Meeting Expectations

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Guard the Stash

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

My list was:

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

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

Opponent had:

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

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

Turn 1:

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

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

Experimentals? They had barely left deployment zone...

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

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

Hayreddin relocated to middle-left marker.

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

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

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

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

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

Points went 1-1 from both players scoring strategy.

Turn 3:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Young Nephilim just chills at bottom-right marker. 

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

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

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

Turn 4:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 5:

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Spread Them Out for Resurrectionists.

No strategy points for anyone, anywhere.

The tie became eternal, 3-3 draw. 

Biting Insult Bites Back

 A 50ss game of Malifaux over Vassal.

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Assassinate, Detonate Charges, Dig Their Graves, Power Ritual, Outflank

My list:

Seamus2 with The Whisper & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
White Rabbit Co
Mourner with Grave Spirit Touch
Dead Doxy
Gravedigger
Rotten Belle

Pool: 7
Schemes: Dig Their Graves, Outflank

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki & Chiyo
Bill Algren
Hinamatsu
Kabuki Warrior
2x Bunraku
Tanuki
Geisha

Pool: 3
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Outflank

Turn 1:

What a game. What a game. 

I really liked the scheme pool on this one. You could plausibly bluff almost any of these schemes. 

Game started ordinarily enough.

The map involved quite a few bottlenecks which divided Ten Thunders into two segments. Up were Kabuki Warrior, Chiyo, Tanuki and Geisha. Middle had another Bunraku, Hinamatsu, Youko and Bill on top of a container of some sort. Bottom part was, well, Bunraku.

Tanuki had placed a scheme marker in corner and for a long time I was quite certain opponent had picked Power Ritual. 

Resurrectionists had a slightly more coherent line, with Copycat Killer holding high up, Gravedigger at the strategy marker and Madame Sybelle, Seamus, Rotten Belle and White Rabbit Co in the middle with Mourner not far behind. Seamus summoned another Dead Doxy, and the pair went to take the bottom flank. Non-summoned Doxy had been given a comfortable hat. Gravedigger had dropped a corpse and a scheme to my top corner, hinting at Dig Their Graves or Power Ritual.

Turn 2:

Rotten Belle moves forward and lures Hinamatsu to middle. And she didn't even have to spend any action points for it! Although she kind of did use six action points for it. Hinamatsu walked and charged her dead. 

Since Kabuki had been measuring if he'd be able to charge Copycat Killer, I got concerned for his wellbeing. White Rabbit Co gave a hat to Seamus and beckoned Copycat to Gravedigger.

Youko comes to interact with the middle marker. That seemed like a perfect spot for Madame Sybelle to charge to, engaging both Hinamatsu and Youko. She managed to soften up the puppet a little, nothing fancy. 

Chiyo runs to place a scheme on top outflank area and Mourner takes a double walk to get into a more relevant position with her aura. Bunraku runs to bottom outflank area, and Seamus puts on his aura and comes to tickle Hinamatsu. At least the puppet had to spend some resources to stay at five health remaining. The corpse of Rotten Belle  wasn't all that rotten or even so belle, when Seamus rised a Dead Dandy from the marker.

Dead Doxies manage to get the hatted Doxy to bottom outflank area, and even place a real scheme marker hugging the table edge. I had been worried on where Bill Algren was about to go, and he came to dance with Doxies instead of the (g)rave party in the middle. 

A Bunraku and Kabuki Warrior came to engage near the center while Tanuki and Geisha were still far from action. Gravedigger continued to secure Dig Their Graves end condition and interacted with strategy marker as well. 

Very last action for me was to take a double walk with Copycat Killer and engage Chiyo with Seamus, who also had a comfortable hat.

Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists when both score strategy and Doxy and Seamus both lost their hats at outflanking maneuver. 

Still looking like a normal, regular game for sure.

Turn 3:

I knew I was in for some rough time when in the first fourteen cards there were eight severes and only one card below six.

You'd imagine such draws at least gave me a good headstart? Nope. Hinamatsu activated first and attacked Madame Sybelle five times, not missing a single attack. It took four of my soulstones to even keep Madame at four health remaining...

