Prisoner Steak, Rare+

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Ensnare, Outflank, Deliver a Message, Sweating Bullets

My list:

Ensouled Jack Daw & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Yannic Waller
Midnight Stalker
The Ferryman
Crooked Man
Dead Outlaw

Pool: 6
Schemes: Ensnare, Deliver a Message (Midnight Stalker)

Opponent had:

Rasputina & Wendigo
Snow Storm
Blessed of December
Ceddra
December Acolyte
Silent One with Magical Training
Silent One

Pool: 4
Schemes: Ensnare, Take Prisoner (Dead Outlaw)

Turn 1:

Well, what's the most sensible thing to do with your master on turn one? Well... maybe charge enemy henchman, master, totem and a bunch of minions? Right, we'll go with that.

Jack Daw absolutely failed each of his attacks, though, so there was some degree of worry about his well-being. At least there was more than a decent set-up for Draw Them In next turn.

Montresor and Jack Daw were relatively early activations - which only meant that they were slowed and staggered the next turn. Joining in on the slow/staggered team were Crooked Man and Dead Outlaw, plus Lady Ligeia was cheering them up by just being slow. 

Most of that was Rasputina's doing, although models such as Snow Storm and Silent Ones certainly helped. 

Staggered was annoying especially on Crooked Man, as I kept trying to figure out how to move the guy outside of his activation - only to realize that yeah, not going to happen because of Staggered. So Crooked Man just wobbled forward with its mighty Mv of 2, doing nothing else. 

Eventually Blessed of December leaped from its deployment position to the right to herd Dead Outlaw to a nice little blast zone with Lady Ligeia and Montresor. 

Yannic Waller had smashed one ice pillar and went behind the hull of a ship to hide from Acolyte of December. 

Midnight Stalker started to climb up on a building to perhaps contest center-right marker next turn. 

Ferryman went to contest the strategy marker on bottom-right quarter, and those were the most meaningful parts of the turn from my perspective.

Turn 2:

Arcanists won initiative. Rasputina did horrible things on her turn. Some of which were already hinted in the description of turn one. Slow and staggered, everywhere!

I must have forgotten to take a picture on turn two, though, because sure as hell I didn't take down Snow Storm on turn two. 

Instead, Jack Daw did Draw Them In twice. Damage done wasn't all that impressive for a full master activation, but it did have a heavy toll on opponent's hand that, I heard later, had five severes.

Early on Blessed of December leaped to put a dent on Dead Outlaw. And after a blast from Rasputina and a couple of damage from Blessed of December last turn, moderate damage (with negative modifiers) was all that it took to take down Dead Outlaw before it had the time to activate. 

Bummer? Sure. However, I did not know Dead Outlaw was opponent's Take Prisoner target. Whoops. 

Montresor spent his entire activation to get as many models within his stagger aura, and Crooked Man interacted a scheme within 3" of Blessed of December. He also put up his Mining Law aura, getting two markers required for Ensnare next turn. Shame, that Blessed of December had Deadly Pursuit.

Since I had such secure position on the center-left marker, Ferryman felt confident enough to miss its attacks against Silent One that had Magical Training upgrade. 

Likely there was some more nuance to this turn, but I got not picture. My memory ain't what it used to be.

However, Midnight Stalker leaped, walked and delivered a message to Rasputina.

Both players scored strategy, with Midnight Stalker giving Outcasts 2-1 lead.

Turn 3:

Arcanists got the initiative again, and Rasputina did a bad, bad thing. This time around I think it was Montresor, Midnight Stalker and Jack Daw that got the cold shoulder - and most Jack's damage with Draw Them In was negated with Freeze Over. Oh well.

At least Jack Daw was able to land hazardous terrain on Snow Storm before bursting away with speed and pushing Montresor a little closer with bonus action. Snow Storm wouldn't have any of that aura, and walked a tad away to blast with Ice Tornado. Talk about Anger Issues. The upgrade, I mean. That didn't go away because models were damaged. However, staggered expired.

Montresor was able to toss a noose around Snowstorm's head and pull it back within Hanging Ropes aura. 

I had not realized how much I had damaged Snow Storm already. When Midnight Stalker leaped to it and half-heartedly poked it with a knife, the thing just died, though opponent tried to save it by spending a soulstone. Go figure? Stalker was then able to charge Wendigo that had two health remaining, but botched that attack.

Throughout this entire winter storm laced with tormented vengeance spirit, Yannic Waller tried to come and arrange a little democratic elections, and yeah, that went just about as you might expect, given the circumstances. Acolyte even kept shooting harpoons at her before repositioning to control strategy marker in top-left quarter.

Yannic had consolidated power of Crooked Man now that it was no longer staggered. Idea was to place a scheme marker with trigger, which succeeded. However, Blessed of December activated right next and deleted Crooked Man from the board with a Red Joker on damage flip. That... that guy just spent two turns to advance a total of 2" and place two scheme markers. Three, if you count Yannic's contribution.

