Leech Infestation

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Wedge Recover Evidence

Schemes: Scout the Rooftops, Frame Job, Reshape the Land

My list:

Rusty Alyce, Trigger Happy & 2x Hollow Waifs
Marlena Webster
Desolation Engine
Ashes and Dust
Hard Stop Herbert
2x Scavenger

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Kastore, Fervent & 2x Urn Bearers
Gwyll
Leech King
Athorak
2x Cavern Nephilim
Blood Vessel
Giant Leech

Pool: 3

Turn 1: Amalgam picked Frame Job with Ashes and Dust, Returned took Scout the Rooftops

My first activation was to go and bait Frame Job with Ashes and Dust by scaling the model to a building in the middle, and slapping down a scheme marker that might work as a Scout the Rooftops marker. 

Neverborn wasn't too interested with the Ashes and Dust, until Kastore went to pick up a strategy marker nearby, and did some damage with a bonus action. 

Kastore took a severe enough beating from Desolation Engine that an Urnbearer lured him back to safety.

Leech King summoned a Giant Leech next to Ashes and Dust, which was eventually shot to pieces by Rusty Alyce.

Hard Stop Herbert picked up my strategy marker for this turn.

Late in the turn someone pushed Ashes and Dust away from the building. Cavern Nephilims and the hired Giant Leech scored two points from Scout the Rooftops.

And since there was a building in the middle, and deployment was Wedge, both players had easy time claiming the extra point from strategy.

It was a 4-4 opening for both players.

Turn 2: Amalgam picked Scout the Rooftops, Returned took Grave Robbing

After hired Giant Leech came to engage Rusty Alyce, A Hollow Waif went to drop a scheme marker four scouting and gave a soulstoned warning cry for Alyce, who was able to shoot the Giant Leech dead with one shot.

Desolation Engine charged Urnbearer and Leech King, leaving the Urnbearer with just one health remaining.

Most of Neverborn crew started relocating to the right after I had moved Ashes and Dust on the ramparts. There was also a Scavenger up there. Kastore came to beat up the minion, but didn't score a kill. In fact, Neverborn scored no kills this turn, which had them lose a strategy point this turn. However, damage done was prohibitively extensive. Scavenger was at three, Herbert at two and Ashes and Dust had lost half of their health as well.

Rusty Alyce had to walk, bonus and drop two schemes. Another Scavenger and the Hollow Waif had all placed enough markers to get two points from Scout the Rooftops, but then Leech King summoned a Giant Leech to Alyce, and the Giant Leech summoned a Giant Leech to Rusty Alyce. 

Oh well. 

Outcasts took the lead with 6-4.

Turn 3: Amalgam picked Detonate Charges, Returned took Make It Look Like an Accident

Returned had easy time doing Make It Look Like an Accident, when Urnbearer lured Scavenger from top of the ramparts, into her own hazardous aura, leaving him with just one health remaining - thus unable to activate without dying. Someone eventually did kill him though to get a strategy marker.

Kastore Murdered Hard Stop Herbert, and either him or Blood Vessel picked up the strategy.

Athorak was able to cleave a Hollow Waif dead with just one strike, although I don't remember who picked up the strategy. 

Desolation Engine charged the Urnbearer who had just one point left, and managed to kill her but it took all his action points. Scavenger had to shuffle round to come and pick it up, after which he was mauled by Leech King and a Cavern Nephilim. 

Another Hollow Waif picked up a strategy marker that had been left a turn before.

Marlena Webster charged a Leech on the building in the middle, killed it and picked strategy right away. So that was an intense turn with the strategy, but in the end both got a point.

Rusty Alyce shot random damage here and there. I should have focused solely on Athorak, but instead the bullets were spread between him and Leech King. She summoned an Abomination to Athorak, though. Unless I completely misremember, but I think she did five damage to Leech King and five damage to Athorak with just two hits. 

Detonate Charges didn't take too much effort, so scores continued with a two point lead for Outcasts, 9-7.

Turn 4: Amalgam took Runic Binding, Returned took Breakthrough

Early enough I took the singular point from Runic Binding. 

Gwyll had put a scheme marker to Neverborn Deployment, and Blood Vessel put one on the centerline where I really couldn't reach it. 

Kastore wrecked Ashes and Dust. I was afraid that he might get a no-heal token, so I let the guy fall with the first strike. He also killed the Abomination that had been summoned. I ran Dust Storm to block the picking up of the strategy marker.

I don't quite remember how I killed the Giant Leech, but I wasn't able to pick up the strategy during the same activation. Cavern Nephilim ran to block picking it up.

Oh alright, that's the game we're playing. I ran Marlena Webster to block picking up the marker that Dust Storm was already protecting. Well, opponent still had Lure's available, so that's why.

Athorak went to place a scheme marker to my deployment, so Rusty Alyce ran right next to it.

Because of the hunger shenanigans Leech King was able to reach my deployment anyway to drop a Breakthrough marker.

Neither crews got strategy, but both go full points from their schemes. But that was just one for Outcasts, so the game ended in a narrow 10-9 victory for Rusty Alyce.

Kari Why Won't You Die Already???

