My Teddy Wants To Tell You Something

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Standard Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Deliver a Message, Hold Up Their Forces, Death Beds, Espionage, Protected Territory

My list:

Molly with The Whisper & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Rogue Necromancy
Keepside Strangers
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
Crooligan
Enslaved Spirit

Pool: 5
Schemes: Deliver a Message (Crooligan), Protected Territory

Opponent had:

Shenlong & 2x Aspiring Students
Sensei Yu
High River Monk
Thunder Archer
Fermented River Monk
2x Wandering River Monk
Low River Monk with Trained Ninja

Pool: 4
Schemes: Protected Territory, Espionage

Turn 1:

Monks started concentrating on their Chi, barely exiting their deployment zone. Except for that one Wandering River Monk that ended up less than five inches away from my deployment zone. Although Night Terror helped the guy a little. Presumably the flapping of bat wings inspire butterfly jumps. 

Early on Molly took a double walk to within 2" of center-left strategy marker and concentrated to spread some Lethe's Caress. I don't think anyone took the damage just yet, though, but at least it complicated Chi generation.

Monks had bunched up nicely. Stone pillar hides Shenlong himself and Aspiring Student from the picture. I was concerned about High River Monk and his ruthlessness, so that's where Keepside Strangers aimed their snakes at. Attack hit and dealt moderate damage, the blast splashing on Aspiring Student. 

I was tempted to try and finish off those two, but eventually walked Keepside Strangers away so that Thunder Archer would have to walk to get within range. And so it did, dealing two points through Shielded. 

It was probably Low River Monk that healed Aspiring Student so that it would not die to poison. Opponent was now wary of blasts, and moved Sensei Yu to contest top-right strategy marker instead of standing in the middle of everything.

And that was when Rogue Necromancy did Projectile Vomit on Yu, dealing three points to him and two blasts reached Low River Monk and Thunder Archer. 

For sure it was oppressive situation for Monks. Especially after Necrotic Machine went to heal the only damage Resurrectionists had taken. And High River Monk was at one health remaining, Sensei Yu had taken four, and some random points here and there. I also had a pass token.

Turn 2:

So I got the initiative easily enough. I had some options how to deal with High River Monk, and I decided to jam Rogue Necromancy in the middle of enemy crew. I figured I might lose Rogue Necromancy because of that, but at least it would considerably slow down Ten Thunders strategy options. 

Rogue ambushed, walked over the small wall section and charged High River Monk, using focus point. Stat 6, three cards, bonus to damage flips. Had a 13 in hand. Everything. 

Black Joker. Bad things happen, yeah.

Low River Monk did a double heal on High River Monk, healing it back up to five. 

Next Shenlong would have ample time to heal just about everyone, so Molly had to activate next and premonition her cards away. First she did two damage with Disturbing Story, and remaining three came from another Disturbing Story that needed a cheat. 

Shenlong probably healed Thunder Archer for a bit and switched his fighting style to that horrifying dragon kick thing. Two hits landed on Rogue Necromancy, some of which was healed by Necrotic Machine.

So, in the end, Rogue Necromancy died on turn two. But at least it took, uh, two actions from Shenlong, two actions from an insignificant totem and two actions from Fermented River Monk. Oh. Right. So nothing to write home about.

At least handful of snakes scored a big one again, damaging Thunder Archer and blasting Low River Monk dead. They even had time to place a scheme marker next to center-right strategy marker. 

Thunder Archer was no slouch either, removing Enslaved Spirit with a single shot and killing it again with target practice. 

A Wandering Monk leaped to bottom-left strategy marker and placed a scheme to my deployment. The other one did a scheme to centerline, too, so looked a bit like Espionage. Philip & Nanny was able to slow somebody with a question, and remove an enemy scheme marker, which by the time had been the one in Ten Thunders deployment zone. 

Rabble Riser redirected itself from centerline to attack the Monk that had jumped to bottom-left. I believe he missed his attack. 

However, Enslaved Spirit and Night Terror had procured Protected Territory for me, and Crooligan teleported to hand over a message to Shenlong. I was controlling at least one strategy marker, not sure about the one Yu is standing next to. 

