Scaredy-Jack

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Informants

Schemes: Take the Highground, Make It Look Like an Accident, Search the Area

My list:

Jack Daw, Spirit of Betrayal & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Ferryman
Batsch & Amalie
Carrion Effigy
Hanged
2x Guilty
Dapperling

Cache: 4

Opponent had:

Tiri, Nomad & Oroboro
Iron Matron
Parson
First Light
2x Ancient Construct
2x Aua Warrior

Cache: 2

Turn 1:
Both crews pick Take the Highground.

Bygone started by draining a stone to give everyone in their crew Shielded.

Montresor and Jack Daw claimed the center marker, while Dapperling held the top-right. Aua Warrior did the same for Bygone bottom-left.

Jack Daw had been able to plant Injustice on Iron Matron, who promptly removed the upgrade during her own activation. Good news was that Bygone no longer had any soulstones.

Iron Matron and PArson held the leftmost marker. Oroboro had been there as well, but Montresor had dragged the thing down with noose.

Batsch & Amalie could have gone to contest the marker along with Hanged, but instead decided to maintain status quo and heal the slightly injured Hanged.

Guilty took one Ht 2 terrain, and another Guilty tried to do that as well. However, Tiri made it fall from a roof and become a craven as well, so Ferryman had to take the position instead.

Ancient Construct and Tiri were holding required terrain pieces for Explorer Society. However, neither managed to claim a third terrain. Both had the same number of strategy markers as well, so scores tied at 2-2.

Turn 2:
Both crews pick Make It Look Like an Accident.

Finally we had a proper injustice galore, with Parson getting one, Iron Matron getting one, Ancient Construct and even Tiri having one as well. 

I sunk too many actions into trying score two points from Iron Matron that Jack Daw or Montresor had been able to yank down from building. Oroboro also took a decent beating, even proccing it's demise. It decided to escape the heat and rolled off into my deployment. 

Batsch & Amalie got nearly killed by at least Parson, possibly Iron Matron as well. Eventually Ancient Construct came to toss the fungus back to my deployment. A two health Batsch and three health Oroboro would just have to duke it out between themselves in the coming turns. 

Tiri claimed a point from Ferryman by making it fall with Earthquake. Then she walked down to strategy marker and killed the Guilty there.

First Light and Aua Warrior tried to score second point from Make It Look Like an Accident, but miraculously enough they failed. Just one more damage would have sufficed. Ferryman, however, overperformed by taking two good swings at Aua Warrior, tossing it into fire which eventually melt the thing in the end phase.

However, this wasn't enough to keep Tormented playing the strategy. Scores went 4-3.

Turn 3:
Both crews pick Ensnare.

Surprise! Neither Oroboro or Batsch & Amalie died. 

Another surprise! ... actually, no-one died, although it was not for the lack of trying. Jack Daw, Iron Matron and Ancient Construct in the middle were all at seven. Parson was down to five. Even Ligeia and Hanged took a couple of points here and there.

Tormented spent their early activations trying to deny opponent points from Ensnare. In the end that didn't work out, but at least I made the Society work for it. 

My Ensnare got misplayed, so I didn't get any points from it. However, this time around I was able to take the lead in scenario. Scores went 6-4, which was bad but not insurmountable.

Turn 4:
Both crews pick Search the Area

Ancient Construct and Batsch & Amalie became casualties. 

Carrion Effigy was able to land a Craven token on Oroboro that had skittled to top-right strategy marker that was held by Dapperling.

However, Iron Matron ruined my area searching completely by getting away from melee with Daw and charging the Ferryman, who I wanted to interact twice and third time with Montresor.

First Light messed up it's scheme marker placement for Search the Area, so there was that small hope at least. 

... except that then Tiri activated and landed a nasty Earthquake on Jack Daw, making him Craven and throwing Montresor away from the marker at the center as well. This lead to both players having two strategy markers, so a 8-6 victory for Tiri.

This Is Not a Breakthrough

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Corner Recover Evidence

Schemes: Leave Your Mark, Search the Area, Breakthrough

My list:

Jack Daw, Spirit of Betrayal & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Kari Zotiko
2x Hanged
Crooked Man
Guilty

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Kara
2x Illuminated
Beckoner

Pool: 1

Turn 1: Tormented picks Breakthrough, Honeypot takes Leave Your Mark

Hanged and Guilty placed two scheme markers, Montresor watched Crooked Man to make a leap at one of them, and then during Crooked Man's own activation he did the same for the second marker to get in range to interact and pick up the strategy.

