Revenge Bombings

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Plant Explosives

Schemes: Outflank, Power Ritual, Let Them Bleed, Information Overload, Deliver a Message

My list:

Kirai, Envoy of the Court & Ikiryo
Kari Zotiko
Ferryman
Goryo
Shikome
Gwisin with Grave Spirit Touch
Drowned
Seishin

Pool: 4
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Power Ritual

Opponent had:

Kaeris & Eternal Flame
Elijah Borgmann
Carlos Vasquez
The Firestarter
Fire Golem
2x Firebranded
Fire Gamin

Pool: 0
Schemes: Deliver a Message, Outflank

Turn 1:

Since it's been a while when this game was played, I'm not going in to usual detail. 

Kirai had to watch in horror how pretty much every Wildfire model gathered in top-right quarter, trying to beat Kari, Ikiryo and Goryo. Fire Golem took some astonishing damage from Goryo, with a severe or a moderate from charge attack, and a Red Joker from Violent Ghosts. 

There were also Fire Gamin, Carlos and Eternal Flame. One Firebranded was going towards top-right corner, and Firestarter was flying towards bottom-left. Ferryman was going there too to offer some company for the twisted firestarter.

Shikome had placed a scheme marker for Power Ritual, and was aided by Seishin a little forward towards top-right corner. 

Kaeris and another Firebranded were about there in the middle, while Elijah Borgmann alone was challenging Gwisin and Kirai.

Turn 2:

Ikiryo scrapped Eternal Flame, and punched a hole in Carlos. The firebreather, Fire Golem and Fire Gamin all were attacking Kari hard, and were joined even by Kaeris herself. Kari had had to heal herself for quite a bit, but can't heal them flames, no.

Goryo made quite of an activation. It flew past Fire Golem to get in better position and killed the Golem and Gamin with Violent Ghosts. In total it did take a little more than that, though, when Drowned had been projectile vomiting on the blob for two turns now, plus all the vengeance procs. 

After Firebranded ran to top-right corner, Shikome walked, planted a scheme and teleported to Firebranded. I had somehow mixed up in my mind between Outflank and Power Ritual, d'oh... Shikome's scheme was too far from Power Ritual, but close enough to block my future interacts in top-right!

Firebranded in the middle placed an explosive. Firestarter had done the same bottom-left after Ferryman. And since I was still thinking about Outflank, Ferryman tried to go and curse Firestarter instead of putting a proper marker for Power Ritual.

Oh well. At least Elijah didn't butcher Gwisin, although it had to be healed with Kirai on top of its regeneration. Trampling over Elijah did not score any summons. 

Both players scored strategy, but Arcanists also got Outflank for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

Kaeris tried to remove Kari, and managed to toss the troublemaker away with her last action. Well, the captain just healed herself and charged back to deny heals for Carlos, who had pinged himself below half of his health remaining.

Carlos placed a third explosive on my side, and Goryo went to place my second one, slowly creeping towards top-right corner where Firebranded was able to kill Shikome,

Ikiryo was able to scrape about six points of damage to Elijah, who had killed Gwisin with a single strike, charging Drowned next. Let Them Bleed was secured now. 

Kirai swirled Ikiryo past Firebranded, and finally we saw the first and only summon of this entire game - a Gaki, that swallowed Firebranded with its only action.

Firestarter started speeding towards Kirai in such a fashion which almost made me think he might have a message to deliver. Ferryman went to place required marker for Power Ritual.

Both players scored strategy, but Resurrectionists scored both of their schemes for a 4-3 lead for Kirai.

Turn 4:

By the end of the turn, Kari had managed to rake up eleven points of burning. And after the end phase, she was at one health. Kaeris and Carlos had tried to attack Seishin and Kari, but were doing terrible job with both - but Kari's disengages were also dreadful to watch. First, one inch. Second, one inch. Kirai had to swirl the captain away from melee. 

Ikiryo killed Firestarter before he could activate, and Drowned managed to down Elijah. 

Goryo had planted my third explosive and charged Firebranded, managing to get itself only killed. Power Ritual end condition was doomed now. 

Both players scored strategy, so Kirai held the lead at 5-4. 

Turn 5:

We did not play fifth round, as it was apparent that Resurrectionists would get a bare minimum of six points, and with absurd luck Arcanists would get a maximum of five. So, a 6-4, 6-5, 7-4 or 7-5 victory for Kirai.

Last Fractures

I played two 50ss games of Malifaux on subsequent days, so they're both in this post. Both games took part in Fractured Futures global campaign. Likely the last campaign games I will be able to play.