That was a 3-1 lead to Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Aspiring Student started beating a kid in the face with the pointy end of a broom. That's how students aspire these days? Dragonfly kick even set her and her teddy bear on fire. She figured out her messages were not appreciated, teleported to Philip & Nanny and went to place a scheme marker and contest top-left strategy marker. One problem, though. She had Burning +2, one health remaining.

Necrotic Machine and Molly tied their best at taking down Sensei Yu. But damn those chi tokens. Not a single injector broke Yu's skin, and his mind was fazed only a little by Molly's disturbing stories. Juggernaut healed back whatever she managed to do. He was able to kill Keepside Strangers before they were able to activate.

Night Terror walked to assist Crooligan with her burning, but managed to smother only the teddy bear. Not the kid herself. It tried to take better cover with reposition from Negation Aura. 

However, Yu had given Fast to Thunder Archer. He walked back to Ten Thunders deployment and took two shots at the bat. One attack hit, and dealt weak damage, so Night Terror was down to two health remaining.

Philip & Nanny managed to kill an Aspiring Student that had charged them. As I didn't want Shenlong to come and engage top-left corner marker, they Pram-Rammed Shenlong.

That backfired, when Shenlong used four winds punch to push the prams away - and one of my scheme markers to centerline. Ten Thunders master gave an interact for Thunder Archer, andwalked to contest center-left marker instead. 

Rabble Riser didn't manage to finish off a Wandering River Monk. He needed a moderate for that. Didn't get. And instead, the duo kicked the Riser out of Rabble. 

Resurrectionists got a second strategy point, while Ten Thunders claimed their first. They also got Protected Territory, so they caught up a little, to 4-3 lead for Molly.

Turn 4:

Then, things went wrong for Resurrectionists. It took every damn action point I had on board to kill Yu. Finally it did happen, but I wasn't able to play for points... much.

Shenlong switches to the unpredictable river style, and, huh. YEAAH. Molly had graciously even gifted Shenlong Distracted beforehand so that she was pretty much doomed. After spending most of my soulstones, Molly was still standing with five health remaining. But another such barrage next turn... I didn't look forward to that.

Thunder Archer shot Night Terror dead, and Remaining monks just schemed as if their lives depended on it. 

Both players scored strategy, for a 5-4 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

Thunder Archer's Target Practice was my biggest concern right now, so Necrotic Machine healed Molly for a couple of points and walked to charge Thunder Archer. The archer had one health remaining from all the Lethe's Caress procs. But that one health was too many - it might just disengage and shoot my scheme markers anyway.

Philip & Nanny was able to activate before Archer did and gave Slow for it. No damage though, since the damn thing had no melee range, so wasn't engaging anyone for the damage instance from One More Question.

Shenlong made a gambit and tried to hit Molly twice with four-winds punch to get my scheme marker away from where it should be. Second punch failed to connect - that style is far more predictable with Serene Countenance than the drunken swings Shenlong was doing earlier. 

Molly was able to spend pass tokens and wait until all the monks had done their things. She removed the only scheme marker opponent had on the centerline She was, however, both stunned and staggered, so she wasn't going to make it to top-right strategy marker with two actions even if she disengaged successfully.

Ten Thunders got third strategy point and Protected Territory.

Resurrectionists got either Deliver a Message or Protected Territory, but not both. So, it was a 6-6 draw.

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.

Christmas in a Pine Box

 Some Christmas games of Malifaux.

First game:

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

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

My list:

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

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

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 2
Schemes: Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual

Turn 1:

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 3:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 4:

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

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

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

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

Turn 5:

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

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

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Cloak and Dagger

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

My list:

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

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

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 3
Schemes: Outflank, In Your Face

Turn 1:

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

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

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

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

Another Crooligan teleported to Noxious Nephilim to walk and scheme.

