Back in His Element

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

Strategy: Flank Informants

Schemes: Reshape the Land, Search the Area, Leave Your Mark

My list:

Jack Daw Ensouled & Jaakuna Ubume
Montresor
Kari Zotiko
Ferryman
Hanged
Crooked Man
Guilty
Drowned

Pool: 4

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
2x Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Huckster

Pool: 6

Turn 1: Tormented picks Reshape the Land, Wastrels pick Leave Your Mark

Ferryman ferried a Guilty with it to top-left strategy marker, where Guilty dropped two schemes to start bluffing Search the Area. Unfortunately opponent didn't commit to denying imaginary scheme.

I was also stressing out about Sidir, but fortunately I had two 13's in my starting hand. Jaakuna scaled on top of a building, lured Sidir closer and gave him the Rams upgrade. Next she did the special from crew card to yank Sidir to the building too, and used soulstone trigger to also deny him Masks.

So that was a 50% chance to fail any action. So out of three actions Sidir was able to do, he had a good chance of failing at least one. However, he sliced Jaakuna with just two attacks, and did a mortar strike and shot a third time. Well, at least that failed. 

Infuriated, Jack Daw threw curses left and right - specifically, to the Rough Rider center-left, and Sidir to the right. He also lost Tomes, so next turn if  he continues to pass 75% of his actions, someone will suffer. (Spoiler: That someone was Jack Daw.)

Since opponent was so clearly trying to leave his mark, Crooked Man went to crook his scheme markers and even craft up his own. I forget who removed that scheme marker, so Kari had to waste a soulstone to give Crooked Man another interact. Montresor was to do the last required marker for Reshape the Land one pointer, but failed because my hand was empty.

At least Hanged, my second last activation, landed a Rams out of deck on Lucas to remove one scheme from Wastrels. and also pulled Rough Rider from contesting central strategy marker.

Scores went 1-2 for Wastrels, as they were able to get one point from the half mark they had left of themselves. Jack Daw was just spewing bad words in all directions, and failed to reshape anything.

Turn 2: Tormented Picks Search the Area, Wastrels pick Reshape the Land

Guilty placed third scheme for Search the Area, used Onward to get to enemy deployment zone and dropped a scheme marker there, too. Opponent left my three markers alone, and as such I was able to grab the one point from Search the Area. Later Ferryman placed the marker for end condition, walked and charged Rough Rider and McCabe.

Tormented gang is on fire at the center - figuratively. In the center Rough Rider died to Ferryman, Hanged and Kari - and even McCabe went down to five. And that was only after he healed for two and three. 

Montresor charged Sidir and punched in the face for five points as he punched himself in the face for five points. Ouch. That upgrade sucks. Second attack brought Sidir down to two, which sucked even more, because Sidir has hard-to-kill. However, Sidir was also staggered, and Kari had summoned a Drowned on the roof. Even a stat 5 begins to have an effect on a stat 3 defender. Sid went down to one, which was a sitting duck for Jack Daw's automatic damage sprint. Which he did, killing Sidir and dropping right next to already injured Ruffian. He smacked the minion dead, and picked up his litter, too. Meaning, scheme marker.

It was a delight to watch the opponent struggle with Sidir's three Jack Daw upgrades, but Sidir himself didn't seem to bother. He was making his flips just fine, even damaging Jack Daw for three points.

Luna, Huckster, surviving Rough Rider and even Desper were dropping schemes for Reshape the Land. I couldn't remove the markers fast enough, and he had too good schemers anyway. However, I did manage to set up Breakthrough for next turn. 

Because I had chosen violence, I fell behind on strategy points. Scores went 3-5 for Wastrels.

Turn 3: Tormented picks Breakthrough, Wastrels pick Search the Area

Noose was tightening for Wastrels. They fell so much behind on action points.

However, the death train started losing steam... kind of. Breakthrough scored two points just fine after the first activation, but Tormented managed to kill just one model this turn. Though in all honesty, that model was Lucas McCabe. 