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Standard Raid the Vaults

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

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Kari Zotiko
Lost Love
Gwisin
Drowned
Gaki
Enslaved Spirit
Seishin

Pool: 7
Schemes: Hold Up Their Forces, Espionage

Opponent had:

Broodmother Nekima & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
Hinamatsu
2x Young Nephilim
Black Blood Shaman
Terror Tot

Pool: 8
Schemes: Espionage, Protected Territory

Turn 1:

Nekima grew up a Terror Tot into a Young Nephilim that engaged to stall Datsue Ba, Lost Love and Gaki down the bottom-left quarter. This kind of worked, except that the Young Nephilim (or Elder Tot?) died to combined attacks of those three models. 

Drowned, Kari and Gwisin hid inside a tiny forest for whatever reason. After all, opponent didn't have any relevant ranged actions, let alone gun actions. But hey, concealment, yay!

Enslaved Spirit took a bold stance, standing alone within about 2.5" of the center point. 

Kirai had been chain-ganged further a little bit, and she summoned a Goryo on board that charged a Yonug Nephilim, delivering moderate damage. It was also engaging Nekima some 5" past the centerline.

A Seishin-walked Ikiryo charged managed to Black Joker her attack against Hinamatsu, so I just offered a Def 3 target to a Stat 6[+] combatant. Oh well.

Blood Hunter managed itself close to centerline to the left, and another Young Nephilim went to center-left strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Surely enough Ikiryo went down, but not without a fight. Hinamatsu slashed her half of her hit points until a new and improved Mature Nephilim removed Ikiryo. Nekima also left Goryo that had been summoned earlier with only two points remaining before blasting Datsue Ba, Gaki and Lost Love with Blood Has Been Spilled. 

Ikiryo's sacrifice was valiant enough, as this made it possible for the as-of-yet-not-killed Goryo to engage Nekima, and hired Enslaved Spirit to engage the emergent properties of Young Nephilim.

Kari got beaten up by Hayreddin - real bad. In fact it took a moderate damage block and a damage block over an instance of Black Blood to keep him alive. This forced both Kirai, Lost Love and Kari to patch the henchman up. 

A summoned Enslaved Spirit did free Kari from the melee against Hayreddin, and Seishin gave a free walk for my namesake so that Lost Love was eventually able to teleport to her and plant a scheme for Espionage.

Hayreddin had also engaged Drowned, who had his back taken by Kirai. Yeah, that's what the ability means, I assure no one. Drowned dropped a scheme marker on the centerline and charged back to Hayreddin.Witnessing all those weak damages by Drowned and Gwisin was painful because of Black Blood, but the minions endured. 

Black Blood Shaman didn't get close enough to center-left, so Datsue Ba was able to charge the Young Nephilim guarding the place, thus contesting it.

Kirai did have the center-right strategy marker as well as the top-right one, and managed to score both schemes for a 3-0 lead on turn two.

Turn 3:

Hoo boy. Was it a massacre.

Goryo, both Enslaved Spirits and Gaki - all gone, most before they got to activate. But Neverborn got casualties too - more important names at that, Hayreddin, Hinamatsu and a Young Nephilim. 

Enslaved Spirits bought time for Kari to patch herself up almost to full health, so a single strike from Mature Nephilim quite didn't make the sea captain go down.

At the end phase Datsue Ba was at one health remaining thanks to all the black blood that had been spilled in her proximity. But that was one point too many for Neverborn to score a point this turn, while Resurrectionists did gain their second.

Opponent wasn't able to get schemes this turn either, so we decided to end the game with 4-0 victory for Kirai. Three models to go around just didn't seem enough for Nekima to contest strategy. 

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.

A Spoiled Gaki in Every Adult

A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Death Beds, Sweating Bullets, Espionage,  Power Ritual, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Kirai, Envoy of the Court & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
Goryo with Grave Spirit Touch
Goryo
Gwisin with Grave Spirit Touch
Gwisin
Seishin

Pool: 2
Schemes: Power Ritual, Espionage

Opponent had:

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

Pool: 4
Schemes: Espionage, Death Beds (corpse)

Turn 1:

A scary bunch of Nephilim discouraged Urami to fly across the board. Fortunately there were corners to secure for both Espionage and Power Ritual. Ikiryo placed one scheme marker in the bottom-right corner and Lost Love in another. Seishin walked Ikiryo a bit forward, within interact distance to rightmost strategy marker. Goryo with Grave Spirit Touch received the same treatment towards center-right marker.

Goryo went and picked up intel. By now Nephilim had summoned a Terror Tot a bit past the centerline, spammed some Focused with Black Blood Shaman, shot off a part off Mature Nephilim with Hayreddin, and eventually grew a Lilitu into another Mature. Former Lilitu proceeded to charge my intel claiming Goryo.

There were still fast Nephilim models left to activate, so Kirai activated and walked into front of wedge, and started swirling some spirits, a non-touched Gwisin closer to Terror Tot and Goryo away from melee. Gwisin charged past Terror Tot and managed to pop Enslaved Spirit out of it and Mature Nephilim. In the picture, tough, the spirits are the scheme markers. Kirai2's summons are not ideal when dealing with Black Blood models for sure.

Hired Mature went to pick up intel and screen Nekima, and my other Goryo went to pick up intel from the same marker. Datsue Ba startled the Mature by shouting things only grandmother knows.

A Young Nephilim went to stalk the same strategy marker Ikiryo was going for, and another Young took center.

Turn 2:

Oh my, looks like I forgot to take picture from the most important and eventful turn of all. Last turn picture everyone is still on board, next turn picture everyone's gone. Ah well.

What I do remember is that Seishin gave a walk for Ikiryo, who went to stand on strategy marker. 