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

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

Turn 3:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 4:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 5:

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

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

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

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

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

True Vendetta

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Guard the Stash

Schemes: Assassinate, Vendetta, In Your Face, Secret Meetup, Hidden Martyrs

My list:

Molly with Grave Spirit Touch & Necrotic Machine
Rogue Necromancy
Carrion Emissary
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Bone Pile
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Bone Pile & a Crooligan), Vendetta (Emissary on Arik)

Opponent had:

Von Schill & Trunk
Arik Schöttemer
Hannah Lovelace
2x Freikorps Librarian
2x Freikorpsmann

Pool: 6
Schemes: Vendetta (Arik on Carrion Emissary), Assassinate

Turn 1:

Looks like I somehow managed to get over 50% of the models hidden behind terrain in the first picture. Oh well. 

Various blast abilities of Freikorps seemed rather scary, and Asami had taught me earlier a lesson or two about clumping my crew in wedge deployment. So, instead, I clumped my models during activation phase. 

Crooligans had deployed to far left and right. Non-martyr Crooligan was further up the board on the left, so close that a Freikorpsmann and a Librarian went to hunt him. Librarian gave one heck of a lecture to the Crooligan and flipped moderate damage of four despite negative modifiers with ancient words. Had the kid been alive, he'd probably have been a goner after that.

Neither my hand nor the cards with Whisper gave a summon option for Forgotten Marshal, so it just walked and concentrated. Arik came to blast him with that absurd shockwave 3. 

Carrion Emissary who had Vendetta on Arik had already activated earlier to make some zombies for blasphemous rituals and whatever Bone Pile wanted to do with them. Still I considered it worthwhile to start softening up Arik. Rogue Necromancy managed to make Arik slow, and Molly told the henchman a staggeringly disturbing story. I bought the Masks with soulstone, because I wanted to lock Arik in place for Vendetta.

Then Arik was healed back to almost full health, and given assault shield. Damn... that Vendetta was going to be tough to score.

Von Schill himself, on the other hand, nearly killed Rogue Necromancy with just two shots. The beast went to one hit point, so I had to commit both Necrotic Machine and Bone Pile to heal it. Now there was a nice blob of both my healers, master and a tanky beater in the middle. 

Turn 2:

Slow and staggered Arik stayed put. However, I needed to wait for opponent to empty his hand a little for some additional disturbing stories.

Forgotten Marshal was able to summon a Night Terror, although Arik's Gravity Well forced me to place it behind Forgotten Marshal so that when it discarded a card via calm their madness and pushed, Night Terror had to do so through Forgotten Marshal. 

Freikorpsmann to the left killed Crooligan with a revolver shot. Maybe the kid should have listened to what Librarian had to say, I don't know. That shot just seemed unnecessarily brutal. Summoned Night Terror tried to avenge the Crooligan, but didn't.

I think it was another Freikorpsmann that shot a Mindless Zombie dead.

Finally opponent had played enough cards, and Molly could start telling stories to Arik. She did that twice and brought Arik down to one health remaining. Idea was to force opponent to heal the henchman, and then come and shoot the vendetta point with Carrion Emissary.

But... opponent didn't. So I couldn't activate Carrion Emissary.

Von Schill was shooting Molly, but she had astonishing luck with soulstones blocking the damage. Martyr Crooligan started to run towards opponent's right strategy marker to offer herself as target practice, but nobody was interested in her.

Finally opponent started healing Arik, and Emissary was able to try its shot. But thanks to assault shield, it needed a severe to score even a single point of damage. As expected, that did not happen. At least Bone Pile managed to break Arik's assault shield, still with zero damage being dealt. 

At least Carrion Emissary was able to deny a strategy point for Outcasts, so scenario went to 1-0 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

I considered that I needed to remove Arik's assault shield before I could realistically charge Arik with Carrion Emissary and deny heals for the rest of turn. So, Rogue Necromancy charged Arik and managed to wreck the upgrade. And then Schill's totem just put it back. Will this never end?!

Von Schill shot Bone Pile down to one health, and I think it was one of the Freikorpsmenn who shot Necrotic Machine off the board. Yikes. There went most of my healing capabilities. 

Bone Pile removed a mine field that Arik had set up and buried itself. The second martyr, Crooligan, went to enemy right marker to hopefully lure somebody to kill her. Didn't work. 