To dodge around his horsey-healing tricks, Tormented had do ping him for one point, and only from hazardous terrain and tactical action. I need to savor this turn, because that's exactly what happened. Well, one point of damage came from a Drowned or something, but Lucas didn't proc his heal just yet. Eventually Montresor was cursed to watch as Kari tolled Lucas into hazardous terrain, leaving him at two health. He had taken one point from hazardous already during his own activation, as he rode Huckster to my deployment zone. Jack Daw was then free to either kill Lucas by rolling over him twice, or deny opponent points from Search the Area. I made the scoring-wise incorrect decision to kill Lucas, but in my heart I know it was the right decision for the wrongs he's done against the humanity. Even in this game he trampled a mistreated, crooked miner with several lung diseases under the hooves of his horse.

So, Huckster and Desper were able to secure two points from Seach the Area for Wastrels. Breakthrough scored two for Tormented, who also took the upper hand in strategy. It was still a 6-7 lead for Wastrels.

Turn 4: Tormented picks Public Demonstration on Desper. Wastrels pick Frame Job on Luna.

Desper was the first to activate, and went to bottom-right corner. Now, if I only would receive a soulstone or two from somewhere... like from the Guilty who had just one health left...

... which certainly could have happened, if Jack Daw didn't go and kill the Ruffian a hit away from killing Guilty. 

Unfortunately Hanged went to charge Luna to bluff Assassinate. That he did, but also scored a point for Wastrels from Frame Job.

Me activating Jack Daw that early was mostly to save up lesser minion activations, as well as Kari and Ferryman for their movement tricks. But I certainly didn't need both of those models, or even furthest Drowned. However, no amount of stalling found me an opening to rush two minions to Desper. 

Double points on turn four, however, tied the scores to 8-8.

Fresh Start for Lucas

 A 50ss game of Malifaux 4th Edition on Vassal

Strategy: Flank Boundary Dispute

Schemes: Scout the Rooftops, Detonate Charges, Ensnare

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
Dead Doxy
2x Mourner
2x Dead Dandy

Pool: 6

(List is short two points, I  somehow counted Mourners as costing 6)

Opponent had:

LucasMcCabe & Luna
Sidir
Desper
2x Rough Rider
2x Ruffian
Huckster

Pool: 6

Turn 1: Redchapel picked Detonate Charges, Wastrels Scout the Rooftops

Dead Dandies, Doxy, Bete Noire and a Mourner went in from one flank, while Sybelle, another Mourner, Seamus and Copycat Killer went from the other.

Wastrels had a little more open ways to spread out more evenly, but generally both Rough Riders, both Ruffians and Huckster were going against Bete Noire's gang. Doxy and Dandies arranged a Remains marker for Bete Noire to signature action to, from which she charged a Rough Rider that had delivered a scheme marker on top of a climbable crate. She wanted to block potential Scout the Rooftops, but managed to mangle Rough Rider down to one health remaining. 

Ruffians, Huckster and the other Rough Rider made great job at delivering strategy markers past the centerline, while Remains marker shenanigans slowed down that progress for Resurrectionists, having two strategy markers about one interact away from their deployment.

Seamus' gang managed to deliver one strategy marker past centerline, but Sidir just throwed it right  back after blasting a destructible terrain with signature action. Mourner and Sybelle were doing the interacts for me. Sybelle also beckoned Seamus a little closer to open up more Secret Passages. 

By the end of the turn Wastrels had spent their entire hand, which resulted in Lucas ditching Scout the Rooftops after he failed Ride With Me. Instead, he brought Explorer's third strategy marker to nudge centerline as well as attempting to throw artifacts left and right.

Seamus was last model to activate from Resurrectionists, and secret passaged into an unfortunate position right in middle of Desper, Luna and Lucas - but he dropped three scheme markers next to both Luna and Lucas. I was afraid Desper might try to yank one model away from the schemes, but that didn't come to pass because of a failed Acrobatic Movement.

Wastrels got no scheme points, but dominated strategy for one point. Detonate Charges went in full for Redchapel for a 2-1 lead.

Turn 2: Redchapel continued to Light the Beacons, Wastrels picked Detonate Charges.

Sidir and a Rough Rider shot Seamus off the board, but he was able to leap to Madame Sybelle with his demise. Sidir also shot a Mourner dead, so he was doing some heavy duty.

Copycat Killer did a scheme marker for Light the Beacons as far from closest enemies as possible, but once opponent realized I was probably aiming for Light the Beacons, Desper did signature, walk and charge to get within 2" of the scheme marker.

