Bygone, Forgotten

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Wedge Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Sweating Bullets, Outflank, Let Them Bleed, Take Prisoner, Deliver a Message

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Batsch & Amalie
Oskar
Archie
Keepside Strangers
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Crooligan

Pool: 6
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Aua Warrior), Deliver a Message (Archie)

Opponent had:

Tiri, Nomad & Oro Boro
Barbaros
Kett
Parson
The First Light
Ancient Construct with Servant of Dark Powers
Aua Warrior

Pool: 6
Schemes: Outflank, Deliver a Message (Barbaros)

Turn 1:

Tiri had a worrisome gang gathering up to top. Barbaros and Ancient Construct were spearheading the attack, with Parson next in line, followed by Tiri and First Light in the reseve.

Bygone remainders were going bottom, which meant Kett, Aua Warrior and Oro Boro.

It was a problematic situation, as it looked like I wouldn't be able to stop Bygone from getting top ballots, and top-left quarter would most likely collapse too, as there was only Molly and Keepside Strangers guarding the place. Batsch & Amalie were there also, but he was bound to his place for a while, as Oskar went to sit next to center ballots. Archie was unsure what to do, so he parked up behind Oskar in the center. So my heaviest guys were at the center where there was zero enemy models. Oh well.

Forgotten Marshal and Necrotic Machine took a walk and concentrated, and Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror. Kett blasted them all with a shockwave.

Crooligan had been deployed next to bottom ballots, where he concentrated hard on who to vote for. Oro Boro was scary close, and such were the developments of first turn.

Turn 2:

Ancient Construct lobbed Barbaros to Molly's face. How rude. The upper class that was Keepside Strangers were shocked at this vulgar display and teleported to Molly, though they were already right next to Molly. But, the idea was to get out of Barbaros's melee range to back off and toss snakes at Barbaros like the true upper crust of the bourgeois. 

But then Barbaros just handed a note for Molly. Well he handed it stuck to macuahuitl, but still. 

Crooligan put two votes in to bottom ballots before Oro Boro indeed came to attack him. 

Let's go from bottom to top from here. Aua Warrior took position inside a towerish structure that's barely visible in the picture, where eventually Night Terror caught up to it, declaring Aua Warrior as a prisoner. Before that, however, Forgotten Marshal had to summon a Rabble Riser  to go and engage Kett, who had earlier been able to blast Necrotic Machine and Forgotten Marshal both with Alter Gravity. 

Oskar did a total of three votes to center ballots. Impressive from a man turned into fungus. 

But then there was this problematic rubble tower in between top left and right quarters. 

I had to stall as much of my activations as possible to see where Tiri would go for Deliver a Message.  And she went behind the building. Ach.

I figured a plan to Parade Route Archie to a better position, but that proved difficult as Molly was caught in the ring by Barbaros. Fortunately she was able to Parade Route Barbaros away first before parading with Archie. Balck Blood and whatnot had caused quite a bit of wounds to Molly, Batsch & Amalie and Keepside Strangers, so Batsch put up a jig for heals. 

Parson and First Light were nearing the top ballots, but weren't there quite yet. Archie was able to leap and charge (without making an attack) to Tiri to hand over a message.

It was a 3-1 opening for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Going from top to bottom this time around, Tiri and First Light went to outflank zone to place the required scheme marker. Archie leaped to engage Ancient Construct and did an exercise in futility by attacking the thing while it had Shielded. First Archie leaped to top-right quarter ballots, placed a vote and charged back in a flurry. 

Fortunately Archie survived the attacks by Parson and Ancient Construct rather well... until with last possible attack Parson rolled double severes with negative modifier. Oh well. Happens. At least the big guy survived long enough for Crooligan to teleport to the same ballots to continue voting. He also dropped a scheme marker in anticipation of Deliver a Message end condition.

Molly and Keepside Strangers continued in trying to damage Barbaros. The nephilim henchman had already managed to plant two votes to top-left quarter ballots. 

Kett killed the Rabble Riser, but then Oskar, Necrotic Machine and Forgotten Marshal ganged up on Kett and failed to do much of anything. Forgotten Marshal at least managed to summon  another Night Terror to go and engage Oro Boro. The first summoned Night Terror was there too, although that one went down after Aua Warrior charged it. 

Outcasts got their first strategy point and their other scheme, so now Resurrectionists only had 4-3 lead.

Turn 4:

Oskar, Batsch & Amalie, Necrotic Machine and Forgotten Marshal finally managed to push through Kett and claim bottom-right quarter.

Night Terros were keeping Aua Warrior and Oro Boro surprisingly busy, thus making opponent claiming third ballots unlikely. 

Archie and Crooligan both died, so Parson and Ancient Construct pushed through to Keepside Strangers and Molly. 

Scores went 5-4, but we did not play the last turn. It seemed impossible for opponent to get third ballots, but they would most likely be getting Outflank. While neither had a good chance at Deliver a Message, four scenario points for Resurrectionists seemed likely thanks to those Night Terrors refusing to die. 

We Own... Gahk

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Outflank, In Your Face, Let Them Bleed, Protected Territory, Espionage

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Batsch & Amalie
Keepside Strangers with Grave Spirit Touch
Oskar
2x Dapperling

Pool: 4
Schemes: Espionage, Protected Territory

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki & Chiyo
Bill Algren
Hinamatsu
3x Bunraku
Tanuki
Geisha

Pool: 5
Schemes: Protected Territory, Espionage

Turn 1:

Map was extremely challenging to say the least. So much severe terrain that it would be enough for three tables worth of Malifaux. 

Anyway, I started to dismantle my deployment with Fungal models. Batsch & Amalie went to take a charge from Bill Algren. Damage block was severe, so yay for that. Waltzers were within 6" of Oskar, so Oskar was able to plant a free scheme for Espionage before walking and not managing to do anything useful. 

Dapperlings were the same, barely getting out of deployment. But at least there were two markers secured for Espionage end condition.

One Bunraku was going to bottom-right corner, where Crooligan was just concentrating around. Another Bunraku went to top-left corner, where there was... nobody at all. Free reign for the puppet.