Hired Mature Nephilim charged towards Datsue Ba and Goryo, pushing ghosts here and there with Shove Aside. Gwisin and Kirai were able to kill former Lilitu with great trouble. After that, killing a baby was too much of a task and Terror Tot was able to grow into a fully fledged Lilitu that kept trying to lure grave spirit touched Gwisin. In the end Gwisin was forced into melee with Mature Nephilim that later charged the granny. Gwisin's activation was wasted with missing a Threaten and disengaging to guard Kirai. 

Before Mature Lilitu had died, Nekima had darkly bargained it to place a scheme marker on the centerline. Gwisin engaged by the Mature Lilitu scraped off the scheme marker, feeling proud of himself thus ruining Espionage for Neverborn. With the free walk went to engage the new and improved Lilitu. 

Well, he was just about to die, though. Young Nephilim in the middle was able to just slap a scheme marker next to Gwisin, and models around the Urami bodygoard failed so hard that Gwisin died and scored Death Beds for the opponent.

Goryo with Grave Spirit Touch went to place a scheme marker on centerline, and as last activation for the round Young Nephilim charged it and nearly killed the ghost, bringing it down to one health remaining.

Ikiryo had ran to top-right corner to bring Lost Love there to drop scheme markers for both of my schemes.

Datsue Ba started tickling hired Mature with skinning knife, steadily making weak progress that in total damaged my models equally much. 

Both players scored strategy, Neverborn got Death Beds and Resurrectionists took Espionage for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

Nephilim got the initiative, and Mature Nephilim banished Goryo that still had an intel on it, invoking a blast of Adversary condition. This at least gave an activation for the touched Goryo, regenerating back to three health. It brought itself back down to one. It was likely Young Nephilim that killed my fragile ten point investment.

Someone managed to summon an Enslaved Spirit out of Lilitu, who was then able to chain gang Datsue Ba out of melee. The grandmother charged through Mature Nephilim, managing to get two summons out of the beast first by getting a Gaki from moving through, and then Onryo from  scoring a kill with Weigh Sins. 

Hayreddin had used Life From Blood, and Blood Hunter charged Gaki. Gaki would have proven to actually be a Terror Tot if it wasn't for moderates on damage with negative modifiers.

Onryo and Seishin tried to deal with Blood Hunter, but weren't up to the job. Seishin even managed to die somehow, although I forget how. 

Ikiryo and Lost Love played their own game next to Neverborn board edge.

Black Blood Shaman had been sneakily collecting intel last round and this, thus giving a point for Neverborn. They also got their own Espionage, while Resurrectionists revealed Power Ritual for a 4-3 lead for Neverborn.

Turn 4:

Both players started to run low on significant, non-summoned models. I was thinking of trying to go for a strategy point until Young Nephilim managed to kill remaining Gwisin. That was a marking point where granny chose violence, again. Unfortunately Young Nephilim endured grandmother's wrath. 

Kirai was able to pull off another Gaki from Blood Hunter with Onryo, and Gaki even killed the puppy. Onryo was free to go and place a scheme on centerline so that there was no realistic way to deny me at least that line of Espionage. 

Ikiryo went to pick up Neverborn scheme marker from their deployment zone. Young Nephilim went to place one on mine, though.

No additional points were scored this turn.

Turn 5:

ome excitement left for the last turn. Onryo was able to engage Black Blood Shaman, but the bugger was able to disengage and place a scheme with Nekima's Dark Bargain. 

Ikiryo placed a scheme to enemy deployment and went to act as a Lost Love homing beacon for last corner of Power Ritual. 

Datsue Ba and Kirai were swirled by the spirits on top of two strategy markers, and both were able to pick intel. Nekima, however, ruined that plan by stealing Kirai's intel. 

So, it looked like both players were going to get both scheme ends and nothing else. But Resurrectionists still had a chance for a draw - Gaki would have to disengage and get at least 3" of movement to gobble up one corpse from Death Beds end condition, and come back to engage Young Nephilim so that it would not be able to go and scheme with the respectable numbers of corpses around, considering that one of the teams weren't dropping any markers on death...

So, a 6-5 victory for Neverborn.

Meeting Expectations

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Guard the Stash

Schemes: Assassinate, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out, Load 'Em Up, Vendetta

My list was:

McMourning, Insanitary & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse
Guild Autopsy
Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: Vendetta (Autopsy on Black Blood Shaman), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Nekima with Inhuman Reflexes & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
2x Mature Nephilim
Young Nephilim
Black Blood Shaman

Pool: 6
Schemes: Assassinate, Load 'Em Up (corpse)

Turn 1:

Black Blood Shaman did the focus thing with a corpse that Blood Hunter had regurgitated. 

All the remaining Nephilim models? At or near the centerline with Nekima dangerously close to Kentauroi.

Experimentals? They had barely left deployment zone...

Yeah, at least the way I play McMourning2 they have a real slow start. First Canine Remains start to generate corpses, somebody accidentally drops some formaldehyde and poisons everybody, also summoning more dogs to create more corpses... insanity! I even tried to place a sludge hazard marker on top of everyone, but failed to get a suit.

Anyway, Rogue Necromancy had been given some extra legs, so it and a summoned Flesh Construct went north to launch some projectile vomit at Mature Nephilim, both of them missing.

The Kentauroi went to act as a spearhead, and when I said Nekima was dangerously close I didn't quite mean what is in the picture - I nearly forgot to take one, and Nekima has already charged the centaur.

