Hatemail for the Four Winds

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Corner Plant Explosives

Schemes: Hold Up Their Forces, Information Overload, In Your Face, Ensnare, Power Ritual

My list:

Dr. McMourning with Killer Instinct & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Carrion Emissary
Rafkin
Kentauroi
Nurse
Little Gasser

Pool: 4
Schemes: In Your Face, Power Ritual

Opponent had:

Shenlong & 2x Aspiring Students
Sensei Yu
Banying
High River Monk
Charm Warder
2x Wandering River Monk
Low River Monk

Pool: 4
Schemes: Ensnare, Hold Up Their Forces

Turn 1:

McMourning kept spamming astonishing amounts of poison on his models (well, Rafkin did, actually), while Shenlong and other monks kept enlightening themselves in corner deployment - absolutely zero shots were fired between teams.

Kentauroi, Nurse and Zombie Chihuahua were going towards top-left corner. Little Gasser placed a scheme marker to my deployment corner and wobbled forward. 

Everything else was hanging around in the graveyard. McMourning crafted a soulstone out of a zombie Carrion Emissary propped up. One Mindless Zombie survived the turn.

A Wandering River Monk was going towards both top-left  and bottom-right corners, and everyone else meditating between them.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists got the initiative, and Kentauroi went to drop a scheme marker to top-left corner for Power Ritual.

After that, I tried to stall by activating Mindless Zombie, Zombie Chihuahua and Little Gasser, but opponent had Aspiring Students and other non-critical models to activate. I wanted models such as High River Monk and Shenlong to do their activations before committing to anything meaningful. But that plan had to be revised.

Carrion Emissary advanced next to a wall, concentrated and did a bunch of zombies. Before High River Monk would activate. Nurse sped up to Carrion Emissary for some Bedside Manner. Eventually this did save the bird after Shenlong and whatnot had shot the Carrion Emissary what they got. High River Monk then charged Emissary and did weak damage. But after second attack Nurse picked up the bird and cradled it away from danger.

McMourning did a thing, where he walked, ordered himself to walk a bit forward, dropped an explosive and charged Charm Warder. I didn't expect Charm Warder to die with one hit, but that just happened. 

A Wandering River Monk planted an explosive past centerline near top-left corner before walking back to safety.

Both players scored strategy, but Resurrectionists also got Power Ritual for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

Looks like third turn is missing a picture. 

Well, from my perspective one of the more pivotal moments was Fast High River Monk attacking the already injured Carrion Emissary, managing to kill it with flurry attack. There went my In Your Face end option.

To avenge that, Rafkin, Nurse and whatever I could conjure up spammed and stacked attacks and Poison on the High River Monk. Success rate was only moderate, but that was enough to soften up the target for McMourning to come and finish as one of my last activation for the turn.

Kentauroi placed another scheme marker and a strategy marker to top-left corner. 

Carrion Emissary's Zombies that now had a turn to activate went to stand on the explosive token McMourning had dropped to deny easy pick-ups. Sure, they died to whatever opponent directed at them, but at least they had to direct something at them.

Banying leaped to a scheme marker somebody... perhaps Yu? ... had dropped and went to tease my explosive carrying Little Gasser. Fortunately attacks didn't hit, but Little Gasser wasted his entire turn trying to pull off Pull My Finger -trick - failing both tries. 

Shenlong had Four Wind Punched McMourning and Sebastian both within 3" of two scheme markers, so there wasn't really a way I'd be able to deny Ensnare this turn. 

I was starting to run low on zombies to guard explosives, so Sebastian went to sit on the first one that McMourning had placed. I'm not sure if guarding explosives by sitting on them is the safest course of action, but whatever that works, I guess.

Both players scored strategy, and Ten Thunders scored Ensnare easily enough. Resurrectionists struggler with In Your Face, but eventually managed to get that for a 4-3 lead. 

Turn 4:

This turn McMourning went on an amazing rampage. He ordered himself to centerline to drop High River Monk's explosive, then charged Low River Monk, killing him in one hit. He had three health remaining, but he bought critical strike with a stone. There was still one Aspiring Student in McMourning's melee range, and that went down, too. While targets themselves weren't all that impressive to strike down, the fact that they hadn't been activated yet was a biggie.

Taking notes from Sebastian from last turn, Rafkin went to sit on an explosive. Wandering River Monk came to check if Rafkin was okay because that didn't look safe.

Shenlong Four Wind Punched McMourning into contact with Sensei Yu, so Hold Up Their Forces was secured for Ten Thunders.

Banying didn't do a particularly good job at getting rid of Little Gasser, so the other Wandering River Monk had to come and finish the guy who still wasn't finished with the Pull My Finger trick. 

Nurse was able to push Sebastian away from melee with Shenlong so that he was able to go and drop a strategy marker.

Kentauroi rode to Ten Thunders strategy marker, picked it up and went in position to drop it next turn.

Resurrectionists scored strategy, and finally Ten Thunders got their Hold Up Their Forces. Scores continued 5-4 in McMourning's favor.

Turn 5:

Resurrectionists had no trouble with getting the fourth point from strategy. But both scheme end conditions were out of question. 

Sebastian was able to kill Sensei Yu, and McMourning did the same to Nurse to deny a target for Ten Thunders schemes. But all that wriggling was in vain - three Four Winds Punches were able to deliver people and scheme marker to engage Rafkin and Sebastian.

That ability just blows (four times) my mind without a TN, with such a long range, high stat and no targeting restrictions. It managed to claw a close fought 6-6 draw for Douglas and Shenlong.

Tanuki On A Stick

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Corner Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Power Ritual, Ensnare, Espionage, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse
Gravedigger
Canine Remains

Pool: 3
Schemes: Ensnare, Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Hungering Darkness & Dark Bet
Gwyneth Maddox
Koji
Kara
Illuminated
2x Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 4

Schemes: Ensnare, Hold Up Their Forces

Turn 1:

Well, scheme pool... was. There was little sense in picking other than Ensnare and Hold Up. Both Power Ritual and Espionage required interacting in enemy deployment zone, and our crews weren't really specialized in getting there. Let Them Bleed wasn't appealing option either. Super-healing Rogue Necromancy was annoying for reveal, and not a bloody chance I would try to get Gwyneth down to half of her health remaining.

