Dirge for Burkstad

 Twenty three years of anguish and misery is finally over. Incidentally, it took two years and one thirds of a year to complete. 

Lantern Year 22 hunt was against Sunstalker level 2.

We had green savior acting as our evasion tank, and two survivors wounding on 3+ and bow survivor critting on 6+, so we had rather decent chances I would say - considering how terribly Burkstad has fared over their course of existence. 

First hunt space 63, Feet. Fortunately we had one survivor with no insanity, so it wasn't a total party kill, but almost. The three extra events caused us to lose two survivors to the Gambler. 

It's been almost four months since we had our last game, and game set-up had taken longer than our game until that point. That was a little too harsh, so we ended up fudging the results into severe injury rolls, which were adequately punishing - broken leg and dismembered leg. Our entire hunt party was now movement 4 or below.  

Hunt phase also offered us extra disorders - and our legless evasion tank with Rawhide armor got Ghostly Beauty.

Actual showdown started rather nicely, despite our troubles with movement. First and second round gave four and three wounds in to the Sunstalker. We probably could have gotten in a few more if it wasn't for annoyances from ambient lightening - sun was shining always from the wrong direction.

Around third turn, however, our evasion tank fell to mortal terror brain trauma. The savior wasn't able to utter Dormenatus even once. 

Then the game started to quickly fall apart. Next one to go was our death mask wearing bow user, thanks to him being in shadow when he shouldn't have. 

Purvina and Mortis still tried their best, but Purvina couldn't take two Vomit Kaleidoscopes in a row, and Mortis wasn't able to stand the incoming heat from solar track. Heroic efforts only amounted to just over half of Sunstalker's AI deck converted into wounds. 

Along with the survivors we lost: Rawhide boots, 2x founding stone, monster grease, stone noses, white lion coat, lantern halberd and death mask. 

Lantern year 23 had Butcher on the timeline, but since our campaign had been desperate crawling right from the start, I thought it best to permit triggering The Watcher now. Well, I also thought we'd have better chances against The Watcher than Butcher level 3...

And we certainly did wounds in to the cosmic devourer! Three, in fact. 

Three, that The Watcher healed many, many, many times over.

We had lost two survivors on the first round. 

The remaining survivors stood for a bit longer, but that was mostly because of The Watcher not being so interested over knocked down survivors. 

Last survivor to live wielded the Whisker Harp. At this point, the game was more about if Mawilina would get the melody going successfully even once.

And a turn before she died, she did. Despite around her seven -1 strength tokens. Still enough strength left to strum a harp!

Burkstad goes down in style, with a single note that was played in tune.

Phew.

Burkstad was a unique settlement in many ways.

There were many times when the settlement hanged on the verge of oblivion, but somehow it always managed to cling to life. Death count illustrates this point quite well: we lost 39 survivors in total, plus six saviors who vanished. There's two records here, on highest death and savior count. 

Also, it was probably a record-holder for innovations lost to Gorm Climate.

And we hunted Screaming Antelope only once!

Let's do a little re-cap.

-Prologue was one of the toughest so far.
-White Lion year 1 made a total party wipe.
- Year 2 lion and year 3 gorm went fine.
- Loss of equipment and resources to year 4 Butcher, who was thwarted by luring it to the darkness.
- Year 5 lion is a smashing success with only Rib Blade and 3x fist & tooth!
- Year 6 Flower Knight is a struggle.
- Year 7 Gorm explodes the heads of two survivors on the second turn. And still survivors somehow win.
- Year 8 Antelope goes well.
- Year 9 King's Man is a disaster.
- Year 10 White Lion and year 11 Gorm do good enough.
- Year 12 Flower Knight level 2 is barely a victory.
-Year 13 The Hand applauses people dead.
-Year 14 Sunstalker level 1 is a difficult victory, but another Sunstalker next year is an easy one.
-Year 16 Butcher level 2 we manage to bring down to one AI card remaining.
-Year 17 and 18 White Lion level 2's aren't much of a trouble, but yeah... it's year 17 & 18.
-Year 19 King's Man level 2 is brought down to one AI card remaining.
-Year 20 Phoenix level 1 gives Hour's Ring that is immediately scrapped the next hunt phase...
-Year 21 Gorm level 2 is scary but manageable.
-Year 22 Sunstalker level 2 is a total party wipe.
-Year 23 Watcher is a total settlement wipe. 