All my other models are in a blob around my table side strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Nekima kills Kentauroi in two connected blows. At least she had to spend all of her actions on attacks, but that cost me Red Joker from hand. 

Summoned Canine Remains picks up a bone from corpse curator, not doing anything particularly useful. And then I lost my chance at running Flesh Construct to attack Nekima - Mature Nephilim charged Rogue Necromancy, dealing heavy damage. 

Nurse pushed Rogue Necromancy into melee with the Mature Nephilim with painkillers. But that only called in additional Mature Nephilims. Rogue Necromancy started to be in such a shape that Zombie Chihuahua had to do some emergency blood poisoning on it.

Hayreddin relocated to middle-left marker.

And then it was time for some desperation. Desperate Plot was used to give extra legs for my vendetta carrier, Guild Autopsy. Masks ensured a second push for Sebastian, although he got no upgrades this time around. Rogue Necromancy was pulled from melee and its melee attack stitched on to Corpse Curator. I think last action was just to concentrate to remove distraction from last turn summons.

And whoa - that savage bite was impressive. First, Curator dredged up a corpse and went to bite Nekima through it, far enough not to trigger scamper. It was some solid four. Then Curator placed toxic sludge and dredged another bite at Nekima through it, dealing some damage again. 

Blood Hunter runs to throw up a corpse near Nekima. I suppose Nekima was going to hurl it back into Blood Hunter's throat and tear a bite out of it herself... but, Guild Autopsy walked with his brand new legs and shot the puppy dead. 

Finally Sebastian charged Nekima and did his things inside sludge marker, getting decent amount of poison in the process. Attacks, however, weren't so decent. Or actually they were, but damage blocks with soulstone by Nekima were even more decent. 

I had the difficult choice of charging into melee with Rogue Necromancy. I think I would have done that if Flesh Construct would have gotten even a single hit in with minimum damage against Mature Nephilim, but that was not to be. Now, the ten point beater with charge upgrade ran to get a victory point from top-left strategy marker.

Points went 1-1 from both players scoring strategy.

Turn 3:

A Mature Nephilim flies to engage McMourning, deals some damage but not overly much after damage blocks.

Sebastian walks to engage Nekima and finish her. She was at, like, four health remaining or so. But either attack missed or all damage was blocked. 

Black Blood Shaman walks and charges Sebastian. With such a damage track, expected damage was one at most. That was until opponent flipped Red Joker for damage. Five points. Not good, dying to Nekima's weak damage. Sebastian promptly used soulstone, trying to block at least two points of damage. Look at that, Red Joker. So the expected damage of one held true, after all.

Since it had worked so well earlier, Corpse Curator begins to dredge up various markers to attack Nekima. But this time around he had to do so with ancient injectors, and didn't score a single hit. At least there was now sludge marker beneath Nekima, Black Blood Shaman and Sebastian. 

Another Mature Nephilim kills off Zombie Chihuahua, so quick heals were now entirely on Sebastian's shoulders. 

I really, really wanted Nekima dead now that I had the chance. So, McMourning activates and disengages from Mature Nephilim to get line of sight to Sebastian. That much succeeds, and after desperate plot Sebastian became an oozing pile of hazardous terrain, right in contact with Nekima. Too bad both enemy models passed hidden bomb checks.

Surgery gave bone saw for summoned Canine Remains, and then I'm wondering what to do with last remaining action. I chose to hit Corpse Curator with surgical instruments to maybe get extra arms one day. I could have made a Flesh Construct instead, though. I don't understand why I didn't. I guess I was afraid that I'd lose Corpse Curator too easily, since it would have gone down to two health remaining or something. 

Then Hayreddin flies within sight of McMourning, loads his shotgun and shoots my precious Nekima-killing stat 7 bone saw dog with moderate damage while having negative modifiers. 

Didn't look like too many Neverborn masters would die this round unless I somehow removed Mature Nephilim that was engaging Flesh Construct. Rogue Necromancy abandoned its post at strategy marker, ambushed for a bit and charged the Mature. It brought the Nephilim down to five health. 

And finally Nekima activates. She buys shove aside for an attack against Sebastian, lands the hit and as a consequence takes only one point of damage from my clever upgrade shenanigans. With the extra attack Nekima was able to force me to do some additional clever upgrade shenanigans - with negative modifiers she was able to deal five points in to my vendetta carrier. Legs fell and "only" three points taken. 

Remaining attacks went to Sebastian and certainly took a toll on my soulstones, but the resurrectionist henchman persevered. 

Suddenly scared, Guild Autopsy creeps along to Corpse Curator and takes a focused shot at Black Blood Shaman, doing nothing. 

Young Nephilim just chills at bottom-right marker. 

Canine Remains runs to top-left marker, and then it was a time for a miracle. Flesh Construct released all of its pent up aggression from continuous failures and punches severe damage in to the Mature Nephilim on first try. Then it walks and vomits over Black Blood Shaman, but the construct was back to its usual business and missed. 

Nurse stunned the remaining Mature Nephilim and healed McMourning a little. 

So, I managed to claim a second strategy point this turn. But also opponent got to reveal Load 'Em Up on corpse markers for a prolonged tie 2-2.

Turn 4:

Nekima charges, engaging McMourning, Sebastian, Guild Autopsy and Corpse Curator. Since McMourning doesn't take charge attacks, my vendetta died with zero points scored. Boo. Also, all my remaining soulstones were spent, protecting my master. 