It's been a while since this game was played, so I'll have to be brief.

Resurrectionists had a nasty bottleneck right out of their deployment zone. McMourning was able to summon a Flesh Construct, and Sebastian did a Canine Remains, but there was a staggering blob of models in close proximity to each other in confined spaces. And Hungering Darkness had ran to center line, and I was worried that it might just walk and charge next turn to engage, like, Rogue Necromancy, Sebastian, Corpse Curator, McMourning, Nurse and two Canine Remains. 

So, summoned Flesh Construct went to engage and buy some time for the gathering to dissolve. 

Ten Thunders were spread out a little better, with Gwyneth and Illuminated going to top strategy marker, and Beckoner plus Hungering Darkness were near middle. Remainder of Honeypot was going  towards bottom-right quarter.

Turn 2:

Kentauroi picked up a Canine Remains, picked up an intel and backed off. Canine Remains was to pick up even more intel, but then Illuminated charged the dog. Although attacks missed, interacting was out of the question.

Flesh Construct did astonishing job at surviving - it ate up the entirety of activation of both Honeypot masters. Wow. I thought this opened up the game for McMourning to dominate the northern part of map by charging Illuminated. First attack hit and dealt respectable damage. However, next two attacks didn't pass Terrifying (10), and by then I no longer had cards in hand.

Too late I realized my mistake by disengaging Illuminated with Canine Remains - after all I had Hold Up Their Forces as one of my schemes!

Rogue Necromancy went to charge a Beckoner that was hanging around with Koji in between two strategy markers. Attacks did nothing, but Koji did a suspicious scheme marker next to Rogue Necromancy. 

Sebastian, Corpse Curator and summoned Canine Remains were holding back in the middle, unsure what to do. 

Kara had walked and charged Gravedigger, but not before she had done shenanigans to get an intel. 

Both players received strategy point, but Ten Thunders also got Hold Up Their Forces for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

McMourning managed to butcher up Illuminated this turn, as well as engaging Gwyneth. He had received a couple of brilliance tokens from cheating. Gwyneth and Beckoner drained most of Resurrectionists' soulstones by attacking McMourning. Nurse patched him up as well as she could and positioned herself for Bedside Manner as I was afraid Hungering Darkness would try to take out McMourning. 

However, my fears were unfounded when Hungering Darkness went to pick up intel from Kentauroi.

Kentauroi disengaged from Hungering Darkness, and failed its Ride With Me, so I could not bring it to engage Lynch. 

However, summoned Canine Remains and Corpse Curator were able to score Ensnare for me from Lynch. Jakob tried to murder Corpse Curator, which failed. He deliriously moved away from Corpse Curators melee range, which made Hold Up Their Forces hard to accomplish this turn. Sebastian still tried by using Blood Poisoning on Jakob Lynch, even buying the trigger with a soulstone to move Canine Remains into contact with Lynch. Failed.

Koji was able to pull of Ensnare before Rogue Necromancy activated. When it did, it failed to kill Beckoner, bringing her down to one health remaining. Beckoner disengaged before Zombie Chihuahua was able to stink her dead. 

Gravedigger wasn't able to shoo the big cat away with a shovel. In response, Kara brought Gravedigger down to two health remaining.

Resurrectionists scored strategy, and both players got their Ensnare for a 3-3 tie.

Turn 4:

Hungering Darkness finally turned its attention to McMourning, and so did Beckoner and Gwyneth. The good doctor was out of soulstones now, but still alive and kicking. Nurse healed Resurrectionists master for a bit and went to engage Hungering Darkness. Canine Remains picked up intel and went to engage Gwyneth, which was finally enough for Hold Up Their Forces.

Situation looked grim, but then Kentauroi stampeded Tanuki and skewered the little crap with filthy spear. Situation was all bright and sunshines after that. 

In the middle Lynch killed Corpse Curator and Canine Remains, and even had the action points to go and sit on a strategy marker that had been moved after Sebastian picked up intel. 

Rogue Necromancy went to kill the escaping Beckoner and the Chihuahua challenged Koji. Because that's what Chihuahua's do. 

Kara turned Gravedigger into a corpse marker, and it was time to tally the points.

Resurrectionists got their second scheme, but no other points were scored this turn. It was a 4-3 lead for McMourning..

Turn 5:

It was a meticulous turn for sure. 

Gwyneth tried to kill Canine Remains that had intel, but thankfully didn't succeed. I don't remember what Hungering Darkness did, likely attacked McMourning. But that situation was locked there now, as McMourning had to stay in place to block Beckoner's way to get to Canine Remains.

Lynch and Kentauroi weren't even activated before the remainder of turn was metaplayed.

Sebastian stole intel from Koji, who in turn had to escape from two ill-placed böryokudan scheme markers. 

Rogue Necromancy picked up intel and made a gambit to kill Kara with a single strike. It did not kill Kara with a single strike. Instead, the monstrosity offered itself as a force to be held up for Ten Thunders.

Resurrectionists were able to get their third strategy point, but neither end scheme got scored. Ten Thunders also got their second strategy point, but also managed to get Hold Up Their Forces for a 5-5 draw.

Second turn 4-4

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal. It was part of the Fractured Future global campaign.

Strategy: Wedge Plant Explosives

Schemes: Information Overload, Outflank, Sweating Bullets, Hold Up Their Forces, Ensnare

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi with Grave Spirit Touch
Nurse
Necropunk
Gravedigger
Little Gasser

Pool: 5
Schemes: Ensnare, Hold Up Their Forces
Thread: Wicked Whisper objective 1 (Two corpse markers within 3" of Nia)


Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki, Unseen & Chiyo
Bill Algren
K.O.T.O
Shojo
2x Bunraku
Tanuki
2x Geisha

Pool: 4
Schemes: Outflank, Sweating Bullets (Bill Algren)
Thread: Moonshine Madness objective 1 (opponent within 3" of Nia gains a condition during a friendly model's activation)

Turn 1:

Sebastian started by making a Canine Remains out of Gravediggers deployment corpse. The dog proceeded to take a chunk out of Corpse Curator, and went to drop it near Nia. Gravedigger did also went to drop a corpse near enough Nia to score fracture point. With Wedge deployment, not too much effort required.