Brawling again

Had two games of Warmachine at the very end of February. Because of the format they were 25 point games. 

Game 1:

Cryx

Captain Aiakos [+29]

 - Corruptor [14]

 - Malice [15]

 - Stalker [8]

 - The Withershadow Combine [9]

Bloat Thrall [4]

Warwitch Siren [4]

vs

Trollbloods

Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain [+29]

 - Dire Troll Mauler [15]

 - Troll Axer [9]

 - Troll Impaler [9]

Janissa Stonetide [4]

Totem Hunter [6]

Trollkin Fennblades (min) [9]

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew [2]

We rolled off to see which lists we'd play. Why, oh why did the dice gods decide to put Aiakos again against Trollbloods? 

And against Trollbloods with a supercharged sniper Impaler, who removes Malice's Harpoon right away on the second turn?

Oh well. Maybe there was a still game to play. 

Stalker removes Janissa Stonetide from controlling enemy flag, so at least Cryx got the scenario lead. Corruptor and Bloat thrall also were able to remove three Fennblades, so removing their circular zone controllers wasn't that far off.

Sadly I had to sacrifice Warwitch Siren in contesting rectangular zone.

Turn 3 Dire Troll Mauler kills Warwitch Siren, and Stalker is removed by Axer. Totem Hunter charges Corruptor, who has to waste its activation in removing the foreign bounty hunter. What's left of Erebus nearly kills Dire Troll Mauler. I really wanted that troll dead, so Aiakos charged in to finish the job. 

On opponent's turn scenario goes 2-2, and on my turn 2-3 for Trollbloods because Aiakos had left the flag. 

Opponent got easily to 2-5 next, so there was little point in continuing the game, as we still had second armies waiting enthusiastically.

Game 2:

Cryx

 Lich Lord Venethrax [+26]

 - Erebus [16]

 - Ripjaw [7]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]

Machine Wraith [2]

Necrotech [2]

Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]

Bile Thralls (min) [9]

vs

Cygnar

Major Beth Maddox [+30]

 - Avenger [17]

 - Cyclone [13]

Alten Ashley [6]

Black 13th Strike Force [10]

Stormblade Infantry [9]

Second game was far quicker than the first. I decided to launch a full-blown offensive against Cygnaran forces and not wait for them to start shooting my forces to bits. 

On second turn Slayer charged a Black 13th member under Terminal Velocity. Then it counter-charged both remaining members into melee with it. 

Erebus counter-charged Cyclone and hit with melee attack, causing Cygnaran warjack to become stationary. 

Opponent breaks Slayer with remaining Black 13th and Stormblades. 

Bile Thralls purge all remaining Stormblades dead, and machine wraith charges Avenger, who tries to take a swing at Alten Ashley, failing at that. But wait, there's more! Erebus finalizes Cyclone and slaps cortex off of Avenger. Who is now without cortex and stationary. 

There was very little opponent could do to prevent Cryx from winning by scenario.

Mittens

 A couple of rounds of Exploding Kittens to pass the time with two players. (+1 round edited from the future!)

Gameplay is passable for two I guess, but it's quite a different experience with more than two. Now it's just two players hoarding most of the special cards to survive until the end of the deck.

And again: (I added a few sessions from the end of March and beginning of April since I didn't bother to write a new blog entry.)

Fury Unseen

 Had a 50 point game of Warmachine a couple of days ago. 

