My Very First Ashen Core

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 3rd edition, with the addition of terrain scaling and jumping from 4th.

Strategy: Standard Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Sweating Bullets, Information Overload, Power Ritual, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Leveticus, Pariah & 2x Hollow Waif
Rusty Alyce
Ashes and Dust
Marlena Webster
Vee
Soul Battery
Scavenger
Abomination

Pool: 2
Schemes: Sweating Bullets (Ashes and Dust), Power Ritual

Opponent had:

Kastore, Awakened & Marathine
Barbaros
Gwyll
Leech King
White Eyes
Cavern Nephilim
Urnbearer

Pool: 3
Schemes: Sweating Bullets (Barbaros), Information Overload

Turn 1:

Amalgam was quite evenly distributed along their deployment. From left to right I had Hollow Waif, Ashes and Dust, covering the bottom-left corner. Ashes left a scheme marker there, tool Rusty Alyce and Marlena were just beyond bottom-left corner's strategy marker, while Leveticus went already to cast a useless Soul Harvest. My idea was to limit regeneration overheals that way, but only Leech King actually cared about that.

Scavenger, Abomination and Soul Battery were around the centerpoint. Vee placed a scheme marker to bottom-right corner and took a walk forward, as I had no targets for intel gathering. Last Hollow Waif was at the right table edge, biding her time.

Most of Neverborn Resurrectionists walked and concentrated, plus had their overheal shenanigans. White Eyes was coming from the left, hugging table edge there. Cavern Nephilim was next, inside a ruined building. Leech King was behind the building, near  top-left strategy marker and Urnbearer next o Leech King. 

Gwyll went on top of building, next to top-right strategy marker. Kastore was a bit further on the same building, having enthralled Scavenger to charge Soul Battery. Barbaros was past the building, so all Returned henchmen and master was in top-right quarter, and Ashes and Dust for sweating bullets was in bottom-left corner. Yay.

Marathine had gone to place a scheme marker past centerline near center-right strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Leech King was able to summon a Giant Leech right next to Leveticus, who did two pings of Soul Harvest next, and finished off the Giant Leech with a lucky melee attack.

Cavern Nephilim does an Echolocation to Marlena, blasts damage to Alyce and uses its second action to maul her. White Eyes walked, charged Ashes and Dust and leaped to Rusty Alyce to attack her, too. And lands a Red Joker on damage. Damage block reduced that by two, armor by one and one was transfered to Marlena. It felt wild to mark only two boxes of damage from Red Joker.

Alyce has to stay in melee with both models to contest bottom-left marker... although I don't quite know why. I guess I still had some hopes to deny Returned a point. As even Vee took a walk, Gathered Intel for Soul Battery, and didn't get tomes for her own burial. Soul Battery rant to contest bottom-left strategy marker, too.

Urnbearer comes to contest center-left marker that was held by only Leveticus, so Ashes and Dust had to walk and charge her, not doing much. 

Kastore enthralls Abomination to slam a bush in front of it and charged the thing. Abomination survived, but was finished off by Barbaros.

Scavenger was staggered and stunned from last turn, so he wasn't able to do much.

Hollow Waif slammed a part of the hedge maze and takes a shot at Kastore, not doing anything.

Gwyll exists, staying disguised on top of a building.

End phase thing of Kastore drops third required marker for Information Overload reveal, and both crews get their strategy point for a 2-1 lead for Kastore.

Turn 3:

Bottom-left quarter sees some fierce combat. It takes the combined efforts of Rusty Alyce, Marlena Webster and Hollow Waif to finally kill the gravely injured White Eyes. Soul Battery doesn't do much of anything, but he does explode into two soulstones. 

Cavern Nephilim and White Eyes attacked Rusty Alyce, so much so that I was almost out of soulstones again despite Soul Battery's sacrifice. Last to join the fray was Kastore himself, who took a double walk and charged Marlena. I don't blame him, both Rusty Alyce and Marlena were starting to be low on health - but so were Cavern Nephilim and Kastore himself after a lucky shot from Scavenger's shotgun and Hollow Waif's gun.

Leveticus walked, pinged Leech King and Urnbearer for a point of damage, and killed Urnbearer with a strike. Leech King charged him, and so did Barbaros. Well, technically he charged Ashes and Dust, but that inbuilt Shove Aside is a thing. After Barbaros was done, both Ashes and Dust and Leveticus were low on health. Well, Ashes wasn't that low, but a bad Cage Fighter coupled with Black Blood might rob me of Sweating Bullets. So, Ashes and Dust just had to concentrate and shrug.

Scavenger and Vee were controlling center-right, Leveticus and Ashes and Dust the center-left. Cavern Nephilim had bottom-left all by itself, so both players got their strategy. Both also reveal Sweating Bullets, so scores go 4-3 for Kastore.

Turn 4:

Somehow Marlena Webster survived the onslaught of Kastore, and that spelled doom for Kastore. Sure, Returned master took kind of a risk, but Marlena was like down to three health or so - she should have been removed with four master action points. 

But instead Rusty Alyce and Leveticus make the Returned master Gone. 

Buuut... after Leech King and Barbaros were done, Leveticus was down to one health remaining and Ashes and Dust was transformed to Ashen Core and Dust Storm. 

Cavern Nephilim did a scheme and went on top of tower, still contestin bottom-left marker. This eventually forced Marlena to go contest it.

Vee had walked and healed Leveticus, and was contesting the center-right marker with Gwyll. Where did Scavenger go? Well, he was able to score Masks with Weird Device to get an 8" teleport, then walk to control top-right strategy marker.

This evened scores to 4-4.

Turn 5:

Barbaros sure enough killed Leveticus with bonus action and charged to beat Vee. Gwyll went to place a scheme, contesting center-right marker, but did so near enough Vee that she was able to engage both henchmen for Sweating Bullets.

Rusty Alyce walked within 6" of centerpoint and tried to finish off Leech King, but failed to do so. Instead the King engaged her. Giant Leech was also summoned.

Hollow Waif at one health remaining went on top of the tower where Cavern Nephilim was, but it took both of her actions. Fortunately Cavern Nephilim failed to kill her with one attack, so it wasn't able to drop a scheme. 

That was pretty much the last deciding factor, as now Marlena and Scavenger were able to deny Kastore the Information Overload.

Outcasts got Power Ritual reveal, and both players got Sweating Bullets end condition for a 6-5 victory for Leveticus. 

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.