Strategy: Wedge Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Power Ritual, In Your Face, Death Beds, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Seamus with The Whisper & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Corpse Curator
Gravedigger
Mourner
Dead Doxy
Mindless Zombie

Pool: 4
Schemes: Death Beds (Corpse), In Your Face
Wicked Whisper: two corpse markers

Opponent had:

Kaeris & Eternal Flame
Elijah Borgmann
Carlos Vasquez
Firestarter
Fire Golem
2x Firebrander
Fire Gamin

Pool: 0
Schemes: Death Beds (Pyre), In Your Face
Moonshine Madness: Condition on enemy model within 3" of Nia during friendly activation

Turn 1:

My grand plan for Nia was to activate Gravedigger first, go drop a corpse and then get pulled back to safety by Madame Sybelle. However! The plan was more efficient than I had planned by a factor of infinity. I didn't have to spend Madame Sybelle's action points at all, when Kaeris was able to kill Gravedigger in just two shots. Boom! Two corpses right next to Nia. 

Seamus was interrupted by Fire Golem, and I had to spend two soulstones to protect him. Copycat Killer still had not activated, and teleported him to centerline near strategy marker closest to bottom. From there he managed to claim intel and even shoot one of the Firebranded dead,

Mourner and Bete Noire were trying to approach from top, while center was held by superior tanks such as Copycat Killer and Mindless Zombie. Well, Madame Sybelle or Dead Doxy were not that far from action, and Corpse Curator was dangerously close to Fire Golem. 

However, the entirety of Wildifre were standing within about 6" of the center point, with three pyre markers to boot. 

Turn 2:

Three pyre markers, you say? Nah, make that seven!

It was a distressing turn for sure. Fire Golem dropped a scheme marker and charged Corpse Curator. One attack was not enough to kill the thing, so it made haste to drag a corpse marker along next to Nia while it still was able to do so. It also dropped a scheme marker for maybe some Death Beds one day.

And true enough, opponent poured everything they could at Corpse Curator. Kudos for it for surviving the torrent of attacks throughout the turn, until Carlos blew the out-of-keyword enforcer out of the board. 

However, Corpse Curator was not the only model to get beaten up. Seamus tried to shoot a Firebranded, but missed. He also picked up intel, and charged Firebranded, managing some random points of damage. But Kaeris and the minion himself kept attacking Seamus. They didn't even fail their Terrifying checks, so Seamus didn't heal. 

Copycat Killer had to bail Seamus out of there, and Mindless Zombie - who I had hired just for this purpose - was able to assist six points of burning off of Seamus. And yet, Redchapel master was still burning...

Seamus also had about five health remaining, so I decided to reposition Mourner and even Bete Noire closer to middle. Bete Noire tried to soften up Carlos, and did well enough. Mourner's role was to get rid of Elijah's Ruthless if he attempted to attack Seamus. In the picture he's behind Fire Golem. 

Both players scored Nia and strategy this turn, but Arcanists also received Death Beds from Corpse Curator for a lead of 3-2.

Turn 3:

Turn three things got a wee bit intense. 

Seamus was able to heal himself a bit with Terrorize. A moderate shot injured Fire Golem somewhat, but Seamus didn't dare to show his face any longer, escaping behind a house. 

Firebranded healed Fire Golem enough for me not to have any hope of killing it. 

Bete Noire tickled Carlos for a bit and charged Fire Gamin dead. Kaeris and Elijah charged Bete, managing to fade her away with enough burning to kill her while buried. Uh oh. 

Dead Doxy was able to remove Madame Sybelle from melee and pick up intel, but she had also received enough burning to die from it during end phase. 

Mourner and Mindless Zombie both tried to attack Carlos without much of an effect, but finally Madame Sybelle dealt the killing blow, thus scoring In Your Face. 

Eventually Copycat Killer repositioned Seamus back at strategy markers for upcoming turns.

Both players scored strategy, and Resurrectionists got In Your Face for a tie of 4-4.

Turn 4:

Except, uh, three of my models just burned dead. At least Wildfire had been losing models, too, but situation was grim nonetheless. I decided to go all-in. 

Seamus went to take two shots at Fire Golem, connecting both but scoring only a moderate and a weak damage. 

Firebranded healed the Golem again, and - well, I had made up my mind about going all in. Copycat Killer switched places with Seamus and started shooting the Golem. And finally it went down after it ran out of burning to block damage. 

Hooray! Death Beds!

However, before Kaeris went to pick up some intel, Elijah, Firebranded or whoever had killed Madame Sybelle, scoring In Your Face for Arcanists. 

It looked kind of a game over, until an unlikely hero appeared. Mourner shot unactivated Firestarter dead with a Feed on Grief by flipping Red Joker on damage. 

Unfortunately Eternal Flame extinguished Mourner's flame, and Copycat Killer just burned into crisp from conditions gathered throughout the game.

So, although points went to 5-5 tie, a lone Seamus would not be able to turn the tables around... or would he?

Turn 5:

Elijah was able to charge Seamus, but he flipped Red Joker on damage block. Seamus, however, was not in a position to teleport twice to place scheme markers next to corpse markers. Instead, he teleported to top-left corner to flee the scene with two health and three burning.