But then Shojo activated and did the most horrible thing imaginable to the dog. She called it a bad boy. What a biting insult. Canine Remains was distracted, and opponent got their first fracture point.

Corpse Curator did a sludge marker and went to place a scheme marker to drag along later. Geisha lured Corpse Curator forward, and since neither Youko nor Bill had activated, I was worried for its safety. Dr. McMourning activated and went to threaten the entire damn Qi and Gong crew. What an ego. He also gave doctor's orders for Corpse Curator to back off. 

Bill did manage to land a hit on McMourning, but doctor just healed all damage in the end phase. 

Opponent had a Bunraku going towards both points where center line met board edge, which looked a lit like Outflank. I had Little Gasser going far right, where Chiyo and Bunraku seemed to be going. On the left, Necropunk and Bunraku were nearing the outflank point.

Kentauroi was the only model dropping an explosive token during first round, and was free to go either towards the center clump or Bunraku to left. 

But the middle. Yeah. Only one piece of size 1 blocking terrain was between McMourning and KOTO, both Geishas, Shojo, Bill, Youko and Tanuki. And that terrain was destructible, too. Even for McMourning that was kind of worrying prospect. 

Turn 2:

The situation in the middle? It was most likely the messiest melee I've seen in a while. 

Shojo was able to activate Boring Conversation early on, which became quite the nuisance. I made a plan: Nurse removes the terrain and pushes McMourning here and there right to Shojo, so I can remove such a devastating aura for mainly Wp 4 crew. I wanted until McMourning had some damage. However, it seemed that the longer I wait, the more debuffs came stacking in. Youko and Bill actually killed Corpse Curator and the Zombie Chihuahua, who had heroically charged headlong into melee against models with Disguised. At least it stank a little.

Opponent didn't seem that keen on killing my slow, 4x Distracted Canine Remains which was engaging KOTO. I suppose McMourning and Sebastian were more of a concern. However, that was excellent news for my Hold Up Their Forces. 

Eventually I did bring McMourning into melee with Shojo, using Nurse. However, by then McMourning had a few stacks of Distracted and also Slow. And there were two Geishas with Distraction aura, and the Boring Conversation. Before getting to Shojo I'd have to deal with Geishas. 

Fortunately one of them had received poison from Zombie Chihuahua, and dealt 25% of her health as damage via Catalyst. I had a 13 of Rams in my hand, so I was planning on securing a kill on that Geisha to at least do something. It was hideously expensive to kill that Geisha. McMourning had to use two soulstones to get straight, cheatable flips. One for Boring Conversation, another for attacking while distracted. And of course I had to use the 13 of Rams from hand. For a single strike against a four point minion! And yet, there was still another one of them. 

Well, I got only myself to blame here. I didn't anticipate that the entire goddamn Qi and Gong crew would pile up in the middle like that. Don't they have schemes to run?! However, I had no critical reasons to engage the hellish blob of debuff auras like that.

But now that I were there, why not bring Kentauroi there, too! It failed its attacks obviously, but the thing was to get Bill Algren engaged for Hold Up Their Forces. 

Before Dying, Corpse Curator had hauled a scheme marker near Bill, and I think it was Canine Remains who put another before going to engage KOTO.

Thus, Resurrectionists managed to reveal both of their schemes, strategy AND thread objective for a whopping four points on turn two.

However, opponent didn't fare any worse. Bunrakus were easily able to get Outflank despite Necropunk trying to engage it, and Gasser bluffing Outflank on the other flank. Bill Algren, the centerpiece model for both of my schemes, was also able to score Sweating Bullets for Qi and Gong. 

First, and possibly only 4-4 on turn 2 game of my Malifaux career.

Turn 3:

Qi and Gong had only one unspent pass token from last turn, and I felt like I really, really needed the initiative. I cheated Red Joker on initiative, but opponent cheated a 13. After re-flips I had to cheat a 13 from my hand to secure initiative.

Reason was to get rid of Distraction aura once and for all. The way how boring conversations benefit from distractions is beyond horrifying. McMourning was first to activate and remove Geisha from board before Shojo would start her ramblings. PHEW.

That... was just about the only good news this turn, though. Bunraku on right killed a bomb carrying Little Gasser before it was able to activate, and same happened with Bill Algren and Kentauroi. 

Whatever damage I was able to do was mostly healed. KOTO and Bunraku on right dropped strategy markers. Necropunk wasn't able to do enough damage to deny Bunraku on left robbing me of a strategy marker. 

Even a freaking tanuki nearly killed Nurse. However, all hope was not lost as Sebastian was able to dislodge himself from melee to drop a strategy marker next turn.

As Ten Thunders were able to deny Resurrectionists a strategy point this turn, scores went 5-4 for Ten Thunders.

Turn 4:

Well, it was all downhill from here. 

While Sebastian managed to drop strategy marker and charge to Youko, and survived admirably. 

McMourning summoned a Flesh Construct, gave Doctor's Orders to himself and went to place strategy marker before charging to Bill Alrgen. He even managed to land a devastating severe, but the damage was healed throughout ongoing turn.

Necropunk failed it's jump later in the turn, and decided to go and deny opponent Outflank. But this lead Qi and Gong not to pursue it at all, so Bunraku from right was able to re-deploy against Sebastian. Other Bunraku ran into my deployment zone.

But the most devastating activation came from KOTO, when it was able to drain life away from Gravedigger with two strums from its koto, despite penalties to damage flips. Ah well. It's not like I needed Gravedigger to score Ensnare easily next turn.

Both players get a strategy point, so Ten Thunders lead with a one point margin of 6-5.

Turn 5:

Sebastian survived Youko's onslaught, but she also moved a Bunraku away from Sebastian's melee, which meant it would have a free pass at going to rob me a strategy point. 

Because of that McMourning had to make a sacrifice - and managed to Black Joker his disengage. Second one succeeded, though, and he was able to give Sebastian Doctor's Orders to go and engage Bunraku. But, that was essentially McMourning's contribution. In the hindsight, I should have walked to block Bill Algren's way to another strategy marker of mine that had been blocked by McMourning and Nia. I just didn't take into account KOTO's ability to move Bill out of melee. 