Anyway, Blessed was now free to go and claim the vault that was worth two points for Arcanists.

Sightless Snow and Ceddra removed Lady Ligeia after she had tried to yell for a bit. 

Ferryman had managed to land no-heal on Snow Storm, before it failed an attack against Silent One. Ashamed, Ferryman backed to control strategy marker on bottom-right quarter.

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

Turn 4:

Everybody died. GG.

Okay, well, more specifically  Wendigo died to three attacks from Midnight Stalker before the enforcer leaped to strategy marker worth two points for Outcasts.

Jack Daw, no longer slowed, was able to go and place scheme markers to ensnare Ceddra or Sightless Snow or whoever it was at the time. The beast attacked Montresor, who ticked down to zero health remaining. I pondered if I should just leave the henchman for dead, as there were scheme markers close enough to score Ensnare. In the ended I decided not to, and that was when opponent revealed Ensnare. 

At least Montresor succeeded in killing the Silent One without upgrade.

Rasputina and perhaps even Acolyte - I forget the details - had killed Yannic Waller after she finally managed to arrange democratic elections. I hope that's not, like, foreshadowing whatever the hell is happening in the world right now. But I royally digress.

Ferryman charged Silent One with the upgrade, missing again. This time it backed down to strategy marker. 

So, both players scored strategy and Ensnare for a 5-4 lead for Outcasts.

Turn 5:

Last turn had enough variables to warrant for a play. Montresor managed to toss noose over Sightless Ceddra before dying without triggering Eternal. Idea was to deny Ensnare end condition from the Arcanists after they had spammed scheme markers all over the center area.

Rasputina moved away from Outcast scheme markers so as not to be within 2" of a marker at least. 

Leaping, Fast Midnight Stalker rectified that.

In the end, Jack Daw was able to place a scheme marker so that Sightless Ceddra would trigger  Ensnare end condition for Outcasts, but that just meant that he himself was Ensnared. 

Rasputina had enough models to score strategy. Both players scored Ensnare, but Outcasts got to deliver their message for a 7-6 victory.

Blessed Audition

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Standard Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Deliver a Message, Outflank, Espionage, Power Ritual, Take Prisoner

My list:

Seamus Baker with The Whisper & Copycat Killer
Strange Lady with Grave Spirit Touch
Bete Noire
White Rabbit Co.
Dead Doxy
Bone Pile
Dead Dandy

Pool: 5
Schemes: Outflank, Espionage

Opponent had:

Rasputina & Wendigo
Snow Storm
Blessed of December with Soulstone Cache
December Acolyte
2x Silent One
Ice Dancer
Hoarcat

Pool: 1
Schemes: Outflank, Deliver a Message (Blessed of December)

Turn 1:

Let's go from left to right. 

Dead Dandy places a scheme marker for Espionage, also bluffing Power Ritual. Since there was only a tiny bottleneck for Bone Pile and Dead Dandy to get through to strategy marker, Silent One blocked that passage with an ice pillar. Bone Pile had to use its second action to remove the thing.

Silent One was accompanied by a Hoarcat, but both were still far away from strategy markers. 

Acolyte of December was deployed on top of a building, where it took a shot at Strange Lady, damaging it a little. Strange Lady did not approve, and Obeyed the thing off the building, dealing a couple of damage points from the fall. Which was somewhat impressive, as Strange Lady was still distracted from Seamus amputating a Mourner off of her. 

Blessed of December walked and leaped to strike at Strange Lady, not doing much.

Rasputina and Wendigo blasts Bete Noire off the board before White Rabbit had the time to craft a hat. Off the board obviously meaning Fade Away in this context. Ice Dancer was there with Rasputina and her totem, dominating center. However, Mourner took up the challenge - or at least peeked in their general direction from behind some barrels. 

As my last activation Bete Noire popped up in my deployment zone and ran just past centerline, inside the building on right.

Snow Storm was feeling confident enough to take on Dead Doxy (with a hat), Copycat Killer and White Rabbit Company, which were slowly creeping towards outflank zone and a strategy marker there. Top right quadrant also hides a Silent One, somewhere, somehow.

Four ice pillars had risen up already, although one of them had been removed. 

Turn 2:

Again from left to right, Bone Pile and Hoarcat toss an informant between them, both gaining an intel point. Dead Dandy positions right behind the strategy marker after Hoarcat had tossed it back. Dandy placed a scheme marker in outflank zone.

Blessed of December is mauled pretty badly by Strange Lady and Seamus, but Silent One patches up the beast a little. Acolyte, Rasputina and Blessed of December all get fixated with attacking Strange Lady, and surely enough it takes three stones to keep her going. Not a single damage block was below two, though, so I had some luck in there. 

Mourner tries to go to interact with a strategy marker until she realizes she was a summoned model. Instead, she dropped a scheme marker touching the centerline. 