Kaeris was able to pick enough intel for third strategy point, and there were still enough models to place a couple of schemes next to pyre markers. So, it was a damn bloody 7-5 victory for Arcanists.

Game 2:

Strategy: Corner Plant Explosives

Schemes: Protected Territory, Hold Up Their Forces, Power Ritual, Espionage, Death Beds

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Carrion Emissary
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Espionage, Power Ritual
Wicked Whisper: Summon a model while within 3" of Nia

Opponent had:

Nekima, Broodmother & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
Serena Bowman
Mature Nephilim
Young Nephilim
Black Blood Shaman
Terror Tot

Pool: 6
Schemes: Hold Up Their Forces, Death Beds (Corpse)
Parasitic Protection: Heal within 3" of Nia

Turn 1:

Both Crooligans were deployed with an explosive token to the farthest corners of the map and for the first turn, they only concentrated. While it certainly looked a bit like Power Ritual, it was still possible I had chosen Protected Territory or Espionage. 

However, after first turn had passed, a Young Nephilim was threatening both of them, despite opponent only having one of them in his list. Kids sure grow up so fast these days. 

Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror that he launched to my deployment corner - I had messed up the deployment to easily place a scheme marker for Power Ritual. Noo, you wouldn't know, it might still be for Espionage! That's a perfectly reasonable investment in a bluff! Well, at least it served double duty.

Rabble Riser goes running towards top-right corner, with Noxious Nephilim flying about in a forest nearby. Both had explosive tokens, so they were a bit hesitant to enter middle melee that was bound to be saturated with Mature Nephilims and whatnot. 

Speaking of which, Mature took a double walk which prompted damage from Lethe's Caress. Serena later threw some bottles of painkillers down Mature's throat, claiming first fracture token that way. Thanks, Molly. 

Carrion Emissary went to summon zombies within 3" of Nia marker, thus also scoring fracture token for Resurrectionists. 

I had Molly, Emissary, hired Night Terror, Forgotten Marshal and Necrotic Machine contesting the middle along with two Mindless Zombies now. It felt awfully little against Hayreddin, Serena and Mature Nephilim, with Black Blood Shaman and Nekima not too far away. 

Turn 2:

Neverborn got the initiative, and started mauling Crooligans. The one at top-right corner died to three attacks by Young Nephilim. The other one at bottom-left corner was a little too far for another Young Nephilim to fly and charge, so he just needed to dodge one attack. But, he was engaged now, so bye bye Power Ritual for this turn at least.

Hayreddin went to place a strategy marker into outskirts of center forest. Forgotten Marshal disapproved and went to put the henchman in pine box. Later he also acted as a teleport beacon for surviving Crooligan, who jumped to him to pick up Hayreddin's bomb and to toss it to Neverborn side of table right away. 

Molly had activated to try to draw crows for Forgotten Marshal, but no such luck. She went closer to centerline and managed to slow Mature Nephilim as well as damaging it heavily. But then Serena activated, healed the Mature for a bit and removed slow with bottle of painkillers. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted. 

Mature killed a Mindless Zombie and charged Molly, dealing four damage back, which was reduced to two with a soulstone.

I wanted that Nia point this turn, so instead of Aura of Decay Carrion Emissary summoned even more zombies. It also killed a Terror Tot that Nekima had summoned. The Neverborn master charged in and killed a Mindless Zombie while Dark Bargaining a scheme marker nearby.  Black Blood Shaman took interest in Carrion Emissary and charged it. 

Rabble Riser was able to reach Young Nephilim with a charge & flurry attack, not even missing all of his attacks.

Necrotic Machine tried to heal a Night Terror that was hiding in ruins, but failed the target number. As opponent had no cards in control hand, Necrotic Machine took a 3" move in end phase and attacked Mature Nephilim, most importantly scoring two points of poison. 

So, the Crooligan had managed to rob Neverborn of their first strategy point. They did, however, reaveal Hold Up Their Forces. Resurrectionists got strategy and Nia point for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

Carrion Emissary started the turn by slapping on Aura of Decay. It also pecked Black Blood Shaman for a bit. 

Next to activate had to be Rabble Riser. It took all of his actions and a flurry, but fortunately Young Nephilim went down. But he would not be able to power a ritual this turn.

I was indeed worrying about my Power Ritual and Espionage, so after Emissary and Rabble Riser I made it an imperative to deliver Crooligan to where it mattered. Noxious Nephilim dropped a scheme to centerline and walked forward for Crooligan to teleport. He did, and placed his explosive. Good, I guess, but no schemes. 

In the center, Nekima charged Carrion Emissary to block line of sight to Mature Nephilim, and kept healing it while I was busy hurrying up Crooligan. 