Night Terror managed to kill the other Freikorpsmann on the left with a lucky Red Joker on damage. So it was the first kill for my crew. Not the last this round, though, when Molly told horrific stories to the second Freikorpsmann who just couldn't handle them and died. 

Despite all of my efforts, eventually Carrion Emissary just had to walk and charge Arik and hope for a moderate damage to get through shielded. Still no such luck.

One of the Librarians tried to shoot the martyring Crooligan with a rocket launcher, but missed. 

Marshal summoned a Rabble Riser, whose contributions for the turn were negligible. 

Both players get a victory point from strategy, but there were still no schemes revealed. Resurrectionists had the lead at 2-1. 

Turn 4:

Carrion Emissary finally scores the required point of damage for vendetta. 

Von Schill and Hannah maul Molly rather badly - in fact down to one health remaining. Can't have luck with damage blocks without soulstones. 

Molly unburied to martyr Crooligan and regenerated back to three health. She took a walk towards action, but then I realized I could deny a point from assassination by running her as far from everything as possible. Although this meant that she'd contribute nothing on last turn.

Since Librarians couldn't heal Arik, they kept spewing ancient words at Carrion Emissary, with not much of a result. Emissary had taken four points of damage, so any damage in by Arik would have given vendetta for Outcasts. But in the end, damage was zero.

Despite heal negation aura, I couldn't remove Arik even with combined efforts of Emissary, Rogue Necromancy and Forgotten Marshal. 

Summoned models were teasing one of the Librarians in back rank, but their accomplishments weren't all that impressive. But at least Bone Pile, who popped up from dead Crooligan's body, went to get my third victory point from strategy. 

Scores went to 4-2 for Resurrectionists when both players got one scheme and Ressers got their strategy.

We didn't play the last round. While Outcasts had a chance good enough chance for a draw, so had Resurrectionists in getting either Hidden Martyrs reveal or end this round.

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.

Phantasmal Faded Timeworn Sidir

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Corner Carve a Path

Schemes: Load 'Em Up, Public Demonstration, Vendetta, In Your Face, Secret Meetup

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Noxious Nephilim
Archie
The Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Bone Pile
3x Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Public Demonstration (Crooligans & Bone Pile), Vendetta (Bone Pile on Tannenbaum)

Opponent had:

Explorer's Society
Lucas McCabe Relic Hunter &  Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Jessie Halliday
Tannenbaum
Rough Rider
Cryptologist
Hopeful Prospect
Ruffian

Pool: 4
Schemes: Vendetta, In Your Face

Turn 1:

First round Noxious Nephilim walked to right from my top corner and kicked strategy. Crooligan was hiding behind top hill waiting for Nephilim to pass the ball. 

Archie was somewhere in the middle, ready to go where required.

And everything else was going down, left from the train. One Crooligan in the middle was taking some random fire from Explorer Society, but that didn't amount to much. A Night Terror had been summoned to the gathering, too. Fortunately Jessie and McCabe had blocked Sidir's 40mm base to get to perfect shooting positions.

Ruffian and Rough Rider were taking a strategy marker top, where Crooligan and Nephilim were going. Cryptologist and Hopeful Prosepct hanged about middle, and the remaining Explorers were coming at my Molly's throng.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists win initiative, and Archie launches itself at Rough Rider and Ruffian. Two attacks, however, were not enough to remove either model. In fact, no damage was done at all at least to health. Opponent did at least burn multiple severes from his hand.

First turn Sidir had been given Timeworn Blade, and now it was time for Phantasmal Mask. I guess I was fortunate that he only killed summoned Night Terror. After his activation Sidir was back to eight health despite getting a severes and whatnot from Forgotten Marshal.

Who summoned Rabble Riser, by the way.

After Sidir activated Crooligan came to steal one soulstone. Then, Bone Pile healed Rabble Riser with bonus, walked and removed Night Terror's corpse for heals and then it charged Lucas McCabe. I thought it would be better in safety there than sitting at Df 4 against a stat 6 model who ignores Hard-to-Wound. But  still within 3" of Sidir for Public Demonstration. 

Rough Rider and Ruffian did their thing with strategy marker on top, and even brought Archie down to six health remaining. Noxious Nephilim and Crooligan did the same for my strategy marker. 