At least it took Beckoner and Mr. Graves some effort to get an Illuminated in range to do the same for Ten Thunders.

Since Ten Thunders looked like they were trying to assault Crooked Man with shenanigans, Jack Daw activated and brought the undead miner a little further into safety, and slapped injustice upgrade on Gwyneth as well.

Since opponent had not been trying to reach the center point until the very end of the turn, I was out of tools to deny Leave Your Mark... or was I? Kari used silver whistle to give a walk for another Hanged, and then the minion charged Kara and Hungering Darkness, who had been doing the scheming business. My idea was to score rams or tomes for the melee attack to block at least one point from Ten Thunders, but the attack missed. Bonus did hit, slowing Kara as well as giving her staggered.

Lynch charged the Crooked Man, but brings him only down to two remaining.

So, Ten Thunders took the lead with 3-1, since both scored strategy and Resurrectionists took Breakthrough just to abandon it.

Turn 2: Tormented picks Assassinate on Kara, Honeypot takes Take the Highground

Kara was in big trouble. I had a thirteen and a black joker in hand, and she was still staggered. Montresor charged and hit with both attacks, bringing her down to two remaining. Cursed to Watch gave an action for the Hanged, who had to use the black joker to secure kill. Assassination scored.

However, Illuminated was able to kill the Crooked Man and collect the evidence. Hanged did the same for Kara's evidence, and dropped a scheme for two thirds of my next turn's schemes.

Hungering Darkness and Lynch both had miserable activations, missing most of their attacks. Resurrectionists had better success, but they were burning through their soulstones with reckless abandon. This maxed out the injustice upgrades, targets being Lynch, Hungering Darkness, Gwyneth and Illuminated. None of them were able to get rid of their upgrades just yet.

Another Illuminated and a Beckoner took positions on high ground, and so was Mr. Graves who had been sitting on top of a terrain since turn one. 

Although Ten Thunders were occupying enough terrain to get two points from Take the Highground, Gwyneth invited Montresor to play at Mr. Graves's table, thus getting his nasty aura away from any upgraded enemy models.

Resurrectionists managed to catch up a little, but game was still 5-4 for Ten Thunders.

Turn 3: Tormented picks Runic Binding, Honeypot makes it look like an accident

Jack Daw activates first, and removes Hungering Darkness with Drawn to Betrayal. He shot an Illuminated down to two health remaining, although Lynch who went down to seven health remaining was a juicy target, too. I just didn't want to scare him away from between my scheme markers.

The damaged Illuminated activated right away, but failed to do anything meaningful - except give Runic Binding for Resurrectionists.

Montresor walked to get at least two models under his aura, but failed remaining actions. 

Lynch also suffered a multitude of rams, but at least he got a point from Make It Look Like an Accident by forcing Guilty to fall, and summoned Hungering Darkness back. Guilty then legged it as far as it could, but Kitty managed to drag it back for Hungering Darkness to charge and kill with the crew bonus. 

Gwyneth eventually came to pick up the strategy marker from the Guilty. However, a Hanged was able to finish off the already activated Illuminated, scored Reposition so that it could move from melee with Hungering Darkness, pick up the strategy marker and pull Hungering Darkness back into melee. 

Kari and Hanged were able to finish off Lynch. Another Illuminated went to place schemes for next turn, and Beckoner seemed to be doing the same.

While Ten Thunders did get two points from their scheme, they didn't get a point this turn from Strategy. Scores tied at 7-7.

Turn 4: Tormented picked Leave Your Mark, Honeypot wanted to Reshape the Land.

We played only a few activations in, as Jack Daw was able to pick up marker from Lynch, kill Hungering Darkness again and pick up it's marker as well. Beckoner committed to Reshaping the Land, after which Kari went to stand on the center point and dropped a second marker for Leave Your Mark. She tolled Mr. Graves into a corner and tied him up with a Drowned. I still had eight action points plus signatures left to do my scheme. While there was a fleeting chance Ten Thunders might deny a point from Leave Your Mark, it was next to impossible to deny both.

So it became a 10/9-8 win for Jack Daw. 