Serena had removed Poison from Mature Nephilim, so Necrotic Machine had to re-apply it. But attacking those Black Blood models is stressful with a health pool of four. The machine healed itself for a bit, but still succumbed to Mature's attacks. While it didn't seems such a big deal then, I sorely missed a healer when Black Blood Shaman somehow kept hitting Carrion Emissary, sometimes with moderate damage. After the turn Emissary had just three or so health points remaining. 

A stampeding Blood Hunter was able to wreck both Mindless Zombies, who until then had been quite resilient to Black Blood thanks to Nia's shieldings. Hired Night Terror committed to killing the Blood Hunter with one health remaining, but just couldn't do it. Forgotten Marshal had to summon a Rabble Riser that did a little better job, although only with flurry attack that had me discard black joker from my hand. 

By now summoned Night Terror had spawned two scheme markers on my deployment, and the Young Nephilim from bottom-left corner had dropped an explosive and flew closer to center melee. 

Molly managed to disturb Mature Nephilim dead with her story, walked and placed a scheme marker for Espionage. 

Both players scored strategy but nothing else, for a 3-2 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Nekima activated first, and got a bit greedy. She dropped a scheme marker with Dark Bargain, brought Carrion Emissary down to one health remaining and tried to finish it off with Blood Has Been Spilled. Emissary passed, and was able to disengage for a bit and shoot Nekima with Rot and Rend. It scored moderate damage, which also clipped Black Blood Shaman. As a last act of defiance it summoned two zombies more, as I doubted Aura of Decay would do anything.

But being at one health is... a bit of a hazard against Nekima2. What ultimately fell my ten point enforcer was the Terror Tot that had just been summoned. And it did so by failing terrifying check. It scored Death Beds, gained a grow token and ate the Emissary's corpse token. And 'lo, Young Nephilim. What did I say about kids growing fast, again? 

Young Nephilim from bottom-left picked up the strategy marker Crooligan had stolen on turn 2 and flew away from action. Forgotten Marshal pine boxed Hayreddin again, this time after it had activated. 

Hired Night Terror in the middle was able to kill Black Blood Shaman, and summoned Rabble Riser tried to do the same for terror tot Young Nephilim, but did a whole lot of worse than the hired counterpart top-right. Summoned Night Terror just tried to position itself so it might do something of consequence during last turn of game. 

Serena ran next to the forest in middle, carrying an explosive token. 

Rabble Riser top-right walked to corner and schemed, while Noxious Nephilim walked and schemed in enemy deployment. Crooligan took a double walk towards top-left corner. Molly had no time to search for lost knowledge, and had to do a double walk to place my third strategy marker.

Resurrectionists scored both schemes and strategy, and Neverborn got their Death Beds, strategy and Nia for a 6-5 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

Rabble Riser, Noxious Nephilim and Crooligan were able to secure both schemes and fourth strategy point without much of a chance for Neverborns to react. 

They, however, were able to build three pairs of corpse + scheme marker, so it was impossible for Molly to go and discreetly remove a critical piece. 

Serena was able to drop her bomb, and summoned Night Terror just went to die to Young Nephilim left of the forest. 

There wasn't enough high cost models nearby for opponent to engage, so Hold Up Their Forces failed. Game ended in 9-7  victory for Resurrectionists.

Different Perspective

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Information Overload, Outflank, Espionage, Ensnare

My list:

Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Catalan Brawler
Disease Containment Unit
Obedient Wretch
Prospector
Rat Catcher
Catalan Rifleman
Winged Plague

Pool: 1

Schemes: Ensnare, Espionage

Opponent had:

Kaeris & Eternal Flame
Elijah Borgmann
Firestarter
Carlos Vasquez
Fire Golem
2x Firebranded
Fire Gamin

Pool: 0

Schemes: Espionage, Ensnare

Turn 1:

So, this time to shake things up, I decided to take pictures from across the table.

Nah, I'm kidding. I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to rely on my opponent for pictures. And the quality of pictures is certainly a compelling argument for me to finally get  smartphone. 

So plague bid their time, making low-impact activations such as Stolen, Obedient Wretch and Prospector. This might have been a mistake, as Wildifre had all the time in the world to lay down an oppressive carpet of fire to difficult bottlenecks near the center strategy markers. Uh oh. 

Firestarter, Kaeris, Eternal Flame and a Firebranded were nearing one of the center strategy markers, while Elijah, Fire Gamin, Fire Golem and Carlos were going to the another. 

To open my game, Hamelin lured Firebranded to him. I  hoped to kill him with an attack from Catalan Rifleman, two bite attacks from Nix, two axe attacks from D.C.U, and even a few spittles of vomit from a Stolen kid. Alas, Firebranded survived with one health remaining. 

Catalan Rifleman set up a Condor Security area for Nix and D.C.U.

Winged Plague is attempting to flank behind the tree near river, and another Firebranded is doing kind of the same top-left in the picture. 

Turn 2:

Besieged Firebranded opened turn by trying to cause as much havoc as possible. Which wasn't much. 

