and didn't want Boring Conversation in middle of Willpower 4. Flesh Construct activated and went to kill already damaged Mr. Tannen.

What Hungering Darkness failed last round, it succeeded now with gross overkill. Rogue Necromancy was gone before having time to activate.

Dr. McMourning butchers last remaining Illuminated and made short work of it. It was only good and proper then to join Gwyneth Maddoxs' game table along with Kentauroi and Flesh Construct. 

Lynch takes a double walk and a charge against Nurse, reducing her to half health. 

Tanukis pump out focus and heals, and opponent spends both pass tokens too. Resurrectionists reply by making useless activations with Canine Remains. Rafkin and Corpse Curator try to tease Lynch a little, but don't do much. 

Kentauroi backs off from melee with McMourning and repeatedly charges Tanuki, but not quite getting the killing blow.

Finally Kitty Dumont activates and goes to claim the middle-right strategy marker. I have the choice of whether to go and try to claim middle-left marker with Nurse, or to engage Kitty and deny a point from Ten Thunders. I choose denial, and scores go 2-3 for Resurrectionists. Ten Thunders got In Your Face, and Resurrectionists strategy.

Turn 4:

Kentauroi stampedes Tanuki dead, but the patchwork horse is then stomped dead by either Hungering Darkness or Lynch himself.

McMourning orders himself out of Gwyneth's melee and charges Kitty Dumont, who had been severely injured by Canine Remains already. McMourning made some hideous damage flips, and is even able to come and attack Gwyneth Maddox for a bit.

Nurse and another Canine Remains engaged Lynch. Second Tanuki had taken a run towards top-left strategy marker with  Zombie Chihuahua yapping right behind.

Corpse Curator was able to secure third victory point for Resurrectionists, and we called it a game then. Opponent had realistic potential for one more point if they won initiative, and while Resurrectionists had zero plausible points coming in, the result was clear victory for Resurrectionists.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Vendetta, In Your Face, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out, Sabotage

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Rogue Necromancy
Grave Golem
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Gravedigger
3x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Vendetta (Forgotten Marshal on a Hunter), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Hoffman the Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Guild Steward
Guardian
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 3
Schemes: Vendetta (Guardian on Rogue Necromancy), Set the Trap

Turn 1:

One Crooligan was deployed to both corners of the center line, and one was within 3" of Gravedigger in the middle to get a little focus. Who started right away with blasphemous rituals, no surprises there.

Early on Forgotten Marshal provides some nice defense support against ranged attacks in the form of Night Terror. So nice, in fact, that Forgotten Marshal and Gravedigger both took two points of damage from standing too close to Night Terror after Melissa landed a moderate blast on it.

That went just fine. 

So, Molly went back to making non-activations with Crooligans and whatnot. Molly herself had activated early, too, and went to remove one of Hoffman's pylons. I was a little afraid of harpoons, though. To protect her best I figured the best place to be was on the center line. Well, actually it wasn't a bad spot - she was in base contact with a strategy marker and lamp post, meaning she couldn't be pushed towards any aspiring harpooners. 

Electric current, harpoons and explosions certainly were coming at her, with Molly always dodging behind the lamp post just in time. 

Crooligan on top-left marker was harassed down to three health by a Watcher. Mechanical attendant was also coming that way.

A Hunter had come a little too close with its harpoon, and Rogue Necromancy was able to ambush, walk and charge it without much of an effect. And then turn ended and the robot just walked away with deadly pursuit... doh.

Second Watcher came suspiciously within 2" of both Rogue Necromancy and Molly and placed a scheme.

Turn 2:

Second turn was intense. Guardian charged Rogue Necromancy and brought it down to one health remaining and revealed Vendetta. Gravedigger who was supposed to go and control bottom-right marker pressed panic button and came to stitch the beast back into shape. 

Hunter then charged it, but didn't make an exemplary activation and only brought Rogue Necromancy down to two. Necrotic Machine ran to offer some emergency syrette, but that was a bummer. It healed only one and ended Poison +3. 

Hoffman tried to shoot Molly, but lamp post was a non-alternating target of alternating current. 