Well, Philip and the Nanny was at top-left quarter's strategy marker. They had been trying to stay far from Hinamatsu's charge range - and succeeded at that. Molly, however, wasn't as lucky. Hinamatsu walked and charged to mutilate the parade conductor. Attack failed. 

I was a little worried about those six potential attacks coming for Molly the next turn, so I somehow thought it was a good idea to teleport Keepside Strangers to Hinamatsu and try to plant Slow on her. I did have the crows in my hand for that, but the nine wasn't high enough. 

At least Hinamatsu took Distracted +1 and a severe damage from handful of snakes... but now they were... right there. Next to Hinamatsu. Only a miracle would save them next turn.

Third Bunraku had lured Bill a little closer for his Batch-bashing, and Tanuki was following close behind. Chiyo sprinted to have her pinky toe inside my table side, and there was little I could do to that toe right now.

Youko was inside a forest  within a couple of walks to center or top-left quarter strategy marker, not quite within 6" of Keepside Strangers and Molly. 

Geisha didn't want to tear her dress like her master, so she took the long way out from forest after dropping a scheme marker for most likely some counter-espionage. 

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists got the initiative, and started with Crooligan to place a scheme marker and a vote to bottom-right box.

This left Hinamatsu all the time it needed to rip Keepside Strangers into shreds... or so I thought. While it took all the better cards in my hand to save the Strangers, they actually survived the onslaught of onslaughts. So they still had one activation going on for them. They sidekicked themselves to Necrotic Machine and started blasting Bill Algren with snakes to no effect. But, they had survived.

Next Bill tried to kill the Strangers, and brought them down to one health remaining. But all the heals in the keyword were not Forgotten, and soon enough after Necrotic Machine and Molly had activated, Keepside Strangers were still at four health remaining even after an angry Bunraku attacked from the bushes.

On the fungal side of things, a Dapperling managed to go and place two votes to center ballots before Youko walked within interact distance. Oskar kept flailing at Bill, dealing in some respectable damage that was soon healed by Tanuki. Well, at least Oskar enabled an interact for Batsch & Amalie. 

The Dancing Duo had had enough of Tanuki and tried to kill the little *hit, but took a point of poison from scheme marker they had just placed. And Beer Goggles caused the attack to miss. Damn you Tanukiiiii....!

Two remaining Bunrakus went to their respective corners. However, at the bottom there was this Crooligan, who fortunately didn't take in even a single hit. Philip & Nanny at top-left quarter voted and slowly pushed prams through burned down forest to act as a homing beacon for orphan kids.

Both players scored strategy, while neither announced any reveal parties. Scores went 1-1.

Turn 3:

... and just like that - out of a sudden - attacks stopped failing.

Keepside Strangers kicked their side to Molly, keeping outside of Hinamatsu's reach. The puppet, however, spent one action point to walk over and clawed them dead with just two strikes. And that was even when being poisoned and within 3" of Necrotic Machine.

Dapperling at the center placed a scheme marker over center line and voted, before getting clawed down to one health remaining by Bunraku. This somehow aggravated Tanuki in its drunken stupor, and the furry little beast got mayhaps its first recorded kill.

As I was planning on scoring both schemes this turn, my models weren't wasting actions on hitting Bill Algren. Instead, Oskar blasted Tanuki twice with a mushroom cloud. Once spores had settled, Tanuki was no more. 

Batsch & Amalie shot Bunraku with a mushroom cloud and went to vote at the bottom-right quarter ballots with the help of Oskar. 

Another Dapperling charged Bunraku and bloomed a scheme marker more than 3" away from Bill. 

Philip & Nanny took a walk that much further away from Bunraku at top so they could place a scheme marker for Protected Territory. Right next Crooligan jumped to Philip to remove a scheme marker from Ten Thunders deployment zone. It also dropped a marker for Espionage. 

This unfortunately gave way for Bunraku to claim bottom-right ballots box.

Necrotic Machine had a pleasing activation, when it charged Youko and injected a total of four damage points in to her, catching both Hinamatsu and Youko under neurotoxin aura before either had activated. Youko whacked Necrotic Machine with her words, but they weren't quite sharp enough to scrap the construct. In fact, a little positive reinforcement from Molly went a long way into repairing the damage those harsh words had caused.

Lastly, Ten Thunders had no cards in hand in the end phase, so Necrotic Machine punched Bunraku for fun and profit. Gone was the puppet.

Both players scored strategy. I revealed both schemes, but Ten Thunders only got their Protected Territory. So it was 4-3 lead for Molly.

Turn 4:

Going from bottom to top, Bunraku placed a scheme marker on the centerline. 

Batsch & Amalie placed a scheme marker for Protected Territory end condition, and Crooligan continued spying in the enemy deployment zone. 

Bill and Oskar were locked in a deadly duel, not really contributing to victory points any longer. 

Dapperling managed to bloom Chiyo's scheme marker away from my deployment. 

At the center ballots Geisha lured Youko away from melee, and Qi and Gong master spent all of her action points to empty the box.

Necrotic Machine and Molly had managed to bring Youko down to two health remaining, with one Poison spilling over for turn five. Hinamatsu somehow managed to either miss all its attacks, or damage got blocked with soulstone, or Black Joker came up on damage flip.

Because Philip & Nanny didn't know what Bunraku would do, they dropped two votes to top-left ballots and pursuited towards top-left corner. Bunraku was just within range to Risky Maneuver and walk itself to my deployment zone and drop a scheme.

Neither player scored strategy, but Ten Thunders did get their Espionage. Scores went 4-4.

Turn 5:

Molly pushed Philip & Nanny towards top-left corner and gave them an interact afterwards. With hindsight it would have been much better to use that one on Necrotic Machine to place a vote to center box, but that's hindsight for ya.

With her last action Molly tried to finish off Youko, but dealt only a single point of damage. 

Necrotic Machine wasn't able to get an attack in. It disengaged from Hinamatsu, used Strange Behavior and walk to engage Youko. I can only wonder why on earth  didn't interact with the ballots instead. Oh well.