Nekima had somewhere around five health remaining. McMourning loaned Sebastian's bone saw for a bit and spent all of his action points on attacks against the Nephilim master. And finally, finally the beast fell!

But now McMourning was without protection of an additional Flesh Construct. Hayreddin and Mature Nephilim spent their activations on raining attacks against my master. But he lucked out and also got healed for seven by Nurse and blood poisoning from Sebastian. Nurse also tried to stun Mature Nephilim away from strategy marker, but failed.

Sebastian had went to contest middle-right marker that Black Blood Shaman had ran to control. This drew Young Nephilim from his post, tickling Sebastian with claws a little. 

Canine Remains, Rogue Necromancy and Flesh Construct went to place required markers for Spread Them Out.

Opponent got my strategy marker because Hayreddin was blocking McMourning's line of sight, and I got Spread Them Out, so the tie isn't broken and goes 3-3 instead.

Turn 5:

Flesh Construct goes to place a scheme marker and stand on top of it. 

But then Black Blood Shaman goes to engage Rogue Necromancy. Curses! Now I needed to somehow remove the vendetta target before placing a marker for Spread Them Out. Fortunately I had tools for that - after Young Nephilim had tried to maul Sebastian dead, Corpse Curator takes a double walk and puts up Cursed Sludge. 

I suppose Sebastian had been flipping too good throughout the game. He had been scoring hits quite regularly, so obviously now he had to miss. So it was on Rogue Necromancy to remove Black Blood Shaman with one strike. This was possible, though - the shaman had five health remaining. One severe would do nicely.

Buuut it was only a moderate. There went my Spread Them Out.

Fortunately Hayreddin and Mature Nephilim were struggling with Assassinate, too. Mature didn't exactly miss his attacks, no, but one unfortunate black joker on damage and a severe heal from Nurse caused McMourning to have full health when Hayreddin activated. 

Hayreddin wasn't able to do it alone, so no assassination points for Neverborn.

No Spread Them Out for Resurrectionists.

No strategy points for anyone, anywhere.

The tie became eternal, 3-3 draw. 

Super Secret Meetup (It Just Had To Come vol IV)

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Standard Guard the Stash

Schemes: In Your Face, Vendetta, Catch and Release, Secret Meetup, Set the Trap

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Carrion Effigy
Bone Pile with Grave Spirit Touch
Dead Doxy
Gravedigger
Dead Dandy

Pool: 5
Schemes: Set the Trap, Secret Meetup (Dead Doxy & Young Nephilim)

Opponent had:

New Broodmother Crew (Neverborn)

Size: 50 - Pool: 8

Leader:

 Nekima, Broodmother & Blood Hunter
Athorak
Serena Bowman
2x Young Nephilim
Black Blood Shaman with Ancient Pact
Terror Tot

Pool: 8
Schemes: Set the Trap, Secret Meetup (Madame Sybelle & Athorak)

Turn 1:

I deployed Dead Dandy, Gravedigger and Copycat Killer far to the right, Seamus and Dead Doxy close to bottom-left strategy marker and more or less everything else in the middle. 

Most of the Nephilim gathered in the middle, too, which was a lot of concentrated black blood right there. Once Gravedigger took a double walk and planted a corpse marker past center line far on the right, the blob was diluted a little when Young Nephilim walked and charged Gravedigger, dealing some damage in.

I only realized how well this sacrificial trick "worked" when Copycat Killer transported Seamus there, and he already had a corpse marker for Cause For Celebration. But, quotations were there for a reason. Terrorize to remove friendly fire penalty? Missed. Concentrated shot at the Young Nephilim? Missed. Even bonus action shot with a boost from soulstone missed. Great job, Seamus. 

Nephilim shenanigans had the Terror Tot to grow into a Lilitu, who then lured Bete Noire nearby.

Madame Sybelle had tried to use Beckoning Call on Bone Pile, but the numbskull just wouldn't take the hint. Later Dead Doxy tried to take Bone Pile by one of its four hands, which also failed. And when the Pile finally activated, Athorak had already blocked any line of sight. Oh well. At least Young Nephilim for my secret meetup was behind my required building.

Turn 2:

It was a big turn for sure. 

Gravedigger miraculously survives attacks by Young Nephilim, and even manages to drop a corpse for Seamus to celebrate Blood Hunter to eat. 

Bete Noire goes to tickle Lilitu for a bit, and Madame Sybelle charges in to tickle Lilitu a lot, killing her. Bete Noire takes too big of a beating and fades away as is to be expected. What was not expected, however, was the attacker to the Young Nephilim from left who was Doxy's planned secret meetup.

Athorak goes hangs around close to his secret meetup building, looking almost as aimless as Dead Doxy, because Madame Sybelle in the middle of every melee on the board. 

Carrion Effigy came to heal Madame Sybelle and failed to activate Aura of Decay. Nekima came and scrapped the useless puppet. 

Black Blood Shaman went to guard top-right marker. I had a difficult choice of taking a point from strategy or from Set the Trap, but not both. I chose Set the Trap by disengaging with Seamus, shooting Blood Hunter dead and transforming Lilitu's corpse to a scheme marker with Dead Dandy.

Bone Pile places another scheme close to Athorak, while Doxy meekly places a scheme marker for at least secret meetup end condition.

Neither player got strategy, while Resurrectionists had Set the Trap for 0-1 lead.