Below, Jessie was guarding Explorer's strategy marker. Crooligan, however, pushed my strategy marker past center line, just behind Bone Pile.

Both players scored strategym while Resurrectionists had their demonstration for 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

Necrotic Machine activates and plants poison to Sidir. Opponent started to play the long game with Luna digging up treasures, so Crooligan in melee with Sidir teleports to Archie and kicks strategy marker even deeper. 

Lucas tosses Faded Mirror for Sidir and tries to kill Bone Pile. 

Molly activates for some fresh cards, and uses bonus to get Necrotic Machine away from melee and engage Sidir with some Rabble. She also manages to land Slow on the scary henchman. Sidir butchers unactivated Rabble Riser and again heals back to almost full.

Archie finally smooshes Rough Rider and heals a bit in the process. The heal is negated by Ruffian's gang weapons, however. Ruffian also kicked the strategy marker further to my side, but Crooligan re-located it towards top-right corner. 

Hopeful Prospect shoots a kid dead and cheers himself for a job well done.

Forgotten Marshal deals four points of damage to Tannenbaum, so Bone Pile is able to disengage and shoot Tannenbaum for Vendetta. Crooligan and Jessie kick strategy markers around while Cryptologist takes a run towards my strategy marker that's coming from the top.

Both players get strategy and Resurrectionists score Vendetta for 4-2.

Turn 4:

We didn't continue as opponent had wrong schemes for the situation - In Your Face was next to impossible. I don't know what scheme opponent originally had, but he changed it to Vendetta with Tannenbaum, which might be doable since Archie was at six health. 

It was very unlikely for opponent to get any more strategy points, while I at least had a chance for one more. Opponent could have denied my Vendetta by killing Bone Pile, although if it would have had time to activate, it would have buried itself. 

Ornithophobia

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Guard the Stash

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Secret Meetup, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out, Load 'Em Up

My list:

Molly & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Rogue Necromancy
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
2x Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Stones: 5
Schemes: Public Demonstration (Night Terrors & Crooligans), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Colette Dubois & 3x Mechanical Doves
Cassandra Felton
Carlos Vasquez
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
2x Showgirl
Mannikin

Stones: 1
Schemes: Secret Meetup (Carlos, Rogue Necromancy, fountain in middle), Set the Trap

Turn 1:

Resurrectionists advanced in an orderly fashion to middle of board, concentrating on the go. I didn't get any meaningful crows in my hand nor with The Whisper, so there was no summon from Forgotten Marshal this round.

I had deployed both Crooligans close to table edges left and right. Colette came and Presto-ed one of them in the middle of performers. We played this a little incorrectly since the Showgirl certainly wasn't 8" from the Crooligan, but I doubt situation would have been that much different even if the target would have been someone a little closer - Angelica Durand might have actually just been that much closer! 

It somehow escaped me that I could just By Your Side out of the situation and instead hoped I might delay the activations of performers long enough to make a worthwhile death for Crooligan. But Angelica just slapped it dead with one activation. At least the kid stole opponent's only soulstone. 

Other than that Coryphee duet charged Rogue Necromancy after been distracted by the monster's projectile vomit and slowed down by Philip's one more question. Terrifying coupled with Boring Conversation made the only attack a non-issue.

Turn 2:

Second turn mistakes were made...

Forgotten Marshal manages to summon a Rabble Riser on board. Then Colette Presto-Chango swaps Forgotten Marshal and Carlos Vasquez, this time with proper rule interactions. 

Forgotten Marshal barely survives Cassandra Felton's attacks but eventually succumbs to measly Mannikin. And this, this was terrible news. I even wasted Red Joker from my hand in an attempt to save Forgotten Marshal. No more Rabble Risers or even additional Night Terrors or Crooligans to act as decoys or maybe even plant a scheme marker some time along the way. 

And while Philip & Nanny continues to be a nuisance par excellence with Boring Conversation, it was not enough to save un-activated Rabble Riser from Carlos' flaming batons. He even managed to flip tomes from top of deck to create a pyre marker on Molly. 