My list was:

Cryx
Lich Lord Venethrax [+26]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Erebus [16]
 - Helldiver [6]
 - Seether [13]
 - Slayer [10]
Bloat Thrall [4]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Misery Cage [2]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent had:

Circle of Orboros

Iona the Unseen [+28]

 - Pureblood Warpwolf [17]

 - Rotterhorn Griffon [7]

 - Warpwolf Stalker [17]

 - Druid Wilder [4]

Bloodweaver Night Witch [4]

Tharn Bloodtrackers (max) [15]

 - Nuala the Huntress [4]

Tharn Bloodweavers [8]

Bloodtrackers picked Erebus as their prey. I wanted to reposition the character warjack so that it wouldn't be there for easy picking, but I had an annoying bottleneck on my side of the board. Oh well. There weren't any threatening AoE's around, right?

Pureblood Warpwolf sprayed Slayer, dealt some damage in and killed Bloat Thrall, which in turn injured an Ironmonger. 

I tried to offer some threat saturation for opponent by bringing Helldiver up and running arc node to channel some Blood Rains onto Bloodtrackers. Too bad only two Bloodtrackers were essentially killed. If four had died I would've been okay with the results, but six focus for two Bloodtrackers is rather a heavy price tag.

Bloodweavers attempt to take the circular zone on the right, and Bloodtrackers are ogling the one on the left. Rotterhorn Griffon attempts to flank Cryxian forces from the right. Helldiver and Bloat Thrall were acceptable losses, especially when I managed to use Terminal Velocity with Slayer and remove Pureblood.

That was the extent of my casualties inflicted, though. Some three Bloodtrackers and a Bloodweaver died, but tidings were grim.

I had tried to position Erebus so that if Warpwolf Stalker charged Seether, it would counter charge and make the warpwolf stationary. Turns out Bloodtrackers are enough to remove one pesky Seether from the board, and Warpwolf Stalker decided just to run towards Iona.

Bloodweavers dismounted Darragh, and flanking Griffon killed Warwitch Siren. Feralgeist charged an Ironmonger, thus engaging it. Suddenly all my support was severely crippled and I was down to one heavy warjack and an arcnode. 

Circle started to be ahead of the scenario, and when Iona had carelessly entered the charge range of Erebus, I decided it's my chance. And first attack hit the warlock, making her stationary and leaving her to two hit boxes remaining. But Iona had four transfers available, so.

Scenario loss for Venethrax after Circle forces were unable to tear through Venethrax and his focus camp of five. 

Ten

 Whoa, hey! It didn't take a year since Maurala settlement in the world of Kingdom Death got updated with additional misery. And we can thank Tabletop Simulator for that. It was clunky and tiresome and you couldn't play around with nifty miniatures, but at least lantern years pass.

Residents of Maurala wanted to cure Moldonial of his flower addiction, so we hunted for Flower Knight level 2 for lantern year 10. 

Hunt phase showered Moldonial, Padoral, Sibylla and... Pudge with courage and understanding and major boosts from triggered insights This was until Forest Wants What It Wants. Then, just about all survivors lost all leg armor and took a point of damage to head that ignored armor. 

Fight itself was carefully executed and it ended up with Flower Knight executed. We managed without a single severe injury roll, but only barely. Pudge and Sibylla would have started getting them on most hit locations. 

Showdown would have, again, been far more difficult if it wasn't for the almightiness of the Vespertine Bow. I'll probably house rule it as Cumbersome in my future solo playthroughs.

Anyway, survivors were victorious.

Lantern Year 11: Nickname.

Settlement event gave us a division of sorts. All my friends survivors had their name end with ... of the Antelope, and both of mine were that of the Lion. Go figure. A short moment of merriment like that was soon abolished when The Hand came and was about to carve four survivors plus Lantern Oven in two. Next session will begin with a showdown against the Hand.