Turn 3:

 Unsung hero of the match proved to be Gravedigger. The reason for no songs was most likely that the only thing he did was to survive time after time attacks by Young Nephilim. He then moved away from melee by digging up a corpse and then going to contest top-right marker. But, in the end, Serena Bowman set the twisted reality where Gravedigger had already stayed alive for far too long right by shooting him. 

Madame Sybelle failed to kill Serena, but at least Undivided Attention was up and running. 

Nekima summoned a Terror Tot and healed models. Seamus was missing shots left and right again. However, his shots were at least tolling opponent's hand... but still it ain't fun missing that big cannon so many times in a game. At least he managed to terrorize Nekima away from strategy marker.

Athorak summons a corpse which grows Doxy's meetup Nephilim into a Mature. Bete Noire pops up in the middle of the melee and finally somebody does something and kills Serena Bowman.

Black Blood Shaman runs to contest center-right marker, so there was two eligible models within 2" of the marker from both sides. Athorak and Doxy were arm wrestling (well, they were not since Athorak didn't take into Doxy's hand when she tried to make him fall from top of pillar) the center-left , so it was up to Bone Pile to open Resurrectionists strategy scores. Neither side reveals additional schemes, so scores go 0-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Otherwise decent enough looking game for Resurrectionists falls apart this turn, when Bete Noire uses Poisoned Fate on Mature Nephilim and succeeds. And then, only after then she tries to disengage. Failing spectacularly at that. I hadn't considered that the damage from Poisoned Fate is damage from an action or ability, so she kind of spelled her own doom. 

"Nyeh nyeh nyeh, imma poison your fate, Nephilim! Noo, I poisoned my own fate!"

Because soon after, Mature Nephilim activates and starts cheating to its heart's content. Bete Noire had ended her activation with three health left, so that was kind of bad news. After it had done cheating, Bete was at one health and Madame Sybelle at six. 

Next, Mature Nephilim casually kills Madame Sybelle with a severe. I still had one soulstone so I could have tried to block damage, but I had a suspicion that Madame Sybelle could be Secret Meetup target, so I let her die.

And if it didn't look horrifying already, Athorak charges Dead Doxy, gets Red Joker on damage and kills her with second hit. So it was something like twisting a knife in wound, when Mature Nephilim had moved near enough that Dead Doxy could have taken it by the hand and scored Secret Meetup.

At least Seamus kills Black Blood Shaman, and Bone Pile scores damage in to Nekima. Copycat Killer tries to kill Nekima (he could have done it with Red Joker and opponent blocking only one damage... if only...!) before she charges Bone Pile. 

Terror Tot grows into Young Nephilim, and the Young Nephilim who had been flocking around Gravedigger took a full double walk and Fly With Me to bottom-right strategy marker.

This turn Resurrectionists score nothing, and opponent gets a strategy for 1-2 for Seamus.

Turn 5:

Neverborns seize most of the strategy markers. I only have Seamus and Bone Pile who were able to get strategy markers, so... 

While Athorak and a summoned Terror Tot manage to bring Seamus down to less than half health remaining, opponent doesn't have enough scheme markers to score both Secret Meetup end and Set the Trap end. This was thanks to Copycat Killer's magnificent performance at killing a Young Nephilim.

Heck, that alone was almost more impactful than anything Seamus did the entire game. Okay, I'm not being fair to Seamus but missing his shots that many times in a game with plentiful extra shots... sheesh... he doesn't deserve any fairness. 

Both players get Secret Meetup end, which is amusing since neither pair actually met in their designated places. 

Neverborn also gets second strategy point.

So...

Yeah. If we're looking strictly at points scored, this may have been the toughest game up-to-date.

I skimmed through the entirety of my Malifaux games on this blog, and out of games that were played in their entirety, ie, not conceded prematurely, with game size of 50 soul stones, I didn't find a single game of 3-3 points or less. Although I didn't read the write-ups where I had not clearly stated the end points, so I may have missed if there ever was one. 

Hemophobia

 A 50ss game of Malifaux. 

Strategy: Wedge Covert Operation

Schemes: Catch and Release, Leave Your Mark, Sabotage, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out

My list:

Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Jaakuna Ubume
Johan Creedy
Hanged
Crooked Man with Servant of Dark Powers
Prospector

Pool: 3
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Set the Trap

Opponent had:

Nekima, Broodmother & Blood Hunter
Hayreddin
Mature Nephilim
2x Young Nephilim
Black Blood Shaman
Terror Tot

Pool: 7
Schemes: Sabotage, Leave Your Mark

Turn 1:

Somehow it just seems that Jaakuna Ubume is destined for turn 1 alpha strikes for me. Fortunately this time around she was still alive after turn ended. She didn't take damage, but gave three points to Mature Nephilim from just standing there. 

Main body of both crews were closing in the middle. I had Jaakuna, Crooked Man, Lady Ligeia, Montresor and Jack Daw there, with Hanged going north and Prospector south. Johan Creedy was just trying to stay relevant whether he was needed south or in the middle.

Jack Daw managed to land his curse on Mature Nephilim.

One Young Nephilim was going to south marker, the Mature was engaging Jaakuna Ubume and remaining Neverborn crew was near the middle with a suspicious lookin scheme marker within 1" of the centerpoint already. Terror Tot had grown to become a Lilitu. 

Turn 2:

Montresor makes a sub-par activation by walking twice to get Mature Nephilim within 6". At least he scored crows for his bonus and dealt a couple of points more to Mature. 