Crooligan that was teased by Watcher teleported to middle to place a scheme marker close to middle-left marker. Mechanical Attendant tried to shoot the kid, but missed.

Somehow Rogue Necromancy was able to tear Hunter into shreds with nothing serious to threaten it any longer. Second Watcher went to place a scheme marker near Rogue Necromancy.

Turn was nearing end, so my it was time to unfold my grand plan. Opponent refused to activate Guild Steward, so I had to go with a slightly different route. Molly removed Watcher's first scheme marker near herself with Lost Knowledge and had vendetta Hunter real disturbed with her stories - the thing went down to one health remaining. 

Idea was that even with a heal of three, Steward wouldn't be able to heal Hunter enough for Forgotten Marshal not to score his vendetta, provided that he'd hit.

He did, with severe damage on negative modifier to boot. Hunter was back at one health.

One Crooligan placed a scheme in bottom-right corner, and another teleported to Rogue Necromancy to place third scheme for Spread Them Out.

Scores go 3-3 when both players scored both their schemes and strategy.

Turn 3:

Guild wins initiative, which spelled doom for Rogue Necromancy. Two weak damages from Guardian would do the trick. I had Red Joker in my hand, so I was optimistic Rogue Necromancy would survive. First attack was too high for Red Joker to matter, so Rogue went below hard-to-kill threshold. Second attack... opponent flips Red Joker and Rogue draws a "1".

Molly was my first model to activate, and she disturbed vendetta Hunter to death and claimed the resulting scrap as lost knowledge. 

Melissa shot a nasty grenade that caught Necrotic Machine, Forgotten Marshal, Molly and Night Terror in its blast. She also shot Night Terror dead. Damn these bats, they just don't last long enough.

Crooligan in the middle placed scheme and walked behind barrels, safe from the dreaded Mechanical Attendant. Nice. Except now he was half an inch move away from Hoffman's melee range, so I suppose the threat of Mechanical Attendant was resolved for the Crooligan for all eternity when Hoffman tried to pat his head with construction claw. 

Crooligan in the bottom-right corner placed a scheme, and the one Crooligan past center line placed scheme and continued to walk towards enemy strategy marker. 

Forgotten Marshal tried to shoot Watcher in the middle and did some damage, but didn't kill. He then went to summon another Night Terror who discarded a card to get to engage the Watcher.

The mechani-bat, however, disengaged all too easily and flew to contest middle-right marker that I was trying to claim with Gravedigger. Night Terror shrugged and charged Guardian. 

Guild Steward healed Guardian and ran to contest middle-left marker that also had Hoffman, Mechanical Attendant and Grave Golem within 2" of it. 

Both players scored strategy for a tough 4-4 situation.

Turn 4:

It's the eternal cycle of life, where Hoffman continues to beat Molly, Gravedigger and Necrotic Machine continue to heal Molly. 

Night Terror had come to engage Melissa and Guardian. Melissa dispatched Night Terror, and Necrotic Machine went to block Guardian's potential charge against Molly.

Forgotten Marshal, being my Vendetta point, started to sneak away from the action and acted as a homing beacon for a Crooligan that charged Watcher dead.

Guild Steward starts to walk towards middle of board, still contesting middle-left marker. Unfortunately he did so within 1" of Grave Golem, which scored its first and only useful actions in the entire game - killing steward and taking only four damage in reprisal.

Molly started to disturb Guardian with her stories and brought it down to one health.

Crooligan deep in enemy table half ran within 2" of their strategy marker, and Resurrectionists clawed a 4-5 lead from strategy.

Turn 5:

Hoffman didn't want to listen to Molly's stories any longer and finally smacked her dead. However, that was essentially a point loss for Guild. Grave Golem was too firmly lodged in place, and Guild was not able to control bot top-left and middle-left markers with only two models. 

Crooligans were able to place enough scheme markers 10" away from each other, and Forgotten Marshal was at full health and hard-to-kill. Guild had Guardian at one health an no healers, so Necrotic Machine, Grave Golem or Forgotten Marshal just needed to land one hit doing whatever damage. We ended game there in 4-7.