Since the showdown was so successful, settlement phase was much less so. Maurala did erect Weapon Crafter, and settlement innovated Forbidden Dance and gave Synchronized Strike to Padoral and Moldonial. One augury gave us an intimacy right away, which gave us a dead mother right away. 

UPDATE:

We played The Hand showdown already, so I'm tacking it on to this blog post. It was standard procedure how you handle The Hand. Nohaus, Maximus, Baby of Silence and Moldonial challenged the godlike monster, and each survived until (and past) the applause. Maximus was left psychically scarred with Controlophobia, and Nohaus was left physically scarred with gaping chest wound, but other than that it was only success for Maurala. Baby of Silence gained +1 strength, accuracy and evasion, while Moldonial and Nohaus gained only +1 strength. Maximus was content with only surviving the clapping of applause and not dying. 

Public Nightmares

I found some time for a game of Malifaux. Round was standard 50 soulstones. 

Strategy: Public Enemies with Wedge deployment

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Mortimer
Bete Noire
Hanged with Grave Spirit Touch (Vendetta)
2x Rotten Belle
Dead Doxy
Gravedigger

Pool: 1

Schemes: Breakthrough, Vendetta

Opponent had (something like):

Dreamer with Ancient Pact & Lord Chompy Bits with Inhuman Reflexes
Serena Bowman
Coppelius (Vendetta target)
Stitched Together
Insidious Madness
Daydream with Ancient Pact
Daydream

Pool: 8

Schemes: Assassinate, Breakthrough

Turn 1:

It was wedge deployment, so action started right from the first turn. Seamus shot a severe injury in to Coppelius, which was a bit more than I was comfortable with - killing Coppelius was tempting, but he was my vendetta target!

Coppelius returned the favor with dealing casual six points in with a moderate damage, push and poking Seamus' eye a bit.

Bete Noire charged Lord Chompy Bits, dealing four points of damage which was nice surprise, although it might be inconsequential because of regenerate and various heal abilities. 

I forget which model, perhaps Dreamer himself, dropped Seamus down to three health remaining which was the moment when Copycat Killer had to come in to save the day. 

Belles, Mortimer and Hanged kill off the Daydream who has Ancient Pact, and I'm left wondering if it was worth about six action points or what. Perhaps it is safe to say that a daydream happened - a model died to black joker! 

Turn 2:

Hanged activates, desperate to whack Coppelius with dead man's collar for vendetta. Hanged succeeds, but it wasn't until my second attack was half-way through when I realized that if I killed Coppelius, I wouldn't be able to reveal Vendetta. Dang. Fortunately opponent denies Hanged's kill by cheating fate. 

Seamus kills Coppelius, sure, but not before it could land its pulse effect on four models, slapping Slow on Mortimer and getting one Alp to manifest. 

Dreamer charges Gravedigger and switches positions with Lord Chompy Bits. Gravedigger tries to kill Lord Chompy Bits who only has four health remaining. After he was done and Lord Chompy Bits activates, it is back at seven health and there is another extra Alp on the board. Gravedigger dug his own grave. Badum-tshhh.

All Rotten Belles and Dead Doxy charge the newly emerged Alp, and fell it down to two wounds or something.

Bete Noire speed towards enemy deployment zone, but is followed by Stitched Together. 

Then there was this brawl at the middle of the board that included Serena, Insidious Madness, Alp and Dreamer versus Hanged and Mortimer. This fight continued for pretty much the rest of the game with neither side getting to do anything useful.

Resurrectionists score two, and opponent reveals Assassinate.

Turn 3:

Bete Noire takes a run deeper into enemy deployment zone, and Seamus does the same. 

Lord Chompy Bits kills a Belle, which means opponent can score strategy this turn. 

Stitched Together charges Bete Noire, who buries herself. Later I, for some reason, deny myself a point from Breakthrough by teleporting Seamus away from a Daydream.

Belle kills Alp and starts backing off with a precious bounty token. Hanged kills another Alp, so now I'd need one extra point from already wounded Insidious Madness. Mortimer, go! Well. Decay does a little damage, but alas, not enough. He manages to summon a Mindless Zombie, though.