Neither player was able to do much to deny scheme end conditions for the other, but Resurrectionists managed to get the lead with votes. Until Youko activated. She disengaged and got within 10" of Crooligan that had placed a vote to bottom-left quarter strategy marker. Riddles landed without a sweat, and getting past target number of We Own You.

Just before Youko succumbed to poison, she commanded Crooligan to place a vote to the box, ending the game in a 6-6 draw.

Go back home, Richard!

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Standard Corrupted Idols

Schemes: Vendetta, Breakthrough, Outflank, Dig Their Graves, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Noxious Nephilim with Grave Spirit Touch
2x Rabble Riser
2x Night Terror
Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Clampetts, Fisherfolk & Bruce
Aunty Mel
Uncle Bogg
Sir Vantes
Buckaroo
Hermits
Skulker Skin

Pool: 6
Schemes: Outflank, Breakthrough

Turn 1:

Molly was the defender during deployment, and for once there was a conscious choice on my part which half Bayou would have to deploy first - whatever side Aunty Mel was on. That aunt terrified Noxious Nephilim to no end.

So, Nephilim deployed to far left. Molly made it parade forward for a bit to interact a scheme, and later in turn the beast puked a corpse next to the scheme marker.

The beast also slapped three points of damage to Clampetts after the Angler master had launched itself to remove my poor Night Terror that had recklessly flown to toss corrupted idols around.

Uncle Bogg had pushed Sir Vantes forward, and the foul knight - along with Clampetts - tossed an even fouler idol twice, at least 3" into my table side. The thing was guarded by the 2" reach of the filthy spear of Sir Vantes.

Rabble Riser went to charge Sir Vantes, but that Armor +2 is a thing against a damage track of 2/3/4

I think it was the Hermits that shot a few points of damage in to Philip & Nanny that Necrotic Machine tried to heal. Aunty Mel was with the Hermits, there in the lower left quarter of the top right quarter. (Wasn't that clear?)

Crooligan had emerged From Shadows to claim Breakthrough, but a Skulker Skin seemed to have other ideas when it ran towards rightmost Outflank area. Remaining Night Terror took a flying double walk towards the Crooligan to perhaps support the kid one day.

Since there was now Clampetts, Sir Vantes, Hermits and Aunty Mel in a relative proximity of the center, another Rabble Riser sticked around near Philip & Nanny and Necrotic Machine to do some damage next turn.

Far to the left Buckaroo took a full 18" walk towards my table edge. 

Turn 2:

Second strategy marker appeared in the center. Hermits, Sir Vantes and even Clampetts ensured that it was on my side of the table and out of my reach.

However, Molly and her endless parading also put one Idol on the enemy side, and Noxious Nephilim charged Clampetts, flew past them and took the idol within its 2" melee range. 

Clampetts, Bruce and what else had damaged Noxious Nephilim for a few points of damage. That wasn't too dangerous in itself, but Aunty Mel relocated to the second floow of building in the middle. Necrotic Machine had to run to heal the Nephilim, but failed its heal thanks to me trying to fish card from Molly's bonus action. Oh well.

Philip & Nanny was able to slow both Sir Vantes and Clampetts, and by now Sir Vantes was looking seriously damaged. Instead of doing damage, Rabble Riser to the right went to place a scheme marker near the Angler enforcer. The other Rabble Riser had suffered damage from various effects - mostly from Clampetts dynamites - and went to place a scheme marker near the corrupted idol that Noxious Nephilim was guarding, next to Uncle Bogg. Then it charged past Sir Vantes, and that point was the only one it managed to do this turn.

Night Terror scraped some damage in to Skulker Skin, but wasn't going to stay and challenge it any longer than necessary. Skulker removed itself from melee with On The Move and took a couple of shots at Night Terror, bringing it down to two health remaining after poisons.

Crooligan went to place a scheme for Breakthrough, and Buckaroo did the same in the opposite corner of the board.

Both players scored strategy and Breakthrough for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

What a rollercoaster of a turn, but that is kind of fitting for the chaotic conductor. First, Aunty Mel starts shooting her adversary target, Noxious Nephilim. First attack - Red Joker on damage. Second attack - Black Joker on damage. It might be that she managed to score a weak hit with trigger from her bonus action. All in all the beast survived, albeit down to around one or two health remaining. 

Noxious Nephilim activated to regenerate four. It tried to remove Bruce before it would be able to heal Sir Vantes or the Hermits, but only landed a weak hit with last attack. Fortunately it had rams, so it received a little bit of healing. 

Molly managed to score Dig Their Graves by parading Hermits through the scheme marker right to it's grave. 

Idols near the center were being thrown around like ragdolls. Molly's built in trigger to interact with Parade Route was put to heavy use, but that wasn't helping much against teamwork by Uncle Bogg and Clampetts.

Both Rabble Risers went down this turn, one of them being eaten by Bruce. Crooligan and Night Terror spammed scheme markers in enemy deployment zone.

Opponent had Skulker Skin at the outflank zone on right, and Buckaroo did a quick retreat to the zone on left. Two out of three strategy markers were on my side of table now, and Sir Vantes was harassing Philip & Nanny, who were the last model to activate for me. I had three soulstones remaining, but I managed to pull off a nice combo with accidental roll-over with two soulstones. The pram rammed through Sir Vantes right next to corrupted idol, and scores went 3-3 as Resurrectionists got Dig Their Graves, and Bayou got Outflank.

Turn 4:

A third idol appeared on the center point, which complicated things, as soon enough it was apparent that I was losing the attrition game hard. Aunty Mel had no trouble killing Noxious Nephilim, and eventually even Philip & Nanny had to go. They spent my last soulstone trying to get a moderate block, but failed to do so.

However, Molly's parades and whatnot launched one idol way past centerline, and again I somehow managed to wriggle out of a desperate situation by using obscure actions. Strange Behavior by Necrotic Machine was able to dislodge it from melee with Uncle Bogg, free now to interact. Two idols secured for me.

Skulker Skin stopped outflanking and instead went to throw an idol that had spawned on the third turn to my side, and i had ran out of action points to do anything to the environmental threat that was corrupted idol next to riverbank.