Either Rasputina or Silent One blocked Bete Noire's advance with an Ice Pillar, and after White Rabbit gave her a nice hat, she was forced to spend one action point to take a walk towards enemy deployment zone for Espionage. Then either Rasputina or Silent One blocked her advance again with an ice pillar. 

Ice Dancer, however, was able to get perfect line to get past Bete Noire and White Rabbit Company... three times, no less. This drained my hand, but I was able to keep Bete Noire fairly intact. 

Snow Storm got frustrated over my Disguised models, and went to charge White Rabbit Company instead. Future sales of haberdashery plummeted, as the duo was left with two health remaining. 

Dead Doxy went to outflank zone on right, and Copycat Killer came to wreck an ice pillar that had risen right next to Dead Doxy after she had activated. 

Both players scored strategy, but Resurrectionists got a 2-1 lead thanks to claiming Outflank.

Resurrectionists managed to maintain a healthy population of only four ice pillars with a cost of two action points.

Turn 3:

Hoarcat and Bone Pile start a duel in the outflank zone, while Dead Dandy claims an intel and goes into hiding behind a building. 

Ice Dancer provided Hoarcat with an emotional support ice pillar, and perhaps it was this turn when she healed Blessing of December instead? I forget. Anyway, Blessed of December leaps to Seamus and delivers a message to him. 

Seamus spends his entire activation delivering a heart-warming message to Blessed of December, too, and Seamus compliments Blessed's uncanny ability to play dead after he greeted the aspiring talent with bladed bouquet. He even had time to compliment an ice pillar's majestic stature with a slam action.

Bete Noire had faded away again, and popped up from Blessed of December's corpse. She and Strange Lady charged the already damaged Acolyte of December and killed him. 

Wendigo went to pick up an intel, and summoned Mourner went to take it from its cold, living hands. She even took half of the totem's health away. 

I think it was Rasputina who made Bete Noire fade away after Ice Dancer had tormented her with endless pirouettes. 

I wanted to keep the option to move Seamus right to get outflank on turn five, so White Rabbit Company took a grim, determined expression and crafted a hat for themselves. They walked within 0" of Snow Storm and poked it with needle and thread. Their bravery shall be remembered. 

Unfortunately, though, that's all that will be remembered as Snow Storm slapped them dead even through the hat. However, Copycat Killer survived at two health remaining.

My first activation had been to run Dead Doxy to enemy deployment zone. Thus, Espionage was complete. Resurrectionists also got a strategy point, while Arcanists got Deliver a Message for a 4-2 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Duel between Bone Pile and Hoarcat continued without much of a progress for either side. I don't actually remember what Dead Dandy did, but looks like he was busy setting up new scheme markers for Outflank end condition. 

Silent One got an intel I think, and so did Bete Noire. Noire dropped a scheme marker for Espionage end condition as well. Strange Lady that had suffered from Slow starting from turn two had attempted to Obey Bete Noire to interact, but Bete Noire takes orders from no-one. 

Seamus walks and charges Wendigo that had moved below bell tower. He strikes the totem down and walks into contact with strategy marker. 

I'm not sure what Mourner did, probably just mourned how she couldn't land a hit against Wendigo. 

Rasputina was shooting Winter Strikes against Bete Noire and Strange Lady, securing Slow for Strange Lady four turns in a row. 

After getting intel, Ice Dancer and Silent One on the right tease Dead Doxy, and she is a little bummed by their harsh words. She is slowed, so she couldn't reposition to a better place to drop a scheme marker. 

Snow Storm makes Copycat Killer go splat, thus robbing me outflank end condition. The bestial henchman still had an action point left to interact a scheme for Arcanists' own flanking maneuvers. 

Resurrectionists scored no points this turn. Arcanists finally got their Outflank, as well as second strategy point. Scores tied at 4-4. 

Turn 5:

We did not play the last turn to the very end. Silent One to the left went to place an Outflank scheme marker, and Snow Storm did the same on right, so that was Outflank end condition for Arcanists.

Ice Dancer skated nearer to remove Dead Doxy's scheme marker with Don't Mind Me, but Doxy was able to lead Ice Dancer away fir Take by the Hand. She was then able to drop a scheme marker for Espionage end condition.

Arcanists missed on Deliver a Message, while Resurrectionists didn't get their Outflank.

After collecting intel points for two turns, Resurrectionists were able to carve a 6-5 victory with a third strategy point.

RRRRRAMPAGE

 A 50ss game of Malifaux

Strategy: Corner Covert Operation

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Public Demonstration, Hidden Martyrs, Catch and Release

My list:

Dr. McMourning, Insanitary & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse
Guild Autopsy
Little Gasser

Pool: 3
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Nurse & Little Gasser), Catch and Release (Kentauroi)

Opponent had:

Rasputina & Wendigo
Snow Storm
Blessed of December
December Acolyte
Silent One
Ice Dancer
2x Hoarcat

Pool: 4
Schemes: Public Demonstration (Hoarcats and Blessed of December), Assassinate

Turn 1:

At first I had glanced that finally not so agonizing pool of schemes. But then when I had to actually pick them, I realized how bad it was. I had no reliable tools to get Assassinate when opponent had way to deal with big hits, and I hadn't paid attention how badly my side of the table favored Sabotage. And picking two from the remaining three schemes would mean a big chunk of my weakest models were important for victory points.