No other reports from the middle. Just whiffs and failures.

Neverborn evens out scores to 2-2.

Turn 4

Seamus continues to lay eggs on the enemy deployment zone. On top of everything, he is also the Easter Bunny. 

Lord Chompy Bits moves to my deployment zone and interacts. Mortimer has to come and deny the initial point from Breakthrough. 

Nothing happens against the Hanged. Sure, he's around half health remaining or so, and that was only because of one lucky severe injury. But still going "strong." 

Bete Noire jumps from Gravedigger's corpse and runs back to enemy deployment zone. 

Resurrectionists go 3-2 with revealed Breakthrough.

Turn 5

I think the important bits from turn 5 can be summed: neverborn murders Mortimer, and as last activation Copycat Killer comes and teleports Seamus within 4" of Lord Chompy Bits, denying the point that would have given draw.

Neverborn go to 3 points from strategy, and resurrectionists to 4 from Breakthrough end condition.

Two letters in no particular order

 A short update on two games of Love Letter with two players to pass long days and longer nights.

(Make that three four games.)

I'll use this blog post to also jot down four games of Labyrinth and two games of Sphinx.

Telekinetic

Since there was one weekend with less of other pressing matters, it could be sanctified for gaming purposes! Yay. Another game of Warmachine on the following day with 50 points.

My list was:

Cryx

Dark Host
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Leviathan [16]
 - Reaper [13]
 - Ripjaw [7]
 - Skarlock Thrall [4]
Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
 - Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [0(5)]
Wraith Engine [15]

Opponent had:

Protectorate

Exemplar Interdiction
Grand Scrutator Severius [+28]
- Blessing of Vengeance [13]
 - Crusader [10]
 - Indictor [14]
 - Hierophant [3]
Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [0(5)]
Vassal Mechanik [1]
Vassal of Menoth [0(3)]
Vassal of Menoth [0(3)]
Choir of Menoth (min) [4]
Exemplar Bastions (max) [15]
Exemplar Cinerators (max) [13]
 - Exemplar Cinerator Officer [5]

Cryx won starting roll and chose to go first because I was confident in the disparity between the speed of our forces.

Wraith Engine took one flank, and was to face Indictor and Blessing of Vengeance and an assortment of solos. Both armies had their infantry go in the middle, and one flank was a duel between Deathripper and Crusader. Ouch.

Second turn I was able to start shooting. Reaper dragged one Bastion to its death, and Leviathan managed to kill Bastion Seneschal in one shot. 

Opponent then engaged with most of his army, which was good news for Bane Warriors. I figured that if I don't use my feat on turn 3, I won't have a feat because of Severius' own. Scaverous allocated some focus for Leviathan, and started with casting feated Feast of Worms on Cinerators, and a Telekinesis on Crusader that was barely standing on zone on the right. 

Here we both forgot defensive strike from Bastions. It might not have changed things that much - my warjacks would've needed to dedicate themselves for Bastions, and maybe Feast of Worms would have gone to different direction, saving a couple of Cinerators. But as it happened, both units vanished from the board. Even one Machine Wraith entered the fray. Scaverous netted a total of six souls, which is about on par with Asphyxious3 on feat turn. Go figure.

Opponent removed Wraith Engine as was expected, but most of the Banes survived even after two Ashes to Ashes, which was unexpected. Crusader smashed Deathripper to bits, so opponent would start scoring points from scenario soon. 

There were some options for me to assassinate Severius, some more illegal than others. Fortunately the warcaster fell to shooting, since I had completely forgotten about the fact that Severius had fried Ripjaw's cortex system earlier in the game, meaning it should not have been able to run as far as it did. I had planned to launch Feast of Worms on top of Hierophant, but then I kind of forgot even that and spent my 13 focus spamming some worthless telekinesises... 

Well, at least Severius died.