I also messed up with Canine Remains that could have given me Hold Up Their Forces along with Necropunk it had stayed in melee with Shojo. But no, it went to engage Bill Algren instead because of... reasons.

So losing two points last turn was totally poor play on my part. Fortunately it didn't cost me the entire game, as 8-7 would still have been a loss for Resurrectionists. But in the end we were looking at a 8-5 victory for Ten Thunders.

McMourning For President

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Hold Up Their Forces, Deliver a Message, Espionage, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi with Killer Instinct
Nurse
Gravedigger
Little Gasser
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Rough Rider), Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
Jessie Halliday
Rough Rider
Cryptologist
Tanuki
Ruffian

Pool: 3
Schemes:

Turn 1:

Canine Remains took a bite out of Corpse Curator, and went to north-west marker. Gravedigger spammed Focust for most of my forces and took a double walk behind my crew, maybe still one day getting to a position to contribute to the game.

I had received four high masks in my starting hand, so Rafkin was able to accidentally drop four flasks of formaldehyde at his feet. Had opponent not had the ongoing threat of Sidir, that activation could have been Poison +9 for most of my crew. But I just didn't dare to bunch up like that.

Kentauroi took Rafkin along with a ride and walked within 2" of Canine Remains at north-west marker with the intention of going to top marker next turn.

Another Canine Remains went to south-west marker, and Little Gasser went to concentrate behind destructible boxes too far to walk and interact to either center or bottom marker. Nurse had earlier tried to push it here and there a little, but couldn't open the cap of the bottle.

Corpse Curator had gone to hide behind rocks near middle, and had Chihuahua with it. 

Opponent had been bunching up in the middle with Luna digging up a scrap and Lucas turning it into a Timeworn Blade for Sidir. He took Sidir for a ride, but fortunately wasn't able to place Sidir quite close enough to shoot EVERYTHING. Lucas, however, went to center ballot box and shot Rafkin staggered and slow with his net gun. Cryptologist was there in the middle, too. Tanuki had tried to motivate Sidir but failed.

Rough Rider and Ruffian were going to top marker. Jessie went to forest near center, while Desper LaRaux easily went past the centerline, within 1" of the bottom ballot.

Sidir was the last model opponent activated, and he swaggered a little forward and started shooting Rafkin. First attack was severe damage, how else. Second attack was mask triggered, so I was prepared to say farewell to Rafkin. But Black Joker saved him, and either the additional attack missed Kentauroi or all the damage was healed in the end phase. 

Dr. McMourning was the very last model to activate, and he gave Doctor's Orders for himself to go and make a health inspection to voters. And since brain is required for informed voting, he took out his skull saw to inspect Jessie's brains. Unfortunately one attack missed and another's damage was blocked in its entirety with a soulstone.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists managed to win the initiative, and McMourning tried to kill Jessie. He did get two attacks in and Jessie down to two health remaining. That's when he ordered himself to ballots in the middle to interact. Yeah. I completely forgot Precise ignores even hard-to-kill. Yay.

Sidir starts shooting Rafkin and kills him. Another shot goes to Kentauroi, making it slow.

Kentauroi then activates and shrugs off the slow. I was happily riding with Canine Remains until I realized that is also a bonus action. After some backtracking the centaur just went to interact with the ballots alone.

Luna dug up a scrap marker, and Little Gasser went to gas Jessie to one health remaining + poison from horrific odor. One health remaining and Catalyst nearby at least delayed her activation.

Lucas went next and brought Cryptologist closer with Ride With Me. He scrounged a Phantasmal Mask for Jessie and placed two votes in the ballots. So now was my chance to kill Jessie.

Zombie Chihuahua was not able to reach Jessie with its 0" melee range, but at least it could use Blood Poisoning. It succeeded with a focus, but damage was blocked with last soulstone opponent had. So, dog went closer and stank another poison for Jessie. 

I lost my chance to kill the henchman when Tanuki came to heal her next back to three health. 

Canine Remains on north-west counter placed a vote in and took hiding behind a small shack. 

Cryptologist started making cursed translations out of McMourning's prescriptions, and nearly killed Zombie Chihuahua in the process. Somewhat bothersome was Shielded +1 for Jessie. 

Ruffian and Rough Rider go to tease Kentauroi but in the end only manage to damage themselves with poison. 

Jessie disengages and tries to flare up Zombie Chihuahua and even shoot it with a harpoon, failing at both. 

Corpse Curator walks and charges Cryptologist, dealing a whopping two points through armor.Now the curator was in base contact with Cryptologist, with Poison +7 and even succeeded to leak out an additional point of poison for itself and Cryptologist via bonus action. Result: dead Cryptologist in the end phase.

Desper interacts bottom marker, leaps and charges Canine Remains. Fortunately the dog survives and even bites Desper back with four damage before healing back to full from poison.

Both players score strategy, and Corpse Curator and Canine Remains at Desper reveal Hold Up Their Forces for a 2-1 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Ruffian uses Chain Gang to dislodge himself from melee and interact to votes to top ballot box. McMourning went to finish what he had failed to do last turn and killed Jessie in two strikes. Having thus completed the health inspection, he charged Lucas to start checking if his brain is okay.

Desper killed the guard dog at south-west ballot box, interacted with it and leapt to my deployment zone.

I was afraid that Sidir would shoot Kentauroi, who was my best and only chance at scoring Take Prisoner and strategy. Corpse Curator went to attack him, and managed to make a Sidir-repellent sludge marker. 

Lucas, however, would deny that right next by hitting it with Bull Whip and moving its 0" melee range tad away from Sidir. He also tossed a timeworn blade to the henchman while dropping a vote to the box at the same time. Zombie Chihuahua had to save the Curator, and it took a double walk to shoot it with Blood Poisoning. 

Surviving Canine Remains behind hay shack tried to run to engage Sidir, but even with Mv 6 he was out of reach. At least the dog got close enough to deny any improper advances. Turned out that there were none - Sidir killed Canine Remains with a sword and started shooting McMourning and Corpse Curator whenever a random masks gave the option for him. 