Winged Plague ran to one of the Arcanist side strategy markers. Kaeris managed to scorch the vermin down and make two additional pyre markers. 

Disease Containment Unit was able to contain Firebranded in the middle, which enabled Hamelin to make a headlong charge to Firestarter. Results were not that impressive, but at least a point of injured was delivered. Firestarter replied, pretty much wasting his action if it wasn't for the last action... He set light under Hamelin's feet, and the piper was being played away from the vicinity of walking life insurances that are Stolen.

I couldn't figure a reliable way to deliver a kid to Hamelin, but to help Hamelin survive a turn, Nix went to bite Firestarter for a bit, getting Hamelin within Cruel Disappointment range. 

Fire Golem came to beat the heck out of Hamelin, but Hamelin clang to his heck rather effectively. He was still one point above half health even after resolving Burning at the end phase. 

Elijah charged Disease Containment Unit, who survived the greatsword. She defied Catalan Brawler's Toss in the Mud just as heroically, wearing her Burning +6 with pride instead.

Firebranded ran past the river, and was greeted by flying rats and sharp pickaxes from Obedient Wretch and Prospector.

Carlos put a sixth pyre marker on board and controlled one center marker with Fire Gamin. Nix, Rat Catcher and Disease Containment Unit were doing the same at the other marker.

Scores went 1-1.

Turn 3:

Kaeris placed a scheme marker and charged Nix, eventually even taking flight with the dog, throwing it away. What a cruel disappointment it was, when Nix charged right back in and chewed Firestarter dead. 

Hamelin was able to weather Fire Golem, which then teleported to Nix. However, fancy tricks by Carlos just were too much for Hamelin to bear. 

Because of... reasons... Catalan Brawler charged Elijah Borgmann and missed. He tried to toss D.C.U. to mud again, failing at that. Such a disgrace for Condor Security! Well, his sacrifice at least was... just that. A sacrifice. Instead of Disease Containment Unit, I lost self-healing Catalan Brawler.

Firebranded disengaged from Prospector and placed an illegal scheme marker to centerline, touching board edge. This left Prospector free to run to Arcanist side strategy marker, but he failed to drop a scheme marker to Arcanist deployment with bonus action. To make matters worse, Fire Gamin came to contest the strategy marker, too. 

Obedient Wretch managed to kill Firebranded with a tossed rat. Disease Containment Unit, a couple of Stolen and Catalan Rifleman were quite not so successful with Elijah. He was brought down to two health, though.

Rat Catcher, engaged by Kaeris, placed a scheme marker near her and took a walk as far as possible from Kaeris in preparation of some ensnaring.

However... no player revealed schemes. No player scored strategy. Scores remained 1-1.

Turn 4:

So turn four started still at 1-1. 

Fire Golem nearly killed Nix, and I figured the dog would die to Kaeris unless I activated and healed him. But, if Nix healed and Kaeris activated, I would not get Ensnare. So I decided to sacrifice Nix and score Ensnare by planting a scheme marker with Rat Catcher. 

Kaeris activated sure enough, but surprisingly she did not kill Nix. Instead, she went to Plague side strategy marker that I wouldn't be able to contest. Oh well. Nix activated, drank some spirits and killed Eternal Flame and was back at full health. 

Disease Containment Unit failed it's attacks on Elijah, but succeeded in pushing Nix close enough to an Arcanist side strategy marker. Elijah then killed Disease Containment Unit, and nobody killed Elijah.

Carlos went to contest Nix's marker and even placed a scheme marker, looking very much like a set-up for Ensnare. 

Obedient Wretch went to place a scheme marker on the centerline.

And Prospector... I had done everything to get a high enough Crows to my hand throughout the turn - even charging a Malifaux Rat dead with Stolen. Prospector tried to appraise an Arcanist scheme marker. But, no crows turned up. And flip from the deck for Malifaux Mining Law's scheme marker was... not crows. So I missed Espionage.

Arcanists scored strategy, but Outcasts missed out on that. They, however, had received Ensnare so scores went 2-2.

Turn 5:

Nix and Rat Catcher went to contest the Arcanist side strategy marker, but Fire Golem came to bulk Arcanists up. It didn't exactly help, either, that Carlos scored a severe with his breath of fire. 

Kaeris placed a scheme marker to my deployment zone, and finally Prospector managed to land crows on Malifaux Mining Law for a scheme marker in enemy deployment zone. 

Elijah went to control one of the center markers. Catalan Rifleman picked up a scheme marker it had planted earlier, walked a bit closer and dropped another scheme marker with bonus action, this time within 3" of Elijah instead of 3.1"

Obedient Wretch ran to control another Arcanist side strategy marker. 

Both players scored strategy, Ensnare and Espionage for a close fought 5-5 draw.

No fair I, choose violence too!