So, I ended up with Catch and Release and Hidden Martyrs. This way I only had three important low cost or minion models instead four to five. 

Since I didn't have reliable corpses on board after deployment, I activated McMourning first and took a leg off of Rogue Necromancy, then built it a new and improved leg. And yet there was still enough organic matter left from the initial amputation, that Sebastian was able to craft a Canine Remains of it. And yet there was enough left from the Canine Remains, that Canine Remains picked its own remains and dropped them somewhere nearby. 

It was quite not five loaves of bread and two fish, but it was close.

Rasputina blasted some damage to McMourning and Canine Remains, so I relocated Nurse to offer some assistance if need be. I got scared with all the ice pillars and potential blasts, so Little Gasser took a double walk towards bottom-right strategy marker, hugging the table edge and hiding behind a hill.

Corpse Curator, Guild Autopsy and Rogue Necromancy were hauling their slow and undead bulk through a forest. I figured top-left strategy marker would be way out of my reach unless I brought my fasted model, Kentauroi, to that flank. It rode for a bit with Sebastian, and continued to walk behind a batch of destructible terrain.

Acolyte had taken a vantage point from top of a small building. One Hoarcat was running towards each corner strategy markers.

Blessed of December was at center-left strategy marker with Snow Storm and Wendigo a little behind. 

Ice Dancer was in the opposing forest, with Silent One being silent a little further back. 

Turn 2:

Rasputina slows McMourning and kills Canine Remains before it is able to activate and spam more corpses. 

Acolyte of December opens fire twice on Kentauroi, dealing weak damage with each shot. This was... troublesome, since there were two victory points tied to that model. So I figured that I try to put some poison on it and heal with Sebastian's Blood Poisoning. The horse-thing was also Slowed, which would require some Nurse-shenanigans.

So, Corpse Curator tried to tease Blessed of December a little by dredging up an ice pillar marker and attacking through it, but it didn't do that much.

However, Hoarcat at top-left strategy marker activated early and went into position to claim the spot. This opened up a possibility of getting rid of the destructible terrain and walk-charge-ride-with-me to get there myself, too.

So, Guild Autopsy went to slam the terrain to death. 

This was all fine and dandy until Snowstorm made an ice tornado that also slowed McMourning and Rogue Necromancy. So there was quite a few models suffering from Slow now.

McMourning activated and pushed Nurse forward with Desperate Plot, giving her an extra leg, and summoned a Flesh Construct. 

I had waited far too long with my plans, and Blessed of December decided to jump out of its position and decidedly killed my Catch and Release model. Yeaaaaaah.

Nurse decided to remove slow from Rogue Necromancy, and the thing along with summoned Flesh Construct charged Snow Storm and Wendigo, just tickling Wendigo a little.

'Sebastian went to toss off some formaldehyde, because he was out of reach to charge Blessed of December. I didn't have high enough cards in my hand for Sebastian to call for another Man's Best Friend. 

Silent One healed Wendigo and Ice Dancer shuffled some pillars around. 

Since opponent clearly didn't let me activate Little Gasser after Hoarcat on the right had activated, I had to fly the gas balloon to center-right strategy marker to have a claim this turn.

By then situation didn't look good. Only McMourning would be able to bottom-right strategy marker next round, as center-left marker was quite contested. 

Scores go 1-1, both points from scenario.

Turn 3:

Since all sorts of gamins pop up when enough elemental or other kind of energy have high enough of a concentration, this turn should have seen a Carnage Gamin appear. 

Sebastian charges Blessed of December, as he was in range now that Blessed had used deadly pursuit to come closer to corpse marker. First attack hit and dealt some damage. I was wondering if I should turn the Kentauroi's corpse into a dog, but decided against it. Weak damage and Blood Poisoning would be enough to kill the enforcer. Also second attack hit - this time dealing weak+critical strike damage. However, the Blood Poisoning obviously failed.

Blessed of December had the option to either leap away or eat the corpse and butcher someone to heal even more. Blessed chose violence, too, but was just as successful as Sebastian. Guild Autopsy was left with two health remaining.

December Acolyte took a shot at Guild Autopsy and killed it despite friendly fire and cover. And with the next shot, down went the Zombie Chihuahua. 

Corpse Curator needed to land one point of damage to secure kill on Blessed of December with poison. Much to everyone's surprise, it dealt two! Hooray. And even got to place a toxic sludge marker with bonus action.

In the middle Rasputina had activated earlier in the turn, pushing Rogue Necromancy and Flesh Construct a little back before putting pillars in front of them, making it impossible to charge Snow Storm or Wendigo. Or herself, for that matter. 