Mature then activates, charges and scores shove aside attack from Crooked Man. Other attacks went into beating Montresor.

Crooked Man was now pretty much facing Nekima, Black Blood Shaman, Lilitu and Young Nephilim all alone while already injured, so he activated to at least get an activation. Earthquake didn't roll out, but Malifaux Mining Law got the trigger to remove enemy schemes within 3" and place one of his own.

I have to tip my hat to Crooked Man's survivability, though. Lilitu, Nekima, Hayreddin and Young Nephilim all spent a good portion of their action points to remove him. Rest in peace, Crooky. 

Things didn't turn out that well for me with Mature Nephilim, though, who had been healed a little by Nekima and his own regeneration.

Jack Daw tried to shoot some curse upgrades to enemy models in the middle, but used remaining attacks on Mature, missing his big attack with Rams bought in with a stone. One attack dealt a bit damage, but so it did to Jack and Montresor, too. 

Johan Creedy just kept missing, and the only additional damage that turn came from Jaakuna managing to lure Mature Nephilim into her drowning aura. 

Hanged scored north marker and planted a scheme. Prospector had placed a scheme marker also, but wasn't able to claim because Young Nephilim charged and dealt some four damage to him.

Both players get strategy and Outcasts also manage Spread Them Out, for 1-2 lead.

Turn 3:

Montresor managed to kill Mature Nephilim which was a little surprising, and Young Nephilim killed Prospector which wasn't all that surprising. It essentially needed to fail its actions twice. 

Johan was sacrificed for some distraction, charging to Black Blood Shaman that had five boxes remaining, engaging Nekima in the process. Didn't kill, though. Black Blood Shaman failed its attacks back, which still meant some damage.

Nekima walks and kills poor Johan with blade and a black blood from a friendly model. Then she charges Montresor, engaging both Jaakuna and him. 

In the middle there was nice blob of enemy models for a devious trap that I had set. To discourage enemy models from leaving, Hanged placed a scheme up north, walked and launched itself to middle with Horrifying Whispers and proper triggers. 

Lilitu disengaged and tried to lure Hanged away but failed. I was planning to put a scheme near Nekima with Jaakuna and a few nephilim in the middle with Jack. But first Lady Ligeia had to position herself for Drawn to Betrayal. 

GASP -moment was when Young Nephilim in melee with Hanged slapped a Red Joker in Hanged's face on damage. Damage block was a healthy "1". 

I was spending all my soulstones to save him from black bloods and whatnot. I was thinking that if he'd still be at two health remaining when Blood Hunter activates, he'd be safe.

Well, not. Because of stampede. 

So that was Hanged and Johan down the very same turn. Not ideal, but at least Jack Daw moved Jaakuna and succeeded to place a scheme marker to catch Lilitu, Black Blood Shaman and Young Nephilim within 2" for Set the Trap. Jaakuna was then able to move to claim southern strategy marker and concentrate.

Hayreddin had moved close to the building, so that was sabotage all but confirmed there.

Both players scored strategy and Outcasts their second scheme for 2-4 lead.

Turn 4:

Jaakuna Ubume places a scheme marker and charges Young Nephilim. It is left with one or two health remaining and skips its activation because of that.

Jack Daw is able to charge Black Blood Shaman and kill it with two strikes, and is then free to interact a scheme marker over 10" from Jaakuna's scheme. 

Young Nephilim in the middle and Blood Hunter kills Jack Daw by failing at everything. To add insult to injury, the killing blow was dealt by Blood Hunter, the insignificant totem. 

Nekima savagely mauls Montresor and procs his Demise, but doesn't kill. Lady Ligeia tries to blast Blood Hunter and Young Nephilim first with focus, and later again with Montresor's help. But Black Joker, that had been popping up every turn for me foiled one Cursed To Watch action, so she didn't have focus to yell real loud. 

Hayreddin secures Sabotage, and Outcasts no longer had a deny-able scheme marker in the middle, so Neverborn also got Leave Your Mark. Neither player got strategy this round, so scores went even 4-4.

Turn 5:

Outcasts had +3 to their initiative flips from pass tokens, so Lady Ligeia was able to activate first and quickly run to engage Blood Hunter and Young Nephilim.

I started using pass tokens. Nekima procs Montresor's demise once more, and still doesn't kill. 

However, I didn't dare to just empty my tokens because I was afraid that Young Nephilim below might kill Jaakuna Ubume. Hayreddin had ran to northern strategy marker. Young Nephilim and Hayreddin had only been able to secure Sabotage end condition, so I made a gambit to pull Montresor out of melee with Nekima.

Blood Hunter immediately attacked him, dealing a point of damage.

Whatever the case, I needed to wait Young Nephilim's at Jaakuna's activation first so that it wouldn't just come and engage Montresor. 

Well, it did and blocked Montresor's path to the strategy marker and managed to deal one point of damage - now Montresor was at one health remaining, with demise procced twice during game. 

Since Montresor can't ignore severe terrain and he couldn't kill anything (he'd die even if he managed it) so it was game over.

Outcasts got Spread Them Out end condition, Neverborn Sabotage end and strategy for 5-6 win for Neverborn.