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Standard Guard the Stash

Schemes: Load 'Em Up, Breakthrough, Vendetta, Hidden Martyrs, Spread Them Out

My list:

Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny Wolcomb
Yannic Waller
Johan Creedy
Prospector
Catalan Rifleman
Winged Plague

Pool: 5
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Vendetta (Johan Creedy on Elijah)

Opponent had:

Kaeris & Eternal Flame
Elijah Borgman
Carlos Vasquez
Fire Golem
2x Firebranded
Fire Gamin

Pool: 0
Schemes: Load 'Em Up (Pyre), Hidden Martyrs (Firebranded)

Turn 1:

I put Nix and Yannic near my right strategy marker, and Winged PLague flew hugging the rightmost board edge. Nix took a double walk and I must say - even with his resilience I was a bit hesitant when it looked like he'd have to face Fire Golem, Carlos, Eternal Flame and a Firebranded.

Everything else I got was were on the left powering up Benny Wolcomb. I somewhat messed up my initial positioning, but in the end everything went fine and a Rat King was summoned just fine. Although Benny wasn't able to take even one step, when Firestarter lit fire under Catalan Rifleman's feet and moved him so that Benny's way was blocked by Hamelin, Rifleman, Stolen, Prospector and even Johan Creedy to a degree. 

After a walk Hamelin failed to lure Firestarter closer, so the outcast master just ended up concentrating.

Kaeris and Carlos both succeeded in landing a pyre marker. Kaeris, Elijah and Firebranded were behind destructible boxes near center-left marker with Firestarter even further ahead. 

Turn 2:

I forgot to take a picture at the end of turn, so Firestarter has already started round three in the picture.

Kaeris sure enough sets the world burning when she starts the turn, charges to conflagrate Rat King a bit, plants two pyre markers in the middle of my tightly packed crew and fans a marker through Stolen, Johan Creedy and Rat King. 

Kaeris was pondering if she should have escaped instead of fanning the flames, but she chose violence. Alrighty, then. Hamelin chooses that, too! He uses bonus action to charge Rat King to Kaeris, then walks to take two attacks against her. Only one hits, but deals severe damage. 

Nix goes to engage Carlos, Firebranded and Eternal Flame. All of them fail Drink Spirit checks, and Winged Plague had placed a scheme marker and continued to fly towards enemy deployment zone.

Carlos disengages from Nix and walks to breathe fire on Winged Plague, not doing anything. He also managed to make a pyre marker near mid-left strategy marker, which was used by a Firebranded to set itself burning.

In the meantime, Stolen had given mean time for Kaeris by vomiting disease over her mechanical wings, dealing more damage together than Hamelin did. Johan Creedy had also charged Kaeris and all of them together had brought Kaeris down to one health remaining.

Fire Golem had leaped to the Firebranded's flames, entering the melee in the mid-left marker. It walked to slap Carlos' pyre marker on Rat King, Hamelin and Johan Creedy, and took a little swing at Rat King. 

Yannic Waller had tried to come to shoot Firebranded and hopefully spill some blast damage over Kaeris, but that never happened. What did happen, though, was a severe greatsword to Yannic's face. Firestarter tried to set fire under Rat King's feet to push it away from Kaeris, and succeeded at that. That took away one action point to be spent on killing the Arcanist master, but as it happened - that lone action point was enough. Rat King managed to charge Kaeris dead, and voracious rats from Hamelin even transformed her into a Malifaux Rat. 

Benny Wolcomb takes a double walk so that he'd be in position to perhaps place some scheme markers next turn. I completely forgot that Benny needed to assist a Stolen who had Burning +4, so one kid went down to that. Another had died earlier after vomiting on Kaeris - he had been on fire and one health remaining, so two rats sounded better than one rat since it was inevitable fate, anyway. 

Opponent had middle-left marker, and to score a strategy point Prospector had to walk and charge Elijah, thus getting points to 1-1.

Turn 3:

Again I forgot to take a picture at the end of round, so some activations have already happened. 

Firestarter walks and charges to last Stolen who had been hanging near bottom-left marker. 

Carlos and top-right Firebranded fail to kill Winged Plague, so it had time to leave one more scheme marker on board. Nix went to place a scheme near mid-right marker and spammed some blight tokens around. 

I had tried to save Yannic Waller by activating her first, doing some democracy and trying to disengage. However, disengage failed with -6 movement reduction. Miraculously Elijah didn't succeed in killing anyone.

Fire Golem wasn't as inept. It killed Rat King and charged Johan Creedy below hard-to-kill threshold. Johan was also at, like, Burning +8 or so. And he was my Vendetta model. It wasn't looking good.

At least he managed to deal some damage to Fire Golem with Relic Hammer, remove Hamelin's burning and heal himself and Hamelin for one with Final Rest. 

Hamelin kills Fire Golem, hooray for that. But now there was way open for Firebranded to charge Johan Creedy, and does indeed score that required one hit to bring him back below hard-to-kill threshold. So yeah... Hamelin killed a ten point model, but I lost a two victory point model. C'est la vie. 