McMourning took a walk, gave Rogue Necromancy's attack for Flesh Construct and pushed the summon to an ice pillar, giving it excess fat upgrade. 

Snow Storm charged Flesh Construct right after, and beat it down to two health remaining, upgrade being taken down with the first hit. 

So Flesh Construct activated and took a point of damage. And did what was most likely one of the most absurd activations I have ever witnessed. First attack on Snow Storm? Severe damage, that was reduced by a couple of points with a soulstone. Second attack was Pouncing Strike, so Flesh Construct declared that, dealt some damage again to Snow Storm and killed Wendigo with one savage bite. Last action was also Pouncing Strike, and damage killed Snow Storm and Flesh Construct jumped to Rasputina, dealing three damage that was actually zero because of an ice pillar. 

Silent One comes to try to remove Flesh Construct but fails at that. Little Gasser walks and charges Silent One and even flails frantically a couple of damage points.

Nurse went to claim center-left marker, but to my surprise Hoarcat from unclaimed top-left strategy marker walked and charged her and left her with one health remaining. 

Hoarcat at bottom-right was biding its time, just concentrating. Ice Dancer skated about and blocked Rogue Necromancy from reaching her with direct charge.

So instead Rogue Necromancy had to make an indirect charge, walking first. Nurse's chance to claim was neutralized by the Hoarcat, so Rogue Necromancy just needed to engage Ice Dancer. Too late, way too late I remembered about the Butterfly Jump. This meant Rogue Necromancy had to kill the dancer with just one strike. 

And, uh, it kind of did. Charge Through and focus made for a lot of plus modifiers for damage and surely enough it came up as severe, with Infect. 

So that was a brutal turn to the extreme. 

Scores go 1-1, since everyone was too busy bashing each others' heads to the concrete instead of scoring points.

Turn 4:

Nurse was fortunate enough to survive December's first activation - most likely because Rasputina was a little busy handling the Flesh Construct - which surely enough died. Nurse was able to heal herself a little and even got Shielded +1 for a little extra survivability. Walking and poking Hoarcat with surgical instruments, however, amounted to nothing.

It did take all of my good cards from hand, but Nurse survived Hoarcat's activation, again back at one health remaining. 

Rogue Necromancy walked and charged to Hoarcat at bottom-right strategy marker. Idea was to wait until Hoarcat activates and push Rogue Necromancy away from it with Desperate Pace. Instead, Hoarcat disengaged and went to purr at McMourning. McMourning wanted to pat the fine cat, but unfortunately he did it with rusty tools, three times no less. Cat was dead at that point. 

December Acolyte ran to collect a point from top-left strategy marker while Sebastian was running towards it too. 

Little Gasser continued to flail frantically: "Why are you not killing me?? I'm the Hidden Martyr!" Yeah... enemy didn't consider that thing enough of a threat to kill casually. 

Anyway, Corpse Curator was able to creep to claim center-left strategy marker, meaning I had third point pretty much secured thanks to Rogue Necromancy.

Turn 5:

Silent One started to shoot McMourning rather successfully through ice pillars, which lead me to suspect Assassinate. So instead of contributing meaningfully to anything else, the good doctor fled the scene with all of his action points. 

Rasputina wasn't able to accomplish much, so Nurse got to activate and heal herself again for a little. Hoarcat failed to kill her, and even December Acolyte missed its shot. I even cheated to save the Nurse. 

Here the joke is on me, since not protecting her that much would have given me the Hidden Martyr point. I had been completely fixated on letting Little Gasser be the one who does the dying, and keeping Nurse denying the center-left marker from being claimed by Hoarcat.

However, both Corpse Curator and Sebastian could have easily gone to engage the kitty. Although if I had done it with Sebastian, result would have been catastrophic since I would have just given opponent the Public Demonstration. 

Also Little Gasser was four points, Silent One six. So that's one half checked from Hidden Martyrs end condition. But thanks to no melee range Silent One was not engaging the Gasser. 

So... we had a game where zero points were scored from schemes.

However, it was a close 2-3 victory for Resurrectionists as Rogue Necromancy was able to claim third marker, while opponent got none.

Chilled Rat Cubes

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Covert Operation

Schemes: Breakthrough, Catch and Release, Set the Trap, Load 'Em Up, Vendetta

My list:

Hamelin the Piper & 3x Stolen
Nix
Benny Wolcomb
Mad Dog Brackett
Obedient Wretch
Prospector
Catalan Rifleman
Malifaux Rat

Pool: 5
Schemes: Set the Trap, Vendetta (Nix on Blessed of December)

Opponent had:

Rasputina & Wendigo
Blessed of December
Arcane Effigy
Ice Golem with Soulstone Cache
Ice Dancer with Magical Training
2x Silent Ones

Pool: 6
Schemes: Breakthrough, Load 'Em Up (Ice Pillar)

Turn 1:

Catalan Rifleman, Obedient Wretch and Prospector put scheme markers for Benny as fast as possible, because I was afraid of Rasputina shooting my rats dead before they would be able to form a Rat King.