Buckaroo also stopped to outflank and went into position to scheme next turn for Breakthrough.

Clampetts also leaped closer to my deployment zone. I think they were the culprits in removing Philip & Nanny this turn, though.

Scores continued with hard-fought 4-4 tie.

Turn 5:

Bayou got to choose which table edge the idol would appear. Strangely enough, I think Skulker Skin was Bayou's MVP, scoring two strategy points and two halves of scheme points all by itself for a total of three.

Crooligan teleported to center and planted a scheme for Dig Their Graves, and tossed the idol on centerline. Aunty Mel, however, went to toss it right back in a dynamite tennis fashion.

Before all that happened I was still aiming for three strategy points, so Molly went to throw an idol far enough that Aunty Mel would not be able to throw that one back. Looking back now, it would have been way more beneficial to try to drop schemes for Dig Their Graves end condition.

Buckaroo and Clampetts secured Breakthrough for Bayou, and the first one mentioned didn't Black Joker it's bonus walk either. So Bayou was able to score seven points out of eight.

Resurrectionists could only get their Breakthrough for a total of five. A 7-5 victory for Clampetts.

Stuff the Daggers

Two 50ss games of Malifaux

Strategy: Flank Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Ensnare, Death Beds, Take Prisoner, Protected Territory, Outflank

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
2x Shikome
Gwisin
Drowned
Enslaved Spirit
Seishin

Pool: 5
Schemes: Protected Territory, Take Prisoner (Hunter!!!)
Thread: Wicked Whisper objective 2

Opponent had:

Hoffman & Mechanical Attendant
Joss
Melissa
Guardian
Hunter
Medical Automaton
2x Watcher

Pool: 3
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Shikome), Outflank
Thread: Badges and Blades objective 2

Turn 1:

There was a big enough building complex on Urami side to act as a dividing element even for incorporeal keyword. 

A Shikome was aided by Seishin to go and pick first intel in the bottom-right corner of board. A Hunter walked closer to the same strategy marker and attempted to shoot Drowned. A Watcher also took a double walk towards bottom-right corner.

Guardian had tossed another Watcher towards top-left corner, which certainly awoke a suspicion in me that opponent might be trying to outflank my crew. Before the Watcher had been able to activate, Shikome tried to walk and charge it without much of an effect. Watcher was able to disengage and approach top-left corner.

Melissa repositioned from right to left and run & gunned Gwisin, and did so hard. Lost Love had to teleport in for heals. Thus, Gwisin, Ikiryo, Lost Love and Enslaved Spirit were holding the center-left against Guardian, Melissa, Mechanical Attendant and Hoffman. 

Center-right, past the building and closes to Nia marker, was Seishin, Datsue Ba, Drowned, Kirai and even a summoned Goryo were holding the area against Joss and Medical Automaton. Drowned and Goryo managed to severely injure Joss. Red Joker on damage and Black Joker in damage block is... harsh.

Turn 2:

Well... that didn't go as planned. 

Melissa runned and gunned Shikome down to one health remaining. Fortunately there were not that many threats around for her if she stayed in place. So, she picked up intel and placed a scheme marker while being guarded by Gwisin. Had she charged Watcher in the corner, chances are she might have been taken down. 

Guardian beat Ikiryo down before she was able to activate, and Mechanical Attendant grabbed a point of intel. So, pretty much just like that my left side game collapsed. Sure, I brought Enslaved Spirit to engage Guardian, but, ech.

Another Shikome dropped a scheme marker and took a flight as far from Watcher and Hunter as possible. And fortunately enough, Hunter went to participate in the fight in the middle near Nia marker, and Watcher went to place scheme to bottom-right corner.

Medical Automaton healed Joss as much as possible. And with Joss's death now out of reach, Goryo that had been summoned last turn decided to rather take down Medical Automaton. 

Hoffman changed course and went to middle, and removed summoned Goryo from equation. However, soon enough another one was summoned. Drowned, the new Goryo, Kirai and even Datsue Ba's judgement tried to kill Joss, but they couldn't quite do it. At least it drained Guild's soulstones. 

Lost Love teleported to Datsue Ba and went to place a scheme marker for Protected Territory. 

This turn I realized what a grave mistake I had done when I picked Hunter as my Take Prisoner target. 

Points, however, went: Strategy, Nia and Protected Territory for Resurrectionists, strategy and Outflank for Guild for a 3-2 lead for Kirai.

Turn 3:

I lost initiative, and tried to place Nia so far from action that opponent would have to act suboptimally to score Nia this turn.

Hoffman had to waste an action to walk within 3" of Nia, and I was happy to see that Goryo wouldn't die just yet. However, Mechanical Automaton was able to score the kill with surprise shot. What a surprise!

Drowned died, but so did Joss. After various summons and turns spent next to Nia, Kirai had fallen down to five health remaining or so. So, after killing Joss and summoning Ikiryo, she went as far back as possible behind a fountain.

Hunter took an intel and backed off as far as possible. It would be annoying, difficult even, to catch Hunter as a prisoner with incorporeal models because of Deadly Pursuit.

So this is what it took: Datsue Ba ran and charged behind Hunter. Non-incorporeal Lost Love teleported in such a manner that opponent would have to pursuit into severe terrain. That, however, would still not be enough. I tried to move Shikome as close as possible, but I still thought opponent might be able to push over 1" away from Datsue Ba and not get within 1" of Shikome. Thus, summoned Ikiryo shrugged off slow and ran to block Hunter from moving at all. 

Sheesh. But a victory point is a victory point, I suppose.

Another Shikome eventually either died to Melissa or Watcher, and Guardian slapped Enslaved Spirit dead with just one hit as was expected. 

Guild received Nia point and strategy, and Resurrectionists got strategy and Take Prisoner for 5-4 lead for Kirai.

Turn 4:

As Hunter was already far away from my side of table, I decided to just kill the prisoner. Ikiryo was able to do that, freeing Datsue Ba and Lost Love to go to scheme Protected Territory end condition.

Hoffman managed to maul Kirai dead even when I tried to block Hoffman's move with Nia marker. 