For some reason I didn't consider placing a scheme with Benny and climbing on top of the reservoir terrain to contest middle-left strategy marker. Instead I went to deny a point from Firestarter when, in fact, even if he'd been alone at my marker opponent wouldn't have got a strategy point. But that's hindsight, maybe it wasn't so apparent at the time if opponent had unactivated models around. 

So, Johan Creedy burns to crisp and scores go 2-2 when Outcasts reveal Spread Them Out and Arcanists get Load 'Em Up on pyre markers.

Turn 4:

Firebranded top-right finally kills Winged Plague before it is able to drop even more scheme markers. Nix interacts a scheme and charges Elijah so that he is entirely on top of it. I don't think the attack hit, as Nix had been distracted by Carlos many times over. 

Hamelin blasts a rat with Pustulent Tumors, killing Firestarter. Firebranded isn't as easy kill, and Benny needs to come and finish the hidden martyr. 

Yannic Waller is done with democracy and shoot Elijah with a severe blast from her shotgun. 

Prospector appraises Johan's corpse and estimates it to worth around two victory points. So he saw no reason why his corpse wouldn't be worth as much, and dies to Elijah, Carlos and Fire Gamin.

Arcanists reveal their Hidden Martyrs, taking the lead in points with 2-3.

Turn 5:

Yannic gives democracy another chance, healing herself, Nix and Eternal Flame and damaging Elijah, Fire Gamin and Carlos. She takes a bonus concentrate and shoots Elijah, but unsurprisingly doesn't kill.

Elijah heals for a bit and finally kills Yannic. By now Elijah had juicy five blight tokens, so Nix tried a distracted Bleeding Disease twice, failing both.

Fire Gamin runs to secure bottom-right marker. Hamelin takes a walk and a charge at Elijah, barely missing the attack. His Bleeding Disease hits, but that wasn't enough - Elijah was left at one health remaining. And then last remaining Firebranded took a double walk , got engaged by Nix and healed Elijah so even Benny's Swarm Them was of no use. However, at that point removing Elijah wouldn't have mattered anyway since Carlos was able to get to bottom-left marker, and Benny needed to walk away from mid-left marker to place a scheme marker for Spread Them Out.

It was a tough 3-5 game, and Arcanists won. So, fortunately my blunder with Benny did not cost the game as it would have been 4-5. What did cost me the game was choosing Vendetta and then getting jammed in high-profile melee. 

I should have probably taken Hidden Martyrs anyway, though I was afraid that my martyrs would die to burning. Breakthrough and Load 'Em Up on the other hand weren't options for me. 

Tormented Wildfire

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Carve a Path

Schemes: Spread Them Out, Breakthrough, Vendetta, Load 'Em Up, In Your Face

My list:

Jack Daw Ensouled & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Auguste Hart
Midnight Stalker
Malifaux Child
Crooked Man
Dead Outlaw
Guilty

Pool: 5
Schemes: Vendetta (Dead Outlaw on a Firebranded), Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Kaeris & Eternal Flame
Elijah Borgmann
Carlos Vasquez
Fire Golem
The Firestarter
2x Firebranded
Fire Gamin

Pool: 0 (!)
Schemes: Load 'Em Up (Pyre marker), Vendetta (Firestarter on something, somewhere)

Turn 1:

Outcasts started doing cautious activations like Auguste kicking the strategy marker near Malifaux Child and hiding behind the forest, with Lady Ligeia joining soon. Guilty just walked north a bit and concentrated, things like that.

Arcanists were also hiding behind terrain, delivering one marker from top behind the houses and another in midst of graveyard.

But then Fire Golem walked within charge + collier revolver range, and Dead Outlaw attacked. Hoo boy, that was a mistake. 

Kaeris set the ground close to Outlaw on fire, Eternal Flame pushed the marker to my grudge holder, and Firestarter and Fire Gamin started raining death over him. 

Midnight Stalker couldn't carry out with his plan of delivering strategy marker to enemy table half already and had to go assist some flames off of Dead Outlaw. 

Jack Daw healed him as much as he could, and Crooked Man managed to drop a scheme marker to trigger Too Greedy To Die to get Dead Outlaw slightly closer to safety.

Malifaux Child had kicked a strategy marker almost past the forest.

Arcanist side, Elijah, Firebranded and Carlos were moving in the graveyard along with Arcanist strategy marker. They narrowly escaped an earthquake unleashed by Crooked Man. 

Eternal Flame, Fire Golem, Firestarter and Fire Gamin were about there in the middle, with my vendetta target Firebranded and Kaeris behind buildings.

Turn 2:

Kaeris activated first and set the world burning. Fortunately she wastes most of her action points on taking shots with negative modifiers against Midnight Stalker. This buys time for Dead Outlaw to run to safety, albeit on Burning +4 and injured +2. 