Fortunately opponent wasn't too concerned with emerging scheme markers and Benny was able to make a Rat King just fine. However, it was then when Rasputina just shot Rat King off the board with two blast attacks, damaging Mad Dog Brackett and Benny Wolcomb quite a bit in the process. 

The mentioned gang was traveling south on the left side of my deployment zone, slowly as ever.

Hamelin and Prospector were greeted by the Ice Golem in the middle, and Prospector was left alive mostly because opponent forgot about flurry. Ice golem was the only Arcanist model past center line.

Blessed of December went to top corner marker, so Nix sniffed in its general direction and went to close in for vendetta.

Ice Dancer was going for bottom corner marker. Silent One and Arcane Effigy were somewhere getting to center-right strategy marker while Wendigo, Rasputina and another Silent One were sitting in their deployment zone. 

Mad Dog Brackett destroying an Ice Pillar, there were still five of them when turn ended.

Turn 2:

Outcasts won initiative, so Prospector put a scheme marker with bonus action and disengaged from Ice Golem. Now the thing was at least in hazardous terrain. 

Almost the entirety of my turn could be summarized as: I tried to kill the Ice Golem.

All the Stolen vomited on it, Hamelin moved it a bit in hazardous terrain, Mad Dog Bracket shot it with armor piercing rounds, Catalan Rifleman shot it. Benny only tried to use Swarm Them on it before going to a little better position for future scoring.

Sure, Silent Ones kept healing the thing, but still that was egregious amount of resources needed to kill an enforcer, especially when you take into account how much it stalled my advance.

But finally, as the very last activation for me, Obedient Wretch tossed a rat on the golem and down it went. 

The kill came with a cost, however. Nix had tried to go and bite Blessed of December. But Blessed had the two inch push built into its melee, so my strategy points looked grim. Nix used a focus point and three soulstones in defending against the attacks, but still Blessed landed a hit. However, it didn't push Nix away from strategy marker range and came to engage the spectral hound instead, while Ice Dancer tagged bottom corner strategy marker.

Killing Ice Golem sure gave me some hope, but still the situation was tad oppressive.  I managed to keep the amount of ice pillars steady, but it took a lot of action points. Malifau Rats and Stolen are good for the job, though, unless the kids need to puke on something.

Anyway, scores went 0-1 for Arcanists.

Turn 3:

Nix managed to beat the heck out of Blessed of December and possibly might have even killed it if not for their vendetta. The target leapt into safety and let them both score top corner marker.

Prospector is finally killed by a Arcane Effigy. 

And my crew? Well, most of the action points for me this turn went into dealing with ice pillars. Ice Dancer started speeding towards my deployment zone from the left with a screen of ice pillars. Mad Dog Brackett had to remove those so that Obedient Wretch was able to walk and place a scheme marker next to Ice Dancer. 

Catalan Rifleman dropped a scheme to give Benny Wolcomb fast, who later took a double walk to place a scheme near Wendigo and a Silent One. 

Hamelin had a bit of a useless activation when I misplayed Obey - apparently Obey makes enemy scheme markers. So instead he walked Arcane Effigy into hazardous terrain. There were also some Eyes in the Walls of an ice pillar. Even those got rats inside of them!

So, points went 3-3 when both players got strategy, Outcasts both their schemes and Arcanists Load 'Em Up.

Turn 4:

Blessed of December goes to place a scheme marker on my deployment zone. Scary fast model, that one. But Bleeding Disease also has a scary range, and with two tries Nix is able to kill the vendetta target.

Rasputina staggers and slows the entire bunch of Mad Dog Brackett, Catalan Rifleman and Obedient Wretch. Mad Dog had already activated. He had tried to remove Ice Dancer, but that didn't go as planned. Instead, Ice Dancer moves into my deployment zone and places a scheme marker, with four Ice Pillars worth of LoS block. One was removed by Stolen, but still the dancer was unassailable.

Benny tried to beat Wendigo, not succeeding. 

Hamelin managed to move a Silent One away from center-right marker. Benny was the one who actually scored strategy that turn, as he could engage Wendigo but Wendigo not him. 

Scores stay even 4-4, as Outcasts score strategy and Arcanists get Breakthrough.

Turn 5:

Benny was as useless a fighter as ever, and still couldn't remove Wendigo. Rasputina on the other hand was almost able to push Wendigo to my deployment zone. Stolen tried to come and engage it but frantic flailing is frantic flailing. At least sniper rifle was far more effective, and killed Wendigo before it could place third scheme marker for Breakthrough end condition.

Obedient Wretch had ran to bottom-corner strategy marker.

Ice Dancer had placed the second Breakthrough marker and was screened by a wall of ice. Mad Dog could have blown it to hell, but what was the use because she had already activated?

Rasputina placed three ice pillars near herself, but Hamelin was able to land a zero damage Bleeding Disease on her with soulstone bought Music in the Air, thus denying Load 'Em Up.

Nix was alive, Blessed was not.