Since most important Ten Thunders models had now been activated in the middle, I decided to make my gambit. Little Gasser went to interact with center ballot once. I didn't have masks in my hand for Nurse, but I waited patiently for one to come up in discard pile. 

Rough Rider started shooting Kentauroi, only getting enough damage in for Kentauroi to heal them all in the end phase. But most importantly, Rough Rider was now more than 2" away from Ruffian. Kentauroi rode to ballots to interact twice and was careful to position itself so that Deadly Pursuit would get it to engage Rough Rider. And there was a mask on top of discard pile, too, with no enemy models left that would likely give me any flips.

But then Tanuki activated. That stupid little furry drunkard charged Zombie Chihuahua, killing it in one inebriated strike, and continued to wobble through forest near middle. Aaaargh! No more masks on top of discard pile.

Well, at least Nurse got two focuses, so she tried to offer Little Gasser painkillers with focus. And so I lost my strategy point for the round - no masks for Pushed Here And There. Tanuki would pay for this! Nurse charged the drunken furball with anger issues to sedate it for good. First attack with focus hit for two points, and Tanuki was stunned. Second attack, now with negative modifier thanks to beer goggles, also somehow hit and gave me masks - making Tanuki also staggered.

Luna charged Corpse Curator and dragged it around the board with You're Coming With Me. 

So, I lost the scenario point but at least I did get Take Prisoner with Kentauroi's deadly pursuit.

Funnily enough, that deadly pursuit also gave Ten Thunders Take Prisoner, as they had it on Kentauroi.

Scores even out to 3-3. 

Turn 4:

McMourning starts the turn getting out of Lucas' melee with Doctor's Orders, and goes to check Sidir's brain. I would have really needed him to die and surely enough I got a stellar hand. But sadly so did opponent - Red Joker made Sidir to go only down to three health, with poison +1. 

Sidir activated next and while he didn't manage to kill McMourning just yet, the damage was serious. Opponent wasn't too scared of my 

Corpse Curator went into shenanigans mode, and put up its bonus aura, making Lucas not engage him.  Then he charged Lucas and brought Sludge Marker on top of the relic hunter and McMourning. It also tried to kill Sidir with its own Blown Apart -marker, but didn't score a hit. Oh no.

Fast Lucas activated next and finished what Sidir couldn't - it went to very last attack Lucas was able to make, but Doctor went down. He did get quite a few poison from that, though, until he was able to ride like the wind away from sludge marker. He also threw Timeworn Blade for Tanuki, presumably to make it fast to come and heal Sidir. But that was out of question - Nurse concentrated and put the final dose in to Tanuki healing it from breathing. 

Desper failed to leap. I don't know what he was planning, but at least now he just took a walk and a charge to middle, engaging Little Gasser. That was devastating, because Desper had no poison and was too far from Corpse Curator's aura anyway. No interacts for me this turn. Instead, Little Gasser disengaged and charged Sidir. Sure, Sidir would die to poison even if Little Gasser did only minimum damage of one. But, the gasball had taken lessons from Tanuki and slapped Sidir dead with frantic flailing. 

On top of things, Rough Rider and Ruffian had been shooting Kentauroi, bringing it as low as one hit point. The undead horse charged Ruffian dead with just one blow, and almost killed my Take Prisoner target with another charge. Whoops. 

Lucas dismounted when his horse collapsed from all the poison.

Thanks to Desper I didn't receive another strategy point even this turn. Ten Thunders also managed to surprise me with Let Them Bleed reveal, gaining a nasty 3-5 lead.

Turn 5:

It was quite the final round of voting in the middle, when Kentauroi first charged Rough Rider dead and rode like the wind away, then rode with itself a bit more and walked within 1" of center marker after Lucast had escaped from there. 

Corpse Curator also made sure it was in the position. 

Looking back now, I should have tried to scare Desper away with Little Gasser, but I had been saving it up for a potential Hold Up Their Forces grab. But it was not to be. Nurse made an exceptional activation when she gave two interacts for Kentauroi and healed Corpse Curator back to full, pushing herself to engage Lucas. 

Had I activated Little Gasser first, Desper could have only tried to kill Nurse. But now Desper was able to take two interacts and leap away - too far for Little Gasser to reach, and one vote from Gasser wasn't worth anything.

So, nobody scored anything in the last turn. Ten Thunders won 3-5. 

Jack the hitpot

 Two 50ss games of Malifaux during my traditional Kuhmo visit.

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Vendetta, Secret Meetup, Load 'Em Up, Assassinate

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Carrion Emissary
Rafkin
Nurse
Little Gasser

Pool: 2
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Rafkin & Little Gasser), Vendetta (Sebastian on Koji)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Koji
Kara
Mr. Tannen
Illuminated
Tanuki
Beckoner

Pool: 3
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Beckoner, ) Load 'Em Up (scheme)

Turn 1:

McMourning's crew was taking it slow. Both Rafkin and Sebastian were really, clumsy next to Rogue Necromancy, Sebastian, Rafkin, McMourning and Zombie Chihuahua. Unfortunately two out of five formaldehyde flasks failed to drop, so I didn't live the dream of getting to reshuffle my deck within first few activations of the turn. Oh well.

Lynch was doing his thing, dishing out brilliance to friendly models and giving them extra pushes. 

Kara went to place a scheme marker past centerline, and the rest of Ten Thunders were just bunching up and concentrating. Oh. Except for Hungering Darkness, who obeyed Carrion Emissary to Rot and Rend nearby Nurse. Damage ended up being severe, and blast clipped the bird itself.

 Koji was close to the middle, followed closely behind by Gwyneth and Beckoner. So close in fact, that the Emissary was able to pay back in kind and shoot Koji with the gun, and blast over Gwyneth and Beckoner. So... sixteen damage in first turn. Not a bad first appearance for Carrion Emissary, although seven of those were against frie

Hungering Darkness and Illuminated were already contesting the middle-right strategy marker, with Tanuki speeding towards bottom marker.

As the very last activation for the round McMourning went to create a Flesh Construct, who walked and charged Koji. 