Firestarter flies to unreachable position behind a building. Crooked Man concentrates on earthquake attack and manages to stagger Carlos and Firebranded. 

Eternal Flame attempts to detonate some pyre markers, but isn't too successful at it. Montresor, however, takes a run towards Carlos and Firebranded in the graveyard to get them inside his nasty aura. 

I don't remember what Carlos did except for kicking arcanist strategy marker forward. 

Malifaux Child moves a bit forward and is Just Like Jack Daw, healing Montresor a little before being shot off the board by Firebranded. 

Guilty delivers a strategy marker to opponent's table half. Fire Golem draws away his fire and comes into contact with him. Instead of punching Guilty it kicks my strategy marker back to my table half. Midnight Stalker leaps to bring the marker back to scoring position, but so does Dead Outlaw's vendetta target Firebranded for Arcanist strategy marker. 

Elijah comes to charge Montresor, which invites Jack Daw to charge him and try to do some Guilt of the Many tricks without much of a success. At least Elijah got Curse of Reckoning. Dead Outlaw, however, was healed somewhat and assisted by Lady Ligeia, so I might have a shot at Vendetta later in game. 

Scores go 1-1.

Turn 3:

Just as I had managed to heal Dead Outlaw back to relative functionality, Kaeris activated and blasted a marker on top of Dead Outlaw and Lady Ligeia as well as dealing in some damage. 

Jack Daw replied in kind, dropping Curse of Reckoning also on Carlos and moving so that Draw Them In reached also Eternal Flame. So there were now three staggered models within 6" of Montresor.

Elijah activates and keeps swinging at Montresor despite hazardous gnawing him down to one health remaining. Then he heals for a bit by calling the Burning Man as well as giving Montresor and Jack Daw burning +2. 

Lady Ligeia moves in to get a little mileage out of betrayal aura. Firestarter makes a re-appearance and pushes Montresor full 5.5" away from his position. Yeah, that would have been 10" without the severe terrain.

Montresor walked and charged back.

Firebranded heals things with Embrace the Flame and walked away from the dreaded Montresor. 

I don't remember what Eternal Flame or Fire Gamin actually did, but Auguste sprang forth from inside the forest and tied them plus Firestrarter in melee by chasing some ghosts. 

Dead Outlaw's vendetta target came to push strategy marker deeper into Outcast territory. I figured this was my best chance of getting even one point out of Vendetta, so Dead Outlaw walked and charged, landing minimum damage on Firebranded, which was fortunately enough. 

Guilty had been trying to soften up Firebranded but didn't put his heart into it. But neither did Fire Golem in killing Guilty, who was left with Burning +3 and two health remaining thanks to an untimely black joker. 

Midnight Stalker brought Outcast strategy marker to Arcanist deployment zone. 

Carlos, seeing how his anger issues had almost killed Elijah, backed off to cool down a little, losing Curse of Reckoning and staggered far away from Montresor. 

Finally, Crooked Man walks a little and shoots Firebranded in the graveyard dead. 

By now I had zero models left without burning. 

But at least scenario game was looking good. Outcasts scored two points, one from strategy and one from vendetta. But Arcanists revealed Load 'Em Up with pyre markers.

Scores go 2-3 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Outcasts had one pass token from last turn. Opponent cheated on initiative with 13, and I had to do the same. Jack Daw let all hell loose, killing both Elijah and Eternal Flame and giving some anger issues to Firestarter. 

Firestarter shoots Dead Outlaw even more dead and escapes where his issues should hurt no-one. 

Auguste chases ghosts, freeing himself from melee and then walking and charging Carlos Vasquez. He could have died to Auguste's crazed swipes, but the attack missed and Carlos went butterfly jumped away. 

Firebranded healed something, and most unexpected MVP enters the match. Lady Ligeia misses Kaeris with projected voice and does one point of damage in melee. Yay. But, the thing was that neither Fire Golem or Fire Gamin were able to kill her from three hit points remaining despite she having Injured +2. Crazy. This wasted one action point from Kaeris, who then charged Montresor. 

After Kaeris had done her thing, Montresor was at four health remaining and Burning +11, with his demise ability used for the turn.

Midnight Stalker placed scheme in enemy deployment zone and Crooked Man kicked a strategy marker to enemy table half.

Opponent scored nothing, while Outcasts took strategy and Breakthrough. 

Jack Daw was at Burning +9, Montresor +11, Auguste at +7, Crooked Man and Midnight Stalker at +2.  Guilty had burned to crisp. 

Kaeris, Fire Golem and Fire Gamin were almost or entirely unharmed, although Carlos had taken heavy damage and Firestarter somewhat.

So, model-wise situation wasn't ideal. But scores went to 2-5 from strategy and breakthrough for Outcasts, and Arcanists didn't get schemes or strategies.

We didn't play last round.