Scores jumped to 6-4 for Outcasts. 

That amount of ice pillars was just crazy. I was lucky to have picked the piper Hamelin, as now at least I had the action points and actions to remove them - and still there were twelve of them on board when game ended. 

Blessed of February

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Cursed Objects

Schemes: Set the Trap, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Spread Them Out, In Your Face

My list:

Kirai with The Whisper & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
Carrion Effigy
Shikome
Bone Pile with Grave Spirit Touch
Drowned
Seishin

Pool: 7
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Carrion Effigy & Bone Pile), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Rasputina & Wendigo
Snow Storm
Blessed of December
2x December Acolyte
Silent One
Ice Dancer
Hoardcat

Pool: 2
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Hoarcat & Silent One), In Your Face

Turn 1:

Well, that was one of the more brutal turn ones in recent memory.

At one point we counted almost a total of forty points of damage having been done in total, and yet there were models left to activate.

December Acolytes started the slaughter with shooting Ikiryo down to one health remaining, and scoring some odd points to Drowned. 

Lost Love healed Ikiryo back to four, and Ikiryo launched herself at an Acolyte in an attempt to soften one up for Cursed Object points.

Rasputina placed some pillars and shot a blast at Carrion Effigy, clipping Kirai and Lost Love in the process. She pushed Blessed of December and Silent One with her bonus a bit forward. 

Kirai summoned a Goryo and barraged Silent One with spirits. Goryo was able to charge Silent One and kill her, not knowing I had just killed one of Rasputina's hidden martyrs. 

Hoarcat and Blessed of December maul at the Goryo, leaving the angry ghost at one health remaining or so. 

I had brought Drowned into melee with Ice Dancer, which might have been a reasonable match-up, but then the dancer was joined by Snow Storm. Drowned didn't die, but there wasn't much left to drown any more either.

Seishin gave a walk for Shikome, and then Datsue Ba gave walk for Seishin. Shikome went to place my first scheme marker for Spread Them Out.

Turn 2:

Rasputina was quick to activate after winning initiative. She walked forward and killed the Goryo, securing Cursed Objects for Arcanists. She also placed additional ice pillars as you'd expect.

Ikiryo manages to do the same against Acolyte of December when she scores onslaught from her first melee attack. She even has the activation point to place a scheme marker. 

Wendigo copied Rasputina's healing shockwave, which was annoying since I had already planned to move Carrion Effigy forward to deny heals. Well, it did that anyway but without much of an effect. Even trying to lure somebody to kill it failed when Blessed of December was not able to kill Carrion Effigy for my Hidden Martyrs.

Seishin managed to give an extra walk for Shikome, who was then able to go and place a scheme marker close to opponents table edge. 

Datsue Ba was trying to weigh Blessed of December's sins, and when I take a look at the pictures I'm not sure if I even activated Lost Love that turn. If I did, it probably just tried to heal Kirai.

Kirai summoned a Goryo, who then tried to kill a Hoarcat, failing at that.  Ice Dancer and Wendigo had beaten this additional Goryo within easy kill range for next turn.

Bone Pile took a double walk, trying to figure out what to do other than to leave Carrion Effigy to martyrdom.

Points go 2-2 when both players get strategy, Resurrectionists had Spread Them Out and Arcanists In Your Face. 

Turn 3:

Seems like I have forgotten to take a picture from this round. 

Blessed of December is finally able to kill Carrion Effigy, and uses pouncing strike to engage Datsue Ba. Bone Pile needed only to survive now, so it just walked a bit further away from action and placed a scheme marker. 

Hoarcat charged back into melee with Goryo, and I don't quite remember who killed what, but the end result was at least Ice Dancer and Wendigo dead, Goryo gone and a re-summoned Ikiryo engaging Hoarcat. 

Datsue Ba and Seishin were able to almost kill Blessed of December - in fact Datsue Ba could have probably done it, but I wanted to save the kill for next turn. 

Lost Love moved closer to melee between Datsue Ba and Blessed of December. 

But when it came to end phase, Blessed used deadly pursuit to push into melee with Lost Love.

Scores go 3-4 for Resurrectionists when both get strategy and Resurrectionists also Hidden Martyrs.

Turn 4:

Blessed of December starts the turn, kills Lost Love with one strike, eats his corpse to heal and then charges Seishin dead, essentially healing back to full. That just happened. At least this maneuver spent most of opponent's hand, so remainder of the turn I had easier time with connecting my attacks. 

Ikiryo was able to kill Hoarcat for Cursed Objects points and charged to engage Rasputina.

Rasputina starts spamming Ice Pillars to no end. Snow Storm can't quite finish Ikiryo.

I realized I had ran out of easy kills for last Cursed Objects points, so I tried to soften up Blessed of December as much as I could. But neither a summoned Goryo or Datsue Ba did enough. 

Bone Pile and Shikome had placed ample supply of scheme markers on the opponent's table half. 