Resurrectionists had a high profile first rank consisting of McMourning, Carrion Emissary and Rogue Necromancy in the middle, with most of my other models behind them. Little Gasser was biding its time, so it would be able to run within 2" of top strategy marker.

Turn 2:

A big turn for sure. Kara opened the turn by pouncing on summoned Flesh Construct's chest and tearing it apart for a bit. Flesh Construct activates right away while it still got time for it, and didn't do much damage in itself, but drained soulstones and high cards from opponent, who was trying to protect his henchman.

Lynch finishes the job on Flesh Construct and releases Hungering Darkness from engagement.

Carrion Emissary unleashes another devastating volley of Rot and Rend on Koji, scoring a moderate which meant nasty damage for Kara and Lynch. It also spawned zombies to engage Illuminated.

Carrion Emissary had proved to be such a scary model, and Hungering Darkness wasn't going to have any of it. It was in range to charge the big bird. Fortunately one attack failed to hit, because I would have lost my Emissary. It was sitting with one health remaining after Ten Thunders leader had done its thing. This forced my hand to activate Nurse, who managed to heal the bird only by one, but at least she got off a charge attack against Hungering Darkness that stunned the beast.

Illuminated killed both Mindless Zombies. Sebastian saw a chance to score Vendetta with using Blood Poisoning on Koji. He managed to bring him down to one health, and even Kara received damage from bone saw. 

Koji tried to shoot Sebastian, but didn't do much. Then it was Rogue Necromancy's turn to have probably most effective Projectile Vomit that it ever did. It concentrated and vomited over Lynch, scoring severe damage which meant two blasts. Koji and Kara died, and even Lynch took three damage from Necrotic Decay.

Tanuki came to heal Lynch, while Rafkin took double walk and transfused three poison from McMourning to Lynch.

Gwyneth charged Sebastian, and that deck of cards sure is more lethal than a pesky derringer. Sebastian was left reeling with one health remaining. For the second time ever I guessed right Hit the Jackpot and drew a card instead. 

Fortunately Paw Patrol was left to activate, so Zombie Chihuahua ran to offer Blood Poisoning for Sebastian, which healed him for five. So, he was in a fairly secured position. Or so I thought.

Beckoner lures him to hazardous terrain, and punches him essentially down to two health remaining. Two health points and in a hazardous terrain (Dmg 1, Injured +1) was not a good spot for Vendetta end condition carrier.

Fortunately McMourning makes an amazing activation, raining skull saw attacks on Lynch so that poison is enough to kill him in the end phase.

Little Gasser took a flight to top-left strategy marker. 

Situation looked harsh for Ten Thunders, but scores went even when both players received strategy, vendetta for Resurrectionists and hidden martyrs for Ten Thunders. 2-2

Turn 3:

Carrion Emissary tried to go to smack Tanuki a bit because that is a proper thing to do, but failed at everything except putting down some coffin markers. This resulted in Gwyneth butchering Sebastian. Good bye, vendetta points. Again I guessed right with Hit the Jackpot, so this is somewhat of a record for me.

To repay Gwyneth's insolence, McMourning gave himself some doctor's orders to leave the melee range of Hungering Darkness and remove last martyr of Ten Thunders - the Beckoner. He managed to deal damage to already damaged Gwyneth, who was left standing with two health points. Somehow I found the willpower not to try and kill her and instead walk to contest a strategy marker that Rogue Necromancy had been guarding for a couple of turns.

Hungering Darkness charged Carrion Emissary, and this time it smacked the bird dead with just two attacks, and was able to walk to contest the center-right strategy marker. 

Rafkin charged Illuminated, engaging Hungering Darkness just for the sake of it. He didn't hit. Unfortunately Illuminated went to attack Nurse. To remove additional targets around Rafkin the Hidden Martyr, Nurse pulled herself here and there with bottle of painkillers and went to charge Tanuki at bottom-right marker. This forced Mr. Tannen to come and claim the strategy marker.

A bloody game it had been. Neither player revealed more schemes, so scores went to 3-3.

Turn 4:

I had a good hand, but I blew most of the good cards in defending Rafkin. I wanted to waste as much action points from Hungering Darkness and Illuminated before getting him killed. And it worked rather well, Hungering Darkness and Illuminated needed all of their action points to finally score the kill.

McMourning killed Gwyneth, and took a run towards strategy marker in enemy deployment. 

Mr. Tannen and Tanuki were not able to kill Nurse at bottom marker, but neither was Nurse able to do anything useful. 

Scores went 3-5 for Resurrectionists, and as such we didn't play last turn. Ten Thunders had no plausible way to even the scores even if Resurrectionists didn't get any points, and scoring end condition from hidden martyrs was still possible for Resurrectionists anyway.

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Claim Jump, Detonate Charges, Outflank, Take Prisoner, Vendetta

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy with Effigy of Fate
White Rabbit Co.
Bete Noire
2x Flesh Construct
Dead Doxy
Rotten Belle
Dead Dandy

Pool: 4
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Outflank

Opponent had:

Perdita the Neverborn Hunter with Lead Linen Coat & Enslaved Nephilim
Francisco with Lead Linen Coat
Pale Rider
Guild Mage
Nino Ortega
Abuela Ortega

Pool: 7
Schemes: Claim Jump (Pale Rider), Outflank

Turn 1:

Perdita started the game by summoning a pistolero, the one that let family members ignore concealment. Guild kept their distance, and I certainly didn't want to give any easy shots for them. However, that still happened when a Flesh Construct went near the middle of board. Nino and Pale Rider took a few shots at it, but thankfully damage was low and Madame Sybelle managed to pull a heal with Undivided Attention.

Another Flesh Construct went to place a scheme marker past top-left strategy marker. Dead Dandy went to interact with that strategy marker, and turned the scheme into a launching pad for Bete Noire. Nino and Pale Rider were there on top-right marker.

At the bottom of things, Dead Doxy and Rotten Belle took the bottom-left marker and had big plans for outflanking. 

Remainder of my crew were in the middle, with Carrion Effigy just concentrating and doing nothing behind dense clouds. White Rabbit Company had crafted a fine hat for Bete Noire, who had ran to middle to possibly act as a bullet sponge next round.