Shikome went to pick intel, and Mechanical Attendant walked right next to strategy marker for upcoming turns.

Gwisin was miraculously able to survive Guardian and Melissa. Most likely because Melissa had slowly been scraped down to one hit point remaining, which is not good news against Vengeance +1. 

No points were scored this turn for either player.

Turn 5: 

Hoffman came to rob Shikome of her intel. However, Hoffman had been injured for quite a bit throughout beating various vengeful models. Ikiryo set her sight on Kirai's killer, walked and charged Hoffman dead. 

Gwisin was able to land a final hit on Melissa, which ruined Guild's chances to receive third intel. However, Guardian smacked Gwisin back which ruined any chance for Resurrectionists to use Lost Love to claim intel from, wherever. He was needed to score Protected Territory end condition.

So, both players gained end condition from one of their schemes for a narrow 6-5 victory for Kirai.

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Protected Territory, Deliver a Message, Outflank, Sweating Bullets, In Your Face

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie
Noxious Nephilim
Carrion Effigy
Rabble Riser with Killer Instinct
2x Crooligan

Pool: 4
Schemes: Deliver a Message (Archie), In Your Face
Thread: Wicked Whispers

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Graves
Mr. Tannen
Soul Battery
Tanuki
2x Illuminated

Pool:
Schemes: Sweating Bullets, In Yo Face
Thread: Adrenaline Rush

Turn 1:

A single Crooligan was deployed right next to both ballots at the table edges as you'd expect. However, Hungering Darkness charged the one on right, so she teleported back to my deployment to get some heals from Effigy.

The second Crooligan took some cover behind a wall, as he saw other enthusiastic voters coming to the same ballot. Mr. Tannen and Illuminated, to name a few. 

Molly shuffled Noxious Nephilim near Nia marker to throw up required corpses for fracture points. Lynch started shooting at it, but Necrotic Machine made good job at stitching the nephilim. Archie positioned to within easy message delivery range of Mr. Lynch. 

Rabble Riser took a full run way past centerline, maybe one day getting behind enemy lines to vote. 

Molly, Necrotic Machine, Philip & Nanny and both beaters were holding up the middle, while Ten Thunders had their master and Mr. Graves nearby, with Tanuki and Illuminated hanging around and Gwyneth failing to hit the jackpot and thus getting no fracture points just yet. I felt relatively confident at this set-up.

Turn 2:

... Except that Lynch used Looming Dark to pull Hungering Darkness into melee with all of my Df 4 beaters. This took my by surprise as I was sure Honeypot would plant a vote to the rightmost ballot. Nope, Noxious Nephilim nearly died. 

Since its demise looked imminent, I activated Nephilim only for it to throw up what it just had regenerated, thus scoring Nia point. 

I think it was Gwyneth who killed Noxious Nephilim next, again failing with jackpot. No fractures for Honeypot this turn. 

Lynch started shooting Archie, and did a horrifying job at that. He had, like, two or three health remaining after those derringer shots.,

But then Molly made a weird super activation. She healed Archie back to full with Deja Vu's and shenanigans, and encouraged Archie to boldly walk with pride to deliver a message for Mr. Lynch. Now, I don't know what written in the message, but Honeypot got furious. Or maybe it was just the way how Archie walked. I don't know. But Mr. Graves and Illuminated beat Archie back down to two health remaining.

Instead of scoring In Your Face with Archie, the poor guy had to leap away from action, and even cheat himself down to one health remaining to succeed at the leap. Two walks later he was getting patched up by Carrion Effigy.

It took three angry voters, Mr. Tannen, Soul Battery and Illuminated to scare away an underage voter, who teleported to center ballots and crammed it full illegal votes. Three, in fact, because of Nia's Adrenaline Rush. 

Philip & Nanny had succeeded in slowing down Hungering Darkness, but Tanuki was just as good lifting Lynch's totem's mood up from sluggishness. 

Suddenly situation looked a wee bit worrying, but at least Necrotic Machine landed double poison on Hungering Darkness, greatly reducing its survivability with neurotoxins. 

Since Hungering Darkness had left rightmost ballots empty, buffed up Rabble Riser ran there to place votes next turn.

Resurrectionists scored strategy and Deliver a Message. Opponent had received strategy and both schemes for a 2-3 lead for Honeypot.

Turn 3:

Resurrectionists got the initiative, and tried to ruin enemy plans with Boring Conversation. Philip and Nanny were able to slow Hungering Darkness again, and Tanuki did exactly same it did last turn.

Hungering Darkness was under neurotoxins and Carrion Effigy's no-heal aura. To relieve itself from the plethora of debuffs, Hungering Darkness activated and indeed managed to scrap Necrotic Machine. Gosh and darn. 

It was time to see what Molly's parade baton was all about, as Hungering Darkness only had five health remaining. I figured my best chance would be to do a singular, mighty hit. My hand was already running low, so Molly concentrated, positively reinforced herself and took a swing at the beast, using focus both on Terrifying and attack flip. Annoyingly it only resulted in a tie, so damage was flipped with negative modifier. Nonetheless, severe 6. 

Unfortunately situation in the middle still looked bleak. Mr. Graves exposed Crooligan for the fraud he was and punished the kid with a fencepost. Lethally. Fortunately opponent was rather busy with removing Crooligan's earlier votes and to stuff their own into center ballots. 

Archie took a crazy 19"+base size sprint behind enemy lines, with the remaining Crooligan teleporting to him and placing votes to enemy ballots. Rabble Riser secured another box, providing Resurrectionists with a victory point. Noxious Nephilim's and Crooligan's corpse in the middle also gave me a Nia point.

Ten Thunders received center and leftmost ballots, with an Illuminated already having ran within 1" of a ballot box on my side. 

Scores evened out to 4-4.

Turn 4:

Honeypot models were closing in the middle, so after Carrion Effigy had put up Aura of Decay Molly brandished her trusty baton again, and started to maul Mr. Graves. And look at that! Only Hard-to-kill saved the casino bouncer.