There is something wrong with my hand

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Standard Guard the Stash

Schemes: Vendetta, Hidden Martyrs, Spread Them Out, In Your Face, Public Demonstration

My list:

Seamus with The Whisper & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire with Grave Spirit Touch
Gravedigger with Killer Instinct
Dead Dandy
2x Bone Pile

Stones: 5
Schemes: Vendetta (Bone Pile on Iggy), Hidden Martyrs (Bete Noire & Dead Dand7)

Opponent had:

Pandora, Tyrant Torn & Poltergeist
Candy
Dorian Crowe
Iggy
Hooded Rider
2x Sorrow
Wicked Doll

Stones: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Sorrow & Poltergeist), Spread Them Out

Turn 1:

Game started with me having a card no higher than 10 in hand. Alright, no biggie.

Bete Noire walked near Dead Dandy, Seamus and Madame Sybelle in the middle and put some focus on them and walked towards center point. Pandora was about to stun her, so she had to Fade Away while she still could.

Dorian Crowe pushed most of enemy crew up for a bit and dumped his cigar on Candy. Way to provoke some temper tantrums!

I did some peek-a-boo Seamus things for a change and teleported, took a shot at Candy and teleported away. Opponent was able to play Red Joker from his hand to make the shot miss.

Hooded Rider rides with Candy, moves and charges Seamus and deals moderate damage which he blocks with a stone to one.

Copycat Killer runs from far-right near the strategy marker on my side, but doesn't teleport Seamus anywhere because I didn't want to lose Copycat Killer on the second round.

Grave Digger and Bone Pile were biding time on the left, waiting for Iggy to appear for some Vendetta.

Since Candy was a tad too far for Madame Sybelle to walk and charge, she instead walked, called Seamus from melee into safety and then took a second walk, positioning herself with a Dead Dandy so that Candy would not get my master within 4" of herself.

Dandy had tried to make a corpse for Bete to arrive next turn, but managed only to draw the silhouette of a corpse with a chalk. 

As a last activation for the round Candy got within 4" of Dandy and Madame Sybelle and even managed to Slow them. 

Turn 2:

My hand is kind of horrible, so I use a stone. Still, highest card I had was a ten. Two of them, in fact.

Madame Sybelle opens the turn and is stunned from Candy and then pushed by Pandora. She charges Candy and manages to deal a point of damage, wow! 

Pandora activates next and ruins everything. Seamus becomes Stunned and engaged in melee by a Sorrow that was summoned next to also stunned Dead Dandy. 

Fortunately Seamus manages to disengage, concentrate and shoot Candy that was engaged with Madame Sybelle. But even with two extra cards Seamus misses as opponent is able to cheat Red Joker to save her... again.

Wicked Doll and Dorian Crowe come to contest the middle-left marker along with Pandora so no chances for me to deny points there. 

A sorrow in the middle-left marker charged Gravedigger. While Dead Dandy had managed to make a corpse this turn, Poltergeist just removed it and even tossed Dead Dandy to hazardous terrain where he was then standing with two health remaining, and easily within 4" of a Life Leecher. 

Thus, Grave Digger made a corpse for Bete to appear and the two together killed the thing, which was a Hidden Martyr no less.

Bone Pile managed to land a hit to Iggy, and it was a little worrying that Iggy was reckless and brought himself to three, meaning moderate damage would now kill him next turn. Not good for Vendetta.

Copycat Killer tried to move Seamus to a little more defensible position, and another Bone Pile re-located itself to middle to heal Madame Sybelle. 

Hooded Rider, however, was able to ride, walk and charge Seamus, slapping him with full severe damage which was reduced to three. But after everything Seamus was not at four health remaining. 

Sorrow, Iggy and Wicked Doll had planted scheme markers, I had killed enemy martyr and I did not control any strategy markers, so it was a nasty 0-3 score for Neverborn.

Turn 3:

Well, look at that. Third round in a row with the highest card in my hand being a ten. This is probably some sort of a record for me. 

I had three pass tokens so I played that ten from my hand to cheat initiative. Seamus walked within 1" of building, teleported to another and took a double walk towards enemy bottom-right strategy marker.

Iggy uses reckless and goes to place a scheme marker. That would mean no Vendetta reveal for me. 

Madame Sybelle put on her aura and tried to charge Poltergeist, but the attack didn't really do anything. Activating Madame now was a mistake, I should have instead tried to shoot Iggy with Bone Pile. As it happened, Iggy activated next and went to two health remaining from being reckless. 

Pandora pushes Madame around and turns her into hazardous terrain and makes Bete Noire fade away once more and summons an additional Sorrow. Sorrows kill Copycat Killer, who leaves a corpse marker. Bone Pile could have taken three points of damage to heal two and try to scrape at a summoned Sorrow but I didn't think it was worth it and buried it instead.

One Sorrow went to contest strategy marker where Seamus was. Remaining Bone Pile went to control bottom-left strategy marker but was contested by Dorian Crowe. Grave Digger killed Iggy and left a corpse for Bete to reappear. She did so and went to control strategy marker. 

Hooded Rider and Wicked Doll also spawned some scheme markers, so opponent now had enough for Spread Them Out end condition. Situation was looking grim indeed.

Scores went to 1-4 for Neverborn.

Turn 4:

Woohoo! I got my first severe card to my hand this turn. And it was eleven. And it was the only one. Baffling.

But, opponent wins initiative. Sorrow close to Seamus activates and lands a stun on him and while I manage to dodge one of its attacks with my precious eleven, second attack hit home and would have killed Seamus if not for hard-to-kill. 

But, now Seamus was at one health remaining and Sorrow had Life Leech.

We ended the game there with a quite of a victory for Neverborn.

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!