Or maybe they didn't all go when Hinamatsu was mutilating Madame. Perhaps some were used when Bunraku attacked her. But that was only after White Rabbit had given a fancy hat for Madame and beckoned Kabuki Warrior away to do something distracting with Seamus, who was at the top outflank area.

Madame's survival was paramount, so Mourner walked and charged Youko and surprisingly claws her for some damage. Now Youko would need to spend possibly even two actions to get to Sybelle, and perhaps Bill would reconsider repositioning himself from bottom.

Tanuki healed Hinamatsu back to full. Seamus activates Urban Legend aura and spends remaining actions beating Chiyo with a bouquet. Not his best moment, nearly killing a kid with a bouquet. And only nearly. Kabuki Warrior charges Seamus and invades his personal space to such an extent that Copycat Killer is not able to place himself in melee with Chiyo. But at least he had one focused stat 5 attack versus Chiyo's defense of 4 and remaining health of one? Yeah, that he had, and... missed.

Yeah, but now there was a nice aura of automatic damage in the middle. And while scoring Dig Their Graves with Madame Sybelle's hat would probably mean Sybelle dying next turn, I was ready to make that trade. 

Except Madame Sybelle missed melee attack and missed Beckoning Call. Dead Dandy missed with his fancy cane, but at least landed a solid biting insult with Urban Legend triggering a damage on the puppet. Sheesh... that was already four mostly wasted action points.

It was somewhat of a comfort when Bill Algren with fast condition tried to challenge the summoned Dead Doxy, failed and then heroically intervened the other Dead Doxy. Instantly he saw the error of his ways and regretted all the wrongs he had done when Doxy flipped masks.

Bunraku at bottom had placed a scheme marker and went to engage summoned Doxy. By now it was clear that opponent had Outflank. Good thing that I had two 3" pushes available with stat 5 versus wp 5, the other of which would be with negative fate for Bill's defense. 

Failed, all failed. 

What is happening in here?! 

I feel like I had solid moves planned, but really - all that I actually achieved this turn was to strike a kid in the face with a bouquet and insult a wooden puppet! Well alright, there was that attack by Mourner against Youko that did a little damage, but that damage wasn't impactful.

Scores even out to 3-3 when both players get strategy and Ten Thunders reveals their outflank.

Turn 4:

Grave Spirit be praised! Resurrectionists won the initiative. Seamus activated, and thanks to The Whisper I knew I had no masks in initiative flip, in starting hand or three upcoming cards. As if I needed those soulstones anyway.  So Seamus was able to take Madame Sybelle by the hand and lead her away from Hinamatsu. He activated Urban Legend with bought Alone in the Dark and attacked Bunraku once, missing. Second attack went to Hinamatsu as I didn't want to attack Df 7 Bunraku. Guess what? It was a miss.

Bunraku tries to come to kill Madame Sybelle and almost succeeds at it when first attack spent my last soulstone in damage block and toppled her comfortable hat. Second attack fortunately missed.

Not a problem. There were plenty of hats where they came from! White Rabbit Co. came to offer their services immediately and tried to use beckoning call to move Bunraku to give it distracted and staggered. Madame Sybelle's scarlet temptation even gave negative fate for Wp 4 Bunraku. Yeah, miss. Needle and thread? Miss. So that's already seven action points of aggression towards the Bunraku, out of which only one insult hit home.

Gravedigger charges Bunraku next and misses. Last action goes to heal Madame Sybelle, and at least that was a decent severe. Next challenger was Mourner, who lands On Your Heels with Feed On Grief against Bunraku. Shocking. I actually hit with an attack and dealt one (1) damage point. Well, it was positive for me and negative for Bunraku. Although that doesn't guarantee anything as I learned in this game. Claw attacks scored On My Feels when they... missed. Ten action points. Two successes. 

By then Tanuki had not activated, but the lucky On Your Heels made it possible for me to block any easy line of sights to Bunraku. During the Bunraku beatings Bill Algren had killed Dead Doxy with one strike and Kabuki Warrior had done the same to Copycat Killer. 