Machine Gun of Injustice

A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th Edition on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Informants

Schemes: Grave Robbing, Public Demonstration, Breakthrough

My list:

Jack Daw, Spirit of Betrayal & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Kari Zotiko
Guilty
Guilty 2
Drowned
Drowned 2
Crooked Man
Bone Pile

Pool: 6

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe Tomb Delver & Cryptologist
Sidir   
Desper
Jessie   
Rough rider
Rough rider
Ruffian 
Huckster  

Turn 1:

Schemes: Tormented: Public Demonstration on Lucas. Wastrel: Grave Robbing with Remains

Tormented picked Public Demonstration on McCabe. Wastrels picked Grave Robbing with 

True to the deployment's name, two flanks quickly formed. 

A Guilty, Kari, Lady Ligeia, Montresor and Jack Daw were on one, butchering up a Huckster and summoning a Drowned to Jessie.

Well, Jack Daw was kind of part of that flank a until Desper LaRaux yanked him from strategy marker in the center and planting him to face Rough Rider's and Sidir's gun barrels. 

To the right, models were piling up to a strategy marker near the center of top-right quarter. First, Crooked Man ran to contest the marker, trying to lure McCabe nearby. Due to some luck, this eventually succeeded after a Cryptologist, Rough Rider and Ruffian had failed to kill it. Granted, Crooked Man did have cover as he was inside a building.

Miraculously enough, McCabe was not able to score the kill either. However, one of the Rough Riders managed to score the kill. A hired Drowned and Bone Pile contested the marker, but Wastrels had it with Cryptologist, Rough Rider and McCabe. But I still had a Guilty left to activate that I had planned to onward-walk and walk to drop a scheme near McCabe for double points on Public Demonstration. However, Onward failed even with an empower.

Wastrels scored Grave Robbing with Remains marker, and Tormented also got a point from Public Demonstration. Both got strategy thanks to Desper hooking Jack Daw away from center.

Game was tied at 2-2.

Turn 2:

Schemes: Tormented: Assassinate Jessie. Wastrel: Leave Your Mark

Sidir shot Jack Daw down to four health remaining, so Kari had patch him up as well as he could. She also used soulstone trigger to move him to a slightly better defensive position. My next activations were Montresor charging Jessie, who was staggered, and almost killed her. Jessie was able to heal herself a bit, but finally Jack Daw scored  double points from assassinate.

Lucas, Cryptologist and Ruffian managed to kill both Bone Pile and Guilty as I was securing assassination. Both Rough Riders and Desper block center marker and drop two scheme markers for Leave Yout Mark. One Rough Rider was especially well placed so that Lady Ligeia and another Guilty were not able to go place even one scheme marker block Leave Your Mark double points. At leastLady Ligeia was able to claw Rough Rider down to three health remaining. 

Both players got strategy and doubles for their schemes, so scores were tied at 5-5.

Turn 3:

Schemes: Tormented: Runic Binding. Wastrel: Reshape the Land

Somehow Sidir was able to shoot both Jack Daw and Guilty dead in one activation. Sure, Daw was down to two hits with a raise, Guilty required just one without a raise. Rough start for a turn, but at least the dying ended there. Oh wait, it didn't. Later Lucas McCabe drowned Drowned in bullets, despite it being in cover and concealment. 

A Drowned and Montresor plant the required schemes for Runic Binding, which easily enough scores two points. But I was running out of action points now that Jack Daw and Guilty were gone before they were able to activate. Wastrels were able to drop scheme markers with impunity, with there being little I could do to remove them even if I suspected Reshape the Land.

Resurrectionists  were able to kill the already gravely injured Rough Rider. My losses were not quite 3:1, because Kari had been able to summon a Drowned, but it was a non-interacting, non-contesting model.

Both crews scored two points from schemes, but since Lucas McCabe had shot Drowned that had been controlling bottom-right strategy marker, Tormented lost a point from strategy.

Scorest went 8-7 for Explorer Society.

Turn 4:

Schemes: Tormented: Ensnare. Wastrel: Search the Area.

Both crews scored a point from their schemes. Tormented had quite a few movement shenanigans, but failed to utilize them well enough to push a required number of Wastrels away from contesting strategy markers, and so Explorer Society reached full 11 points again 8 by Resurrectionists.