I had tried to tease Carlos a bit with Night Terror and to get into position to score Public Demonstration, but Carlos just danced away with flames so I was forced to adapt a new plan. A showgirl-engaging Night Terror took a double walk to Colette, thus not placing any scheme markers that turn. Remaining Crooligan had to jump to Molly, not making markers either.

Coryphee Duet was doing sorry job at fighting Rogue Necromancy and decided to split apart. The other Coryphee misplayed a rule and switched positions with Carlos Vasquez.

Both players scored strategy and I had my Public Demonstration. Opponent, however, had enough scheme markers to declare Set the Trap and had conditions right for Secret Meetup.

Scores go 3-2 for Arcanists.

Turn 3:

Colette was in a troublesome position. Nearly all of my models were getting distracted. I was able to circumvent getting stunned a bit with Molly's bonus action, but I could not stop Molly from becoming stunned. At least Molly was able to finally kill one Coryphee with irreducible damage after failing so many times. My models were dying left and right so I had to prioritize removing enemy models, and being stunned left Molly one action point short of going to contest Colette's strategy marker.

I had grand plans of pushing through wall of performers with Philip & Nanny by buying extra card and masks for my attack, but even a 12 was not enough to get through them all. 

Then I tried to seize the middle-right strategy marker by teleporting Crooligan there and finally planting a scheme marker for Spread Them Out. Necrotic Machine was healing itself (it already had Burning +4 from various sources) and trying to land a hit on Coryphee. Night Terror was doing the same, but Df 6 seems to be a tough nut to crack and even when I got a hit I dealt more than one point of damage only on a severe... sheesh...

Colette had used Presto-Chango to remove Rogue Necromancy from the big melee. It managed to land a weak bite on Showgirl, and I had a terrible decision to make. I had severe mask in my hand, which I needed for Night Terror to secure Reposition from bonus action. I decided not to cheat, and the Showgirl then ran to get a strategy marker on my side of the table. 

Since I had not progressed the way I needed, I couldn't keep up with my plan to walk out of melee with Night Terror, reposition to enemy strategy marker and place a scheme marker. My only chance to affect points this turn appeared to be to reposition out of melee, charge Mannikin and kill it with just one attack and then walk back to contest. This way nobody would have got points this turn.

Well, needless to say, the bat didn't kill Mannikin even with two attacks. But what needs to be said is how those bloody damn pigeons became the main damage dealers in performer band again! Two of them single-beakedly removed my public demonstrator and my game looked that much darker.

Performers score strategy while Resurrectionists get nothing. Scores go 2-4.

Turn 4:

Not getting attacks through when I needed them had already been the beginning of the end last turn. Opponent wasn't able to dish that much damage out any more either - miraculously I only lost Necrotic Machine this turn - but contesting and scoring strategy markers with five models against eight models that were able to reposition themselves as well as enemy models proved to be impossible.

And those birds were steadily pecking Philip & Nanny's health down despite them having Boring Conversation on.

Arcanists get their third strategy point for scores of 2-5. 

Turn 5:

Well, there were good and bad news. Good news were that those damn birds were on a killing spree. This time they killed Philip & Nanny. This was good news because now opponent needed to bring Molly down to half of her health remaining to score Set the Trap. 

So, she was the next target then. And Molly made a pretty astonishing last stand and dodged every single attack directed at her. Opponent even brought Coryphee away from the strategy marker on my right side. Molly just needed to take one hit of one damage in to guarantee 50% health. She also had Burning +4, which would tick her below half health.

I had brewed up a plan how I might at least score Spread Them Out reveal condition. The plan was to wait until as many performers had activated as possible, then walk and ambush with Rogue Necromancy within 2" of Molly and assist Distracted away from her. Then she would put the last required scheme marker next to some eligible model with One More Question trigger, but as it happened, I did not take the most direct path with Rogue Necromancy. Assist could not reach Molly.

There was no other game for me left other than point denial, and that Molly did good. She removed required scheme markers for Secret Meetup, had lured away the scoring Coryphee and flipped a severe to block damage from burning with my last soulstone.

So final scores are "only" 2-5 instead of 2-8, for Arcanists.