I worried that Mr. Graves would idolize Archie's retreat in similar situation, but Mr. Graves was of tougher determination. Instead, he managed to deal damage back to Molly.

Because of this my center pretty much collapsed. Fortunately Philip & Nanny was able to ask a tough question that killed Mr. Graves, giving Resurrectionists their In Your Face. And not a moment too soon, as a couple of next Honeypot activations were able to put an end to Molly's carnival.

Archie & Crooligan tag team secured third strategy point for the Forgotten, but Honeypot were just as effective voters. 

With Resurrectionists second scheme and both players scoring strategy, Forgotten claimed a tiny lead of 6-5.

Turn 5:

Last turn started with Philip & Nanny and Carrion Effigy surrounded by both Illuminated, Lynch, Tanuki, Mr. Tannen and even Gwyneth within derringer's reach. It certainly did not look good. 

I just had to hope for best that Philip & Nanny would survive the onslaught and back off with deadly pursuit to deny Ten Thunders Sweating Bullets end condition. And it almost worked - it was the very last activation's very last action that finally removed Philip & Nanny from board.

Archie scored In Your Face, but Ten Thunders got both of their schemes and even Nia point for a close victory of 8-7 for Honeypot.

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.

Anything But Doves!

 Whoops! I completely forget to push the publish button.  This game was played almost a week ago. A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Cursed Objects

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Spread Them Out, In Your Face, Catch and Release

My list:

Molly the Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie
Noxious Nephilim
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Catch and Release (Crooligan)

Opponent had:

Colette Du Bois & 3x Mechanical Doves
Carlos Vasquez
Cassandra Felton
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
2x Showgirl
Mannequin

Pool: 1
Schemes: Sabotage (Forest on my side), Catch and Release (a Showgirl)

Turn 1:

I had Red Joker in my hand, as well as total of two 13's, a 12 and one or two 11's throughout the turn after Molly had put up Remember the Lost aura. This time around I remembered to draw cards when I passed with two or more.

But despite all that Archie died on first turn. A Red Joker on damage did its thing. 

I had deployed one Crooligan near each point where centerline meets table edge. Molly, Noxious Nephilim and Philip and the Nanny were all benefiting from Night Terror's concealment aura in the bottom-right quarter. Rabble Riser had to take a long walk from behind the walls thanks to bad deployment and me not wanting to activate Necrotic Machine just yet. So he was in the bottom-left quarter not doing anything useful. 

Performers had more or less even line up going towards center, with both Showgirls, Angelica, Mannequin and Colette with assorted pigeons in top-right quarter, and both henchmen and some birds nearby in the top.left quarter. And the odd Coryphee Duet, of course, scissoring ornamental rows of Christmas elves out of Archie's remains.

Turn 2:

Both Crooligans went to place scheme markers almost on the centerline, with my Catch & Release kid being behind a ruined house and a forest. But that didn't save her from a charging Mechanical Dove, who first managed to deal two points of damage with an attack, and then one more damage plus self detonation. Fun times. 

At least Coryphee Duet didn't make as horrifying activation as last turn, as it wasn't able to kill Night Terror. 

I wanted Remember the Lost early in the turn, and Molly had less than ideal activation, healing Night Terror and parading Coryphee Duet into pyre marker. 

Colette Presto-Changoed Showgirl and Philip & Nanny, using sword trick to bury the pram. Because the Showgirl had curse token, I wanted to score my strategy point from her. Noxious Nephilim charged and killed the girl with just one strike. Little did I know that the showgirl was opponent's Catch and Release target! 

Crooligan on the left had to endure murder doves, and indeed, even this time around some damage trickled in. Bewildered Philip & Nanny appeared from scheme marker on left and it drove over one of the doves. 

Rabble Riser had tried to challenge one of the doves, failing at that. Carlos did not fail in dealing damage to Rabble Riser twice, setting the zombie in flames. 

Performers had gathered in the middle. Encore called Coryphee Duet from pyre marker and Cassandra assisted the burns away. 

Last model to activate for me was Necrotic Machine. Seeing that opponent had no cards in hand, it walked past the pyre marker and charged Cassandra, delivering moderate damage. Then, as turn ended, it took the 2" push and free action to interact a scheme marker in the middle, thus netting me Spread Them Out.

Scores go 2-1 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Noxious Nephilim was Presto-Changoed and sword ticked off the board. Suddenly Molly was looking rather alone, being mostly just herself looking at Cassandra, Coryphee Duet, Angelica and Colette all easily within 5" of her.

Whoops, another Presto-Chango, and most of those models were in base contact with her. Cassandra and Mannequin were now deep behind my lines. 

Carlos killed unactivated Rabble Riser and Necrotic Machine in one activation, and Cassandra walked back to shuffle Coryphee Duet into a better position, and breathe some fire over Molly. Thankfully that one missed.

Night Terror had ran to offer its auras for the blob of Performers. Angelica tried to cane the bat away, but that champ continued enduring far more attacks than Archie did. 

Before Coryphee activated, Molly pushed herself away from melee by discarding a card and then charged Cassandra. I spent three of my soulstones, and it paid off - two hits with the baton sent Cassandra parading over a corpse, scheme and Mechanical Dove marker with irreducible damage trigger. Hooray, strategy point was secured now.

Mannequin went to place a scheme marker behind the forest in the center of bottom-right quarter. Looked like performers were going to sabotage my forest. 

Coryphee Duet and two murder doves did some four points of damage to Molly after Showgirl had lured Night Terror away, so at least that could have been a lot worse. 

Noxious Nephilim appeared on the centerline at left and charged a Mechanical Dove dead. He also planted a scheme marker, which something removed. Crooligan also placed a scheme and continued to hug left board edge. 

Scores go 3-3 when both get strategy and performers manage to sabotage my forest.

Turn 4:

Looks like I forgot to take a picture this turn. But the important bits were Night Terror and Molly failing to kill Angelica, who had curse token. Angelica parading two Mechanical Doves dead certainly was satisfying. Crooligan had to teleport to Angelica and finish her off - and finally, third strategy point was mine!

Losing Molly to Coryphee Duet was... inconvenient. 