Scores go 5-5 when opponent reveals he had Hoarcat as a martyr, and both players got strategy.

Turn 5:

Opponent won the initiative and pushed Snow Storm to my deployment zone with Rasputina and killed Ikiryo. 

I had my chance to kill Blessed of December and charged with Goryo. Blessed of December had Adversary so I thought I had a pretty good chance of scoring last Cursed Object point. But it turns out opponent had two 13's and Red Joker in hand.  /table flip

Blessed of December then ran to farthest corner where was no way I could reach... unless I summoned a Goryo at maximum distance and landed Mark of Vengeance with masks on it.

But, when Kirai activated, The Whisper revealed two sixes and Black Joker coming up. 

Datsue Ba almost killed Snow Storm, although she mostly just wanted to keep Snow Storm in place so Bone Pile would be able to run to get engaged. 

So, it was a closely fought 7-7 draw when opponent got Cursed Objects and In Your Face with Snowstorm, and Resurrectionists received end condition of both schemes. 

I reckon some scheming

First game of Malifaux for the year of 2020. Don't know how mentioning that bears any importance, but you got to begin a write-up somehow.

Lists involved were:

Molly Squidpiddge + Necrotic Construct
Philip & Nanny
Mortimer
Bete Noire + The Whisper
Mourner + Grave Spirit's Touch
2x Crooligan

Schemes: Harness the Ley Lines, Dig Their Graves


Rasputina + Wendigo

Snowstorm
Ice Golem + Soulstone Cache
2x Ice Gamin
2x Ice Dancer + Magical Training

Schemes: Assassinate, Dig Their Graves

I played my first game with Molly, whom I wanted to try anyway even if Seamus might have been a tad better choice for Reckoning strategy.

Turn 1

First turn Rasputina made a grand opening move, where she killed a Crooligan and brought both Bete Noire and Mourner down to two health remaining. Also, Mortimer took a couple of damage. Well, next time I know not to bunch up my models in the middle like that against her. Whole bunching up happened because of my terrible deployment - I had forgotten about my plan of using Blasphemous Ritual on Mourner to stack some Focused on my models. With their activations I had to bring them into that formation. Which is a nice little bottle neck.

First time playing Molly was a mess. I mean, golems and whatnot would have been prime targets for 2x3 irreducible damage per turn, but I wasn't paying enough attention to the difference between hand sizes.

Turn 2

Next turn I had the choice of opening Reckoning strategy and leaving Bete Noire in vulnerable position, or damage Ice Dancer and leave Bete buried in safety. I chose to attack. After all she did have chance of burying herself anyway.

Nope.

Not against Ice Golem with pillars around, no. This was devastating. Ice Golem charged Bete Noire and was within melee range of Mourner, too. Golem was dealing a minimum of 4 damage thanks to ice pillar nearby, and even with reducing two, Bete died. And Mourner had regenerated a little, but was still only at four health remaining. Lethe's Caress tickled the Golem for sure as it butchered two of my priciest models. It wasn't much of a consolation.

Necrotic Machine and Crooligan had planted enough scheme markers to turn in Harness the Ley Line, and both players scored reckoning.

Turn 3

So... when you got a gigantic snow beast eating bodies of the fallen right next to an enormous magical construct of animated ice that's all but impervious to damage? Why... isn't the obvious thing here to charge them with a baby carriage and start asking the monstrosities some questions! I don't know, but that's what I did with Philip and Nanny.

Molly had made good use of her ability to remove markers and draw cards, because ice pillars are, in fact, markers. Necrotic Machine scored Dig their Graves on Ice Gamin. Rasputina was throwing endless barrage of stuff made of ice over Molly and Mortimer, and ice tornadoes from Snow Storm attempted the same.


Turn 4

Philip and Nanny had been tying up the Arcanist monsters rather well, but that was about to end. Snow Storm got over it's confusion, and dim-witted Ice Golem slowly categorized the pram as a threat. Time to find new nanny for Philip.

With excruciating toil and trouble I had managed to bring the Ice Golem down to one hit point remaining. Suddenly three ice pillars shattered and the golem was back at seven. I think something shattered inside of me, too. Looked like I had to abandon any hope for a second victory point from strategy.

An Ice Dancer had skated deep into my lines. Here I so much wanted to activate Necrotic Machine and with accomplice activate Molly. And with Molly activate Necrotic Machine again, and with accomplice activate something else. But I considered dead Ice Dancer to be more important. Also I'm not sure if I had any models within 6" of Necrotic Machine anyway after it had charged Ice Dancer.


Turn 5

Ice Golem had got tired of Molly's disturbing stories and charged her. It started asking questions of its own with icy fists. Despite Hard to Wound and Serene Countenance, Molly died to just two hits.

There were so many corpses and schemes on board that we ran out of tokens. But I scored Dig Their Graves and Harness Ley Line again. Opponent scored assassinate, and had kind of forgotten all about Dig Their Graves. Game ended with 5 points for Resurrectionists and 4 for Arcanists.