Guild had Francisco coming from the bottom-right, with the remainder of their crew in a not-dense cloud effect packed like sardines. I've been told Flesh Constructs absolutely loathe sardines and are ready to puke from the slightest mention of those...

Turn 2:

Perdita summons the pistolero that reduces blast damage. So, suddenly it looked far less of an option to use projectile vomit with bazillion blast templates over six enemy models when they'd just receive no damage or extra effects - at all.

Perdita managed to shoot the hat off of Bete Noire, but White Rabbit Company demonstrated that there were plenty of those hats where they came from.

Nino shot  Dead Dandy off the board, and Pale Rider and a couple of Pistolero de Latigos did the same for Flesh Construct in the middle. Unfortunately kill shot came from Pistolero, so the upgraded Pistolero got an upgrade.

Francisco landed a horrifying severe+1 on Bete Noire. Fortunately I had chosen Fade Away, but on top of that she also had to discard her second fancy hat. What is this thing happening in here? I was sure Guild keyword was Family and not Fashion Police.

I figured that I just needed to play my game and let Family shoot my crew to pieces and hope for enough points via schemes. And at least outflank reveal wasn't hard to get this round, with Flesh Construct going top and Doxy going bottom. Rotten Belle also went to place a scheme marker that hopefully would be detonated one day.

Madame Sybelle was in contact with the middle strategy marker, and had turned it over for Resurrectionists.

Then we had a little mix up when Bete Noire charged Nino from Flesh Construct's corpse. We had forgotten it had Shielded +1. and Bete had scored exactly enough damage to kill Nino. She used last action to concentrate when we still thought Nino was dead. But come next turn, I realized Nino had been shielded. The best backtrack we could do was putting Nino back on table with one health remaining. 

Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

It's big bird time, when Carrion Emissary hatches from Effigy. 

But, Perdita opens the turn by summoning a third model. She then starts taking trick shots at Bete Noire - thankfully none of which manage to land that stun.

Bete Noire butchers Nino this time for real and just concentrates, because not much use in trying to attack the Pale Rider. 

Pale Rider shoots Bete Noire, who fades away, leaving Pale Rider free to ride to strategy marker that had been switched to neutral, and flip it back to Guild's possession.

White Rabbit Company gives a comfortable hat for Madame Sybelle, who then had the difficult choice between trying to score Detonate Charges with her hat, or charge in the thick of Guilders. She chose violence, because I wanted to remove Guild Mage. Both her attacks did hit, but took off only four points of Mage's health.

Doxy placed a scheme marker for Outflank. Situation looked hopeful when Francisco didn't succeed in killing Rotten Belle, but then Abuela took a shot with her shotgun, killing the meatshield. Would Doxy survive two full rounds against Francisco, protecting the scheme marker? Only time would tell.

The summoned gang shot White Rabbit Company to pieces and went to switch middle marker to Guild. Carrion Emissary had to take a double walk to get within 6" of Flesh Construct who had earlier been doing some outflanking to provide +1 movement for the experimental minion. This enabled it to do a double walk and interact top-left strategy marker back to Resurrectionists. 

Both players scored strategy for a 2-3 lead for Resurrectionists.

But the start of turn 4 seemed rather grim for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Madame Sybelle killed Guild Mage and tried to retreat into position where her fine hat would perhaps give a point from Detonate Charges. But that did not happen.

Pistoleros, Monster Hunters and Pale Rider shoots dead Carrion Emissary, who had flown to outflank area to place a scheme marker. One Pistolero grew to a Monster Hunter, which I suppose is fair - after all, it killed a gosh darn Carrion Emissary! Can't get much more of a monster than that. 

Flesh Construct flipped top-left marker back for Resurrectionists after it had become neutral from Emissary's death, and ran behind dense clouds to hide from Family's ranged attacks, hopefully getting a point from Outflank last round.

Perdita summoned even more Pistoleros, and then she, Francisco and the Pistolero and Abuela killed Dead Doxy. Thankfully she had managed to navigate Francisco in to a position for me to score Detonate Charges, but that meant I lost any chance for scoring Outflank end condition.

Bete Noire appears from Guild Mage's corpse and goes to flip bottom-right strategy marker from Guild to neutral. Thus, no points for build but one for Resurrectionists from Detonate Charges.

Scores go 2-4 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

A Pistolero goes to engage Flesh Construct behind the clouds, and the rest of summoned gang sets up markers for Outflank.

Perdita uses trick shot to stun Bete Noire, which essentially takes my star player out of the game. At least she was able to go back to strategy marker and flip it out of spite for Resurrectionists.

Then Francisco placed another scheme for Outflank and shot Bete Noire dead. I had the option to threaten the middle area with Madame Sybelle with my stack of six pass tokens, but I thought as far as points go, it's essentially the same to deny a point from opponent. 

Madame Sybelle takes a double walk and swings her lash at Abuela, dealing some four points of damage. In hindisght, I probably should have went to cover the strategy marker entirely with Sybelle's melee range, as opponent was able to a por el and frighteningly remind Abuela closer to strategy marker and out of Madame's melee range. It wasn't a big sliver of marker Abuela had to work with, but it was enough to tag it for Guild.

Pale Rider rides to marker in the middle, thus scoring Claim Jump end condition. 

In one fell swoop, points went from 2-4 to 5-4 for Guild. 

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.

Doggo knows some tricks

 Had a 35ss game of Malifaux over Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Corrupted Idols

Schemes: Breakthrough, Assassinate, Claim Jump, Take Prisoner, Dig Their Graves

My list was:

Dr McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Corpse Curator
Flesh Construct + Killer Instinct
Guild Autopsy
Little Gasser

Stones: 3
Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Assassinate

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki & Chiyo Hamasaki
Bill Algren
Kabuki Warrior
2x Bunraku
Tanuki

 Stones: 1
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Corpse Curator), Breakthrough

Turn 1:

The map was... quite something for Corrupted Idols! First idol came to being from bottom table edge, which was kind of out of my reach as I had deployed in a nicely poisonable little clump in the middle. 

Sebastian did the Sebastian thing and spent 60% of my hand in the first activation. 