Things were growing more desperate by the minute. But all was not lost! Bunraku was at half health remaining, so Madame Sybelle could get straight flip against it despite some distractions. Yeah, miss.

Alright. We still got one more chance. Kill Bunraku with last attack and score Pulled Here and There. Two fate cards. Bleeder Lash, go! AND LOOK AT THAT! Indeed Masks came up with a decent card of 10 and opponent had 9 and Red Joker was still in my deck. With original stats the attack would have hit. But because of extra defense from Bunraku's Df-trigger, the attack missed by one. Just for giggles Madame Sybelle tries Undivided Attention and flips Rams for healing trigger. But card value if five and needed six. Such a bad luck was no longer even annoying, it was straight out hilarious. Twelve actions, two successes. Two points of damage done by me, one by opponent.

But as it happened, Hinamatsu activated and went to attack Dead Dandy, failing her attacks. But then she takes Aggressive Stance and things take a surreal turn. Both players had taken notice of the absurd levels of bad luck and tiny cards Resurrectionists had got and deck was nearing empty. High cards were expected when Madame Sybelle, Mourner, Seamus, White Rabbit Co and Dead Dandy had to take Willpower 13 checks of gain Distracted. Not a single card was above four! They all failed!

Seriously? At this point one couldn't help but audibly laugh at the situation.

Dead Dandy activates next and turns a scheme Tanuki had placed into a corpse. 

Throughout the turn I had struggled to get required suits for my cards for anything to work. To end the train wreck of a turn with at least a psychic satisfaction of insulting a cute little furry, Dead Dandy declared a distracted Biting Insult at Tanuki.

And the thing is... Biting insult has no triggers at all. And that was where I managed to flip the Red Joker!

That really broke the bank and my stomach muscles still hurt from laughing spasms as I write this.

Turns out that yeah, it can get a lot, lot worse.

We didn't play fifth round when scores went to 3-4 for Ten Thunders from strategy.

I had relatively secure one point coming but zero chances of any additional points, while Ten Thunders had Outflank with 100% certainty and quite likely Detonate Charges and fourth strategy point. 

Tormented Wildfire

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Flank Carve a Path

Schemes: Spread Them Out, Breakthrough, Vendetta, Load 'Em Up, In Your Face

My list:

Jack Daw Ensouled & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Auguste Hart
Midnight Stalker
Malifaux Child
Crooked Man
Dead Outlaw
Guilty

Pool: 5
Schemes: Vendetta (Dead Outlaw on a Firebranded), Breakthrough

Opponent had:

Kaeris & Eternal Flame
Elijah Borgmann
Carlos Vasquez
Fire Golem
The Firestarter
2x Firebranded
Fire Gamin

Pool: 0 (!)
Schemes: Load 'Em Up (Pyre marker), Vendetta (Firestarter on something, somewhere)

Turn 1:

Outcasts started doing cautious activations like Auguste kicking the strategy marker near Malifaux Child and hiding behind the forest, with Lady Ligeia joining soon. Guilty just walked north a bit and concentrated, things like that.

Arcanists were also hiding behind terrain, delivering one marker from top behind the houses and another in midst of graveyard.

But then Fire Golem walked within charge + collier revolver range, and Dead Outlaw attacked. Hoo boy, that was a mistake. 

Kaeris set the ground close to Outlaw on fire, Eternal Flame pushed the marker to my grudge holder, and Firestarter and Fire Gamin started raining death over him. 

Midnight Stalker couldn't carry out with his plan of delivering strategy marker to enemy table half already and had to go assist some flames off of Dead Outlaw. 

Jack Daw healed him as much as he could, and Crooked Man managed to drop a scheme marker to trigger Too Greedy To Die to get Dead Outlaw slightly closer to safety.

Malifaux Child had kicked a strategy marker almost past the forest.

Arcanist side, Elijah, Firebranded and Carlos were moving in the graveyard along with Arcanist strategy marker. They narrowly escaped an earthquake unleashed by Crooked Man. 

Eternal Flame, Fire Golem, Firestarter and Fire Gamin were about there in the middle, with my vendetta target Firebranded and Kaeris behind buildings.

Turn 2:

Kaeris activated first and set the world burning. Fortunately she wastes most of her action points on taking shots with negative modifiers against Midnight Stalker. This buys time for Dead Outlaw to run to safety, albeit on Burning +4 and injured +2. 

Firestarter flies to unreachable position behind a building. Crooked Man concentrates on earthquake attack and manages to stagger Carlos and Firebranded. 

Eternal Flame attempts to detonate some pyre markers, but isn't too successful at it. Montresor, however, takes a run towards Carlos and Firebranded in the graveyard to get them inside his nasty aura. 

I don't remember what Carlos did except for kicking arcanist strategy marker forward. 

Malifaux Child moves a bit forward and is Just Like Jack Daw, healing Montresor a little before being shot off the board by Firebranded. 

Guilty delivers a strategy marker to opponent's table half. Fire Golem draws away his fire and comes into contact with him. Instead of punching Guilty it kicks my strategy marker back to my table half. Midnight Stalker leaps to bring the marker back to scoring position, but so does Dead Outlaw's vendetta target Firebranded for Arcanist strategy marker. 

Elijah comes to charge Montresor, which invites Jack Daw to charge him and try to do some Guilt of the Many tricks without much of a success. At least Elijah got Curse of Reckoning. Dead Outlaw, however, was healed somewhat and assisted by Lady Ligeia, so I might have a shot at Vendetta later in game. 

Scores go 1-1.

Turn 3:

Just as I had managed to heal Dead Outlaw back to relative functionality, Kaeris activated and blasted a marker on top of Dead Outlaw and Lady Ligeia as well as dealing in some damage. 

Jack Daw replied in kind, dropping Curse of Reckoning also on Carlos and moving so that Draw Them In reached also Eternal Flame. So there were now three staggered models within 6" of Montresor.

Elijah activates and keeps swinging at Montresor despite hazardous gnawing him down to one health remaining. Then he heals for a bit by calling the Burning Man as well as giving Montresor and Jack Daw burning +2. 

Lady Ligeia moves in to get a little mileage out of betrayal aura. Firestarter makes a re-appearance and pushes Montresor full 5.5" away from his position. Yeah, that would have been 10" without the severe terrain.

Montresor walked and charged back.

Firebranded heals things with Embrace the Flame and walked away from the dreaded Montresor. 

I don't remember what Eternal Flame or Fire Gamin actually did, but Auguste sprang forth from inside the forest and tied them plus Firestrarter in melee by chasing some ghosts. 

Dead Outlaw's vendetta target came to push strategy marker deeper into Outcast territory. I figured this was my best chance of getting even one point out of Vendetta, so Dead Outlaw walked and charged, landing minimum damage on Firebranded, which was fortunately enough. 

Guilty had been trying to soften up Firebranded but didn't put his heart into it. But neither did Fire Golem in killing Guilty, who was left with Burning +3 and two health remaining thanks to an untimely black joker. 

Midnight Stalker brought Outcast strategy marker to Arcanist deployment zone. 

Carlos, seeing how his anger issues had almost killed Elijah, backed off to cool down a little, losing Curse of Reckoning and staggered far away from Montresor. 

Finally, Crooked Man walks a little and shoots Firebranded in the graveyard dead. 

By now I had zero models left without burning. 

But at least scenario game was looking good. Outcasts scored two points, one from strategy and one from vendetta. But Arcanists revealed Load 'Em Up with pyre markers.

Scores go 2-3 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Outcasts had one pass token from last turn. Opponent cheated on initiative with 13, and I had to do the same. Jack Daw let all hell loose, killing both Elijah and Eternal Flame and giving some anger issues to Firestarter. 

Firestarter shoots Dead Outlaw even more dead and escapes where his issues should hurt no-one. 

Auguste chases ghosts, freeing himself from melee and then walking and charging Carlos Vasquez. He could have died to Auguste's crazed swipes, but the attack missed and Carlos went butterfly jumped away. 

Firebranded healed something, and most unexpected MVP enters the match. Lady Ligeia misses Kaeris with projected voice and does one point of damage in melee. Yay. But, the thing was that neither Fire Golem or Fire Gamin were able to kill her from three hit points remaining despite she having Injured +2. Crazy. This wasted one action point from Kaeris, who then charged Montresor. 

After Kaeris had done her thing, Montresor was at four health remaining and Burning +11, with his demise ability used for the turn.

Midnight Stalker placed scheme in enemy deployment zone and Crooked Man kicked a strategy marker to enemy table half.

Opponent scored nothing, while Outcasts took strategy and Breakthrough. 

Jack Daw was at Burning +9, Montresor +11, Auguste at +7, Crooked Man and Midnight Stalker at +2.  Guilty had burned to crisp. 

Kaeris, Fire Golem and Fire Gamin were almost or entirely unharmed, although Carlos had taken heavy damage and Firestarter somewhat.

So, model-wise situation wasn't ideal. But scores went to 2-5 from strategy and breakthrough for Outcasts, and Arcanists didn't get schemes or strategies.

We didn't play last round.

Harvester, second take

 A friend visited over, and we continued our Kingdom Death campaign.

Lantern Year 17 hunt & showdown: Screaming Antelope level 3

Moldonial, Tyypi, Twyllaria and Maxaria start the hunt, which seems to be a misfortune after another. Carpet of ticks? Check. Harvester again? Check. Devoured grounds, okay, not too gross, poop and half eaten plants as far as eye can see. But right after we get piles of vomit. 

After overwhelming darkness a pit appeared below Tyypi and broke her leg. Dead bodies of four survivors were found from failed start, and then, dead antelope itself. 

Depressing.

The actual showdown was a bit lackluster thanks to the Antelope not doing much other than stomping and snorting. It did less than five actual attacks, all others were negated in one way or another. At least trample did some damage here and there, but no severe damage rolls had to be taken at all, and only one brain trauma. 

There was one threat, however. Moldonial had received Tunnel Vision from the harvester and Screaming Antelope had a couple of these reactions where attacker needed to spend an action to regain senses to attack... and Tunnel Vision lets you spend actions only to activate weapons. Moldonial was wounding the beast on 3+, and once he rolled a 2 in such a location. Fortunately axe proficiency helped there. 

Finally the Antelope was slain and it's resource deck was emptied. 

Lantern Year 18: Acid Storm

Settlement event was Acid Storm, and it gave us a scrap. 

We had only five endeavors as Maxaria had received post-traumatic stress disorder from Screaming Antelope's trap. 

Innovation choices were horrible. Partnership, Nigredo, Shadow Dancing and Face Painting. It was a toss between face painting and Nigredo, and in the end survival limit seemed a better choice. 

With tons of resources the settlement developed a few screaming armor pieces more and beast katars in double. 

1: Innovated Nigredo
2-3: Moldonial tries to use augury, fails
4: Moldonial cooks a delicious Venison Oco Busco for himself.
5: Twyllaria uses bloodletting, losing survival and gaining +1 understanding.

Hopefully we can step up the pace this year, because this campaign is going to take a while if we only play one lantern year in six months... 

...

NINJA UPDATE from 21st of May. I decided to add our tabletop simulator game into this update. 

Lantern Year 18 hunt & showdown: Gigalion level 3

Moldonial, Fatalia, Tyypi and Noitatsaved were the hunters. Hunt began easy and stayed easy. First we get Gigalion with Ground Fighting automatically on. Later, white lion cub gives a ton of resources and begins the showdown right away before Overwhelming Darkness.

And the beast just begins by doing nothing and once wounds started rolling in, it was only sizing up or doing something else inconsequential. Cheap victory? No. Gigantic Pendulous Paunch eventually had to be fished out by Moldonial, who took the job since his purpose was to die anyway.

Resulting severe injury was only a knockdown. Gigalion had taken around nine wounds or so, maybe a bit more. 

Maybe emboldened by this, Fatalia demonstrates the true meaning of her name. She went to strike Gigalion from blind spot, and obviously scored a reaction that had it move forward - taking Moldonial along with it for a second six damage grab. Although Moldonial was supposed to die anyway. Just no quite yet when there were so mane AI cards left...

A lot rested on Tyypi's shoulders now. 

Fortunately she was able to score well aimed shots at the quarry. But she had only understanding of four, meaning she had to take three brain damage each time she made one aimed attack.

Trap broke Fatalia's back, and post-trap hit locations were horrifying. Pendulous Paunch and one with basic attack with extra damage wound reaction. Soon enough Tyypi had to start taking brain traumas.

Which she did quite well, actually. It was around the fourth or fifth that finally came up as the dreaded "1-2". 

So, Fatalia's back had been broken so she was out of the game. Noitatsaved was dedicated support and armed with only Rib Blade. In the end, the often mocked "Ground Fighting" actually took out any chance of winning the day. A total party wipe!

Lantern Year 19 - Dark Trader

Urgh. Population fell down to ten, which fortunately meant two endeavors for us.

First was to innovate Family. 

Second innovation still waits resolution.

Vague Necromancy

Two 50ss games of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Covert Operations

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Leave Your Mark, In Your Face, Set the Trap

My list:

McMourning1 with Grave Spirit Touch & Zombie Chihuahua
Rogue Necromancy
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi
Nurse 
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: In Your Face, Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Very Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Gwyneth Maddox
Mr. Tannen
2x Illuminated
2x Tanuki

Pool: 2
Schemes: In Your Face, Sabotage

Turn 1:

Corner deployment, so not much engagement happened. More so than usual, when both were stacking conditions and non-conditions on their own models (Brilliance from moving Kitty and Rafkin's formaldehyde galore.)

A large building was dividing my crew, with Zombie Chihuahua, Nurse and Rogue Necromancy were aiming for top-left quadrant, while all the others bubbled up in the middle. Dogs were mercilessly biting Corpse Curator into bits, with Dr. McMourning blaspheming focus out of what was left. 

Ten Thunders were in even more coherent bubble than Resurrectionists, with only Hungering Darkness making a slight exception by being a spearhead.

Turn 2:

One Canine Remains ran to rightmost strategy marker to claim it uncontested. 

Both sides seemed hesitant to engage. The other Canine Remains took a bite off from Corpse Curator, which made it possible for McMourning to summon a Flesh Construct. It was given doctor's orders right away.

Tanukis and Illuminated had formed a nice conga line, so Flesh Construct tried to rain vomit on their parade, failing at that. This however aggravated an Illuminated enough that it charged Flesh Construct. This opened up the game a little, and Rogue Necromancy went to puke over the little furries, scoring a severe blast over Mr. Tannen, Illuminated, and a Tanuki. 

That puke was almost punishable by death. An Illuminated started softening up Rogue Necromancy, and was quickly joined by Hungering Darkness. The henchmaster would have needed a single moderate wound in its three action points to kill the Rogue Necromancy, but fortunately for the chimera, no moderates came and Rogue Necromancy was left alive with one health point. That was a relief, considering it was my model for In Your Face end condition.

Kentauroi transported McMourning a little, and proceeded to stomp one Illuminated dead with a couple lucky damages.

Both players claim a strategy point, and Resurrectionists score Leave Your Mark with a scheme marker that Nurse had planted. Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Resurrectionists cheated initiative for themselves, and didn't want Boring Conversation in middle of Willpower 4. Flesh Construct activated and went to kill already damaged Mr. Tannen.

What Hungering Darkness failed last round, it succeeded now with gross overkill. Rogue Necromancy was gone before having time to activate.

Dr. McMourning butchers last remaining Illuminated and made short work of it. It was only good and proper then to join Gwyneth Maddoxs' game table along with Kentauroi and Flesh Construct. 

Lynch takes a double walk and a charge against Nurse, reducing her to half health. 

Tanukis pump out focus and heals, and opponent spends both pass tokens too. Resurrectionists reply by making useless activations with Canine Remains. Rafkin and Corpse Curator try to tease Lynch a little, but don't do much. 

Kentauroi backs off from melee with McMourning and repeatedly charges Tanuki, but not quite getting the killing blow.

Finally Kitty Dumont activates and goes to claim the middle-right strategy marker. I have the choice of