Mourner was playing ball with a Ruffian for a Resurrectionists strategy marker, and tried to finish off Rough Rider with a charge - but failed. The Rough Rider rode away from melee to shoot Bete Noire with the strat marker tossing Ruffian taking a shot a Bete. This was becoming a burden on soulstone cache, so Bete thought it better to ditch the place and go place another scheme for Light the Beacons. 

Eventually Huckster scaled a nearby house and threw some scheme markers at Bete Noire. 

Dead Doxy charged Ruffian in an attempt to deny some interact in the middle. She did land one good hit, but that was about it. She used Double Up to get already Mourner as a back-up. They did block interacts, but Ruffian just got out of melee and shot Mourner for four points of damage and place third marker for Detonate Charges. 

Madame Sybelle tried to beckon Desper LaRaux away from a scheme marker for Light the Beacons, but failed at that. Seamus used Secret Passage to walk and place a scheme marker for Light the Beacons and charged a Rough Rider for a few points of damage.

However, Lucas spoiled the fun with a 16" double walk to interact Seamus' scheme marker away.

Wastrels scored two points from Detonate Charges, while they denied Redchapel of points for a 4-2 lead. 

Turn 3: Both Redchapel and Wastrels picked Runic Binding

Copycat Killer used crew signature to charge out from Desper's melee, delivered a strategy marker that had been moved during end phase to enemy deployment, plus walked into contact with it. 

Wastrels were quick to activate the Rough Rider with one health remaining, and delivered a strategy marker to Redchapel deployment zone. 

Seamus, in a vulnerable position, used Secret Passage to go near centerpoint to bluff Leave Your Mark by planting two schemes within 1" of center point. With last action he charged Ruffian, scored Shove Aside and tried to take a swing at the Rough Rider he tried to kill last turn. 

Sidir started shooting Madame Sybelle and brought her down to two health remaining. Sybelle had to activate right after that, and charged Sidir to place a third scheme marker for Runic Binding. She beckoned Luna next to her, thus having Sidir and Luna inside the Runic Binding area.

Desper did acrobatics, charged Madame Sybelle but missed. His vorpal blade went snicker-snack, so Madame finally died. However, Sidir and Luna gave two points from Runic Binding.

Redchapel passed, and a went to place a scheme marker for Runic Binding. Doxy activated next, killed Ruffian that had one health remaining and used Pouncing Strike to get to scheming Ruffian, but didn't score a hit. However, second action attack killed the Rough Rider who had one health remaining.

Luna and second Rough Rider did scheme markers for Runic Binding, but Dead Dandy heroically managed to delay the scheme by turning Wastrel scheme into one of Redchapel's own.

However, Lucas had no trouble with getting to place a new marker, and even had action points to spare to miss someone with netgun.

Bete Noire walked and signature-charged to Ruffian that was next to Dead Doxy. She landed a heavy hit of three raises and scored Onslaught. Unfortunately Onslaught attack didn't kill Ruffian, so she wasn't able to remove Wastrel scheme marker. Last attack also missed.

Wastrels took 7-4 lead.

Turn 4: Redchapel picks Ensnare, Wastrels Leave Your Mark.

Dead Dandy planted a scheme to bluff Leave Your Mark and walked to engage Luna, who still had Redchapel scheme marker nearby.

Miraculously Sidir failed to kill Dead Dandy, but brought him down to one health remaining. However, signature action removed one of Redchapel scheme markers, so Seamus had to signature charge, interact two schemes within 1" of center point and close enough to Luna and Lucas before. Last action was to charge Lucas, who took four points of damage which at this point of game was whatever. 

Opponent did think I had Leave Your Mark, so Rough Rider took off close enough to place two scheme markers next to centerpoint and my scheme markers. That Ensnare was CLOSE, but did result in two points for Redchapel.

Eventually Lucas was able to spam tons of scheme markers near centerpoint, this time more than 1" away from a scheme marker I still had there. Bete Noire signature charged away from melee, ruined Lucas's stack of scheme markers and moved  Explorer strategy marker away from my table side. 

Unfortunately Desper was able to maneuver to deliver a second strategy marker to my deployment zone. Redchapel passed, but once Huckster went to throw Redchapel strategy marker out Dead Doxy's reach, we called it a game. Wastrels won 9-6.

You know it's an entirely new edition of the game when LucasMcCabe doesn't do anything morally questionable or downright abhorrent.