Noxious Nephilim and Philip & Nanny try to attack Carlos, but don't do much. 

Both players get strategy for a 4-4 tie.

Turn 5:

Philip & Nanny had used deadly pursuit to move away from Carlos, planted a scheme and charged Carlos. 

Coryphee Duet kills both Night Terror and Crooligan, and we call it a game. I no longer had realistic chance of of scoring either Spread Them Out or strategy, while opponent got curse token from Crooligan and Sabotage had already been secured on turn three.

Scores go 4-6 for Colette and her troupe. 

Conducting Disorder

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Carve a Path

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

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie with The Whisper
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal
Bone Pile
Crooligan

Stones: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Bone Pile & Crooligan), Assassinate

Opponent had:

Nellie, Voice of Disorder with Lead-Linen Coat & Printing Press
Allison Dade with Lead-Linen Coat
Auguste Hart
Pale Rider
Guild Mage
Guild Lawyer

Stones: 6
Schemes: In Your Face, Hidden Martyrs (Lawyer & Auguste)

Turn 1:

Noxious Nephilim kicked one strategy marker down to Crooligan that had deployed From Shadows.  Bone Pile started moving another marker from top. My aim was to somehow hug the edges of the map with my markers so that opponent wouldn't be able to control my interacts.

Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror that eventually went to tease Nellie without much of an effect. Necrotic Machine and Philip & Nanny walked a bit and concentrated, with Philip & Nanny going a bit further with Deadly Pursuit since there didn't seem to be that much lethal threats around for the baby carriage. 

Guild was moving in one, compact front with Pale Rider, Allison Dade and Guild Mage delivering a strategy marker towards top. Nellie was in the middle, with Guild Lawyer, Auguste and Printing Press below, moving second Guild strategy marker from the middle. 

I had been worrying the Guild Mage a lot, since that heal procs also from my discards. I was afraid that Archie would just die embarrassingly, but I did have a really good hand with multiple severes and black joker. 

So, after Molly had paraded Archie a bit forward, the big guy was able to leap and charge Guild Mage and remove it from the board. Major relief.

Turn 2:

Since Archie clearly overperformed last turn, he made up for it by not doing absolutely anything at all to Nellie who hadn't activated yet. 

Auguste and Guild Lawyer were busy delivering strategy marker in the middle, but Philip & Nanny managed to kick it back into middle of hazardous terrain.

Night Terror seemed to be impervious to attacks, and that Negation Aura certainly had its toll on Guild until Allison activated and drew, like, almost a full hand back from zero cards. Okay only four cards, but still insane card draw potential. 

Pale Rider kicked strategy marker to my side, but Bone Pile ignored my own marker and went to kick enemy marker back, as Crooligan was able to get one of my markers to enemy side without opposition.

Nellie was spamming Lessons of Ephraim Wade, but fortunately mostly just managed to remove Focused from my various models. 

It seemed like an uneventful turn until Forgotten Marshal, a summoned Rabble Riser and Philip & Nanny were able to kill Guild Lawyer, so even if I couldn't do anything for my Assassination attempts, at least Guild was losing synergy pieces. 

Resurrectionists got strategy, while Guild revealed Hidden Martyrs on Guild Lawyer and Auguste Hart. 1-1.

Turn 3:

Archie tries to grind through Nellie but mostly just manages to remove her Shielded. 

I get fixated on removing Auguste Hart, and toss Philip & Nanny, Noxious Nephilim and even Molly on it. Bad idea, I guess Lessons of Ephraim Wade involved something about not bunching up. Cursed Translation was also a scary ability, but it wasn't until Pale Rider punched strategy marker to my side and charged Archie that my position started to feel threatened. It's only two irreducible damage, sure, but when it ticks on seven models it's bound to have an effect.

Forgotten Marshal failed to summon anything but at least put out Philip & Nanny's fire. Necrotic Machine went to push enemy marker back to their side and healed itself as well as it could. Bone Pile double interacted Resurrectionist top marker to enemy side.

Auguste died, Rabble Riser died and nothing at all was done to my scheme progression, but at least Guild was denied a strategy point while Resurrectionists scored one for 1-2 lead.

Turn 4:

Archie beats Nelly a little, again not accomplishing anything. Pale Rider, however, accomplishes somewhat more by killing Archie in one activation. At least the rider had to bite Burning +7 while doing that. The irreducible damage from Pale Rider's bonus essentially killed Philip & Nanny and Night Terror, although the actual killing blows might have come from Lessons or Cursed Translation. 

Nellie also gave an action for Pale Rider who took a walk way past centerline. In Your Face incoming, I suspected. Because of that Bone Pile and even Molly herself tried to attack the horseman with additional help from a summoned Rabble Riser, but the darnest thing didn't take even a single point of damage. Only damage came from that enormous pillar of fire it was riding with. 

Noxious Nephilim charged Nellie and continued Archie's work of not-doing-damage. Though putting it like this isn't fair for the big guys, at least they were draining Nellie out of soulstones but still it might have been nice to deal more than one point of damage at a time. 

Crooligan was able to kick strategy marker to opponent's deployment, and Necrotic Machine did the same on top. 

Guild surely enough revealed In Your Face while Resurrectionists got third strategy point. Scores went 2-3 for Resurrectionists. 

I dreaded last turn, as so many of my models were just about to draw their last breath. 

Turn 5:

Opponent, however, prioritized In Your Face and went to my deployment zone, far beyond my reach with Pale Rider. 

This left Noxious Nephilim, Molly, Necrotic Machine and a summoned Night Terror to claw at Nellie, and the end result of my Assassination was: Nellie was alive with one point above 50%. I think I scored more than seven hits on Nellie throughout the whole game, so safe to say that Lead-Linen Coat was the thing standing between my two or zero points. 

Allison kicked one strategy marker to my side, but Crooligan was able to By Your Side from Forgotten Marshal to get it back in Guild's table half. 

Rabble Riser challenged Bone Pile and "stunned" it, pushing it 3" closer to Allison. Then it activated within 8" of Molly, discarded a card to move 3" and ran to engage Allison, giving me at least one point from schemes.