Chiyo and Bunraku were moving on top of the map and had two idol spawn location all for themselves when Youko owned a well-riddled Corpse Curator that I had brought on train within killing distance of Bill and Kabuki Warrior and Tanuki. 

McMourning had to activate and give Doctor's Orders for the Curator. Bill tried to challenge it and Kabuki Warrior lured it back into melee with Youko. 

One Bunraku was running to Corrupted Idol below, and remainder of my crew were crawling in forests and train platforms in the middle.

Turn 2:

Idol dropped in the middle.

Corpse Curator activated first and tried to plant a hazardous terrain over Youko, Bill and Tanuki but even with soulstone I had not been able to get a crows into my hand. And yes, it failed to do that naturally.

Kabuki Warrior surprisingly took a walk back and lured Corpse Curator past hazardous razor wire. Smells like prisoner.

I figured I would be able to try to start softening up Youko with Flesh Construct and afterwards heal with Blood Poisoning... but turned out that Bill Algren took the thing down with just two attacks. And even challenged Dr. McMourning when I was low on cards in my hand.

Feeling the need to keep Bill and Youko engaged, McMourning then charged Bill, scored three points in and would have killed Bill if it wasn't for the only soulstone Ten Thunders had available. I suppose Dr. McMourning didn't have proper yellow overalls and a katana. He also gave doctor's orders for Corpse Curator, because I suspected Take Prisoner. 

Bunraku on top came over train carriage platform and lured Corpse Curator next to it, so there was little I could do to stop Take Prisoner now.

Zombie Chihuahua ran next to Youko and unleashed its horrific odor. 

Youko did what you usually do when you're confronted by a mad doctor with bonesaw and an aggressive chihuahua chewing at your feet. She told the dog to play dead with her cutting words, and did the doggo know this trick! Proudly it demonstrated its skills for. All. Eternity. Next she starts asking riddles from Dr. McMourning. I guess along the lines of "Your dog just died but did I kill it?" 

Sebastian walks so so slooooowly on top of train carriage, and Bunraku below throws a Corrupted Idol to my side. Little Gasser charges Bill in hopes of trickling in some damage. Well, it failed, but at least there was now another source of horrific odor.

Chiyo cautiously walks towards my deployment zone, well past the center line. Deployment zones in the image are shown as flank, because the corners tell nicely where to put the strategy marker. Guild Autopsy goes to guard middle-down strategy spawn point.

Scarily enough, points go 0-2 for Ten Thunders and Resurrectionists are already down two models.

Turn 3:

Corrupted Idol enters play middle-down.

Because of number disparity, I really needed to start thinning down the Ten Thunders model count. McMourning managed to kill Bill after transplanting his distractions away to Little Gasser. 

Bunraku on top starts swinging at Corpse Curator and managed to stun it and shove it to the other side of the train. My plan had been to move it to cover Kabuki, Tanuki and Youko with Cursed Sludge. Then Little Gasser would have been able to place a scheme marker in anticipation of Dig Their Graves.

So, instead I secured my first strategy point with Guild Autopsy. 

Kabuki Warrior then comes and kills Little Gasser. I start spending my pass tokens, and Bunraku comes and kills Guild Autopsy. Chiyo runs to my deployment zone, and Sebastian lobs a flask of formaldehyde into the brawl in the middle.

Tanuki tries to heal Youko, and secretly I pray to whatever tyrant that is looking favorably over Dr. McMourning's ordeals - and yes, Tanuki heals only for one point. This meant that poison condition would bring Youko to assassination threshold. Then Tanuki charged McMourning and even did some damage before disengaging.

Scores even out to 2-2.

Turn 4:

Ten Thunders wins initiative, so Youko took a run away from the action. 

Sebastian charged Bunraku below, but caused only one wound in - but with poison. With catalyst, Bunraku would not be able to use risky manouvers to get out and toss my idol away. 

Kabuki Warrior did some impressive damage to Dr. McMourning.

Corpse Curator disengaged and charged Youko, no succeeding and once again I had no crows in my starting hand for hazardous terrain. At least one additional poison was caused.

Tanuki activated next to heal Youko, and doctor was not far away, swinging his bone saw. But Tanuki was able to dodge the attack.

Remaining Bunraku committed suicide by jumping off the train, running through razor wire, doing some risky maneuvers and finally tossing corrupted idol in the middle to my side. 

Scores go 2-4 when opponent gets Corrupted Idols and Breakthrough.

Turn 5:

Resurrectionists win initiative. I was pondering if I should activate Corpse Curator or McMourning first. I picked the wrong one, Corpse Curator. It finally places its first sludge marker during game, woohoo! Then it places scheme marker and tries to attack Youko. Looking back at the picture now at the time of writing I realize what I should have done instead - instead of useless attack at Serene Countenance model, it should have taken a little walk to block off Youko's escape. 

Now, she just ran away full speed nonstop. 

Sebastian tossed an Idol to Ten Thunders side and walked for a bit to deny Kabuki Warrior from running to deny him. Instead, Kabuki Warrior ran to engage Corpse Curator. 

McMourning disengages and of course that ABOMINABLE FREAKING FURRY COSPLAY UGLY HAT MONSTER shaves off two inches off of Dr. McMourning's movement. That was exactly enough to make it really difficult to get within clear 8" of Youko for a Focused Blood Poisoning.

Instead I resorted to moving away from Kabuki Warrior with Doctor's Orders and trying to transfer seven poison to her for a grand total of twelve, but it was not to be. 

Game ends 3-5 when opponent gets a point from Take Prisoner, and I get the strategy point.

All in all, I think Youko teaches an important lesson here. Remember kids, if you encounter a manic looking twitchy doctor in dark alley who wants to give you a new transplants free of charge, run. Each step is crucial. At most you'll have time for some backroom dealings along the way.

Remember Dismember

A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Symbols of Authority

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

My list:

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

Stones: 7

Schemes: Vendetta, Hidden Martyrs

Opponent had:

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

Stones: 6

Schemes: Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs

Turn 1:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

The Jorogumo kills the wrong puppy for me.

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

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

Scores go 1-0 for Ten Thunders.

Turn 3:

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 4:

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

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

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

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

Turn 5:

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

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

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

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