Resurrectionists got their fourth strategy point and one point from Hidden Martyrs, while Guild got their In Your Face. Game ended 3-5 for Resurrectionists. 

Mature Audience

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Cursed Objects

Schemes: Breakthrough, Leave Your Mark, Public Demonstration, Set the Trap, In Your Face

My list:

Molly2 & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie
Noxious Nephilim
Rabble Riser with Grave Spirit Touch
Rabble Riser
Night Terror

Stones: 5
Schemes: In Your Face, Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

Nekima & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
Mature Nephilim
2x Young Nephilim
Lilitu
Black Blood Shaman

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

Turn 1:

Opponent started with shooting Mature Nephilim with Hayreddin and pulsing off focused with Black Blood Shaman. On my side Noxious Nephilim regurgitated a corpse marker and Rabble Riser who had Grave Spirit Touch pulsed focused for my crew,

I had brought Rabble Riser a tad too far, so Mature Nephilim was able to fly and charge it, triggering shove aside, clumping up my crew even worse than it already was. Necrotic Machine took a point of damage, and second attack against the Riser brought it to one health remaining.

Molly had to activate to heal the minion a bit, cheating a precious severe from my hand on the heal flip. Remaining attacks she tried to poke some fun at the Nephilim with her baton, but the Nephilim was too mature for her childish slapstick humor. 

Remaining Nephilim crew was vomiting corpses left and right and then eating those corpses with appetite. I didn't want to bother them and let them have their fun instead. At least that's what I passive aggressively tell everyone on my blog because Nekima didn't invite me to her party. 

Rabble Riser moved out of Archie's way, then Nekima took a double walk and charged the un-upgraded Rabble Riser, leaving him reeling at two health.

Archie pushes with Molly's ability,  leaps next to Mature Nephilim and slaps it around, leaving it alive with one health.

Philip & Nanny managed to land slow on Mature Nephilim, and Necrotic Machine gave the upgraded Rabble Riser a healthy dose of black joker on heal flip.

At the end of first round I had three models completely out of my deployment zone. 

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists win initiative, so it's one dead Mature Nephilim in the hands of Archie. Nope, not a single attack connected even with mournful memories.

Black line is deployment

Mature regenerates and at least doesn't do much of a damage on Molly's models as a consolation.

And then Molly is there to tickle Mature Nephilim again with her baton. She had not learned her lesson. This Nephilim didn't even crack a smile. Tough audience. But at least parade route succeeded, but I didn't check the lines beforehand well enough and turned out I could only get one irreducible damage on the thing, and three ticks of Black Blood on my models.

Eventually grave spirit touched Rabble Riser killed the Mature Nephilim that had cursed object on it. Then? A Young Nephilim grew into an additional Mature. 

Nekima scored a strategy by killing the regular Rabble Riser and failed to do anything against Archie. 

Philip and Nanny slowed both Nekima and the new and improved Mature Nephilim. Noxious Nephilim did good job in attacking Nekima, but with all the healing going on in enemy team I wasn't convinced I could take her down.

As I had lost an unactivated Rabble Riser I was woefully behind (or forward?) in activations so I didn't dare to mess up the obvious plans of Neverborn to score Leave Your Mark. 

But, I had managed to score In Your Face with Mature Nephilim so scores went even, 2-2.

At the end of second round I still had only three models completely out of my deployment zone.

Turn 3:

I had Red Joker in my hand and won the initiative after a little cheating contest. I decided to activate Archie first since I had my doubts if he was to live for another round. I still tried to heal him as much as I could - the problem was that whatever heal I could get in was pretty much canceled by Black Blood.

Anyway, Archie used Leap to engage Black Blood shaman. He was able to secure straight flip with Red Joker, and got a severe. Second strategy point for me.

Hayreddin single-handedly killed Archie, though. Nekima then takes a swing at Noxious Nephilim and tosses a corpse marker with proper suit to stun Necrotic Machine and Rabble Riser. Riser survived the damage and charged Nekima. 

And killed her! Rabble Riser killed Nekima! What is this! Yay! Hooray! 

Oh yeah, Rabble Riser was stunned and had essentially killed Nekima with Critical Strike. 

At least Noxious Nephilim was able to finish the job and start slowly wobbling towards enemy deployment zone.

Molly makes a feeble activation, failing to heal Philip & Nanny but succeeding to heal Necrotic Machine. My last soulstone is spent on saving Philip & Nanny from just about dying when Mature Nephilim charged them and got a severe for damage. Necrotic Machine is able to heal her for a bit.

Blood Hunter charges Noxious Nephilim, and I can't get an angle for Night Terror to go and plant a scheme in the middle - Lilitu and Young Nephilim had been positioned so that I had no window to interact. Because of that Night Terror went to kill Blood Hunter, but failed at that.

Scores go 3-4 for Neverborn when both players score Strategy, and Neverborn had killed Archie while he was close enough to Nekima.

Turn 4:

Hayreddin kills both Necrotic Machine and Rabble Riser, securing strategy. Noxious Nephilim does the same for Resurrectionists by killing Young Nephilim. 

Lilitu had failed to kill Rabble Riser, but we already know his fate. 

Mature Nephilim decides to ignore Philip & Nanny who had backed into safety, thus kind of ignoring themselves. Once opponent had only Blood Hunter remaining, Night Terror felt bold enough to leave melee and plant me Leave Your Mark.

Scores even to 5-5 in this one of the toughest games in recent memory.

Turn 5:

Hayreddin and two Mature Nephilims (Lilitu had grown at this point) kill Night Terror, thus getting a strategy point for Neverborn. However, the little guy survived long enough for opponent to be unable to plant third Leave Your Mark scheme on the table.

Philip & Nanny tried to kill Blood Hunter from blocking Noxious Nephilim's way into Neverborn deployment but left the totem alive with one health. Fortunately Molly succeeds to concentrate and move the thing with Parade Route. 

Noxious Nephilim is then able to cruise 13" into enemy deployment.

Opponent scores fourth strategy point and Resurrectionists get end condition of In Your Face.

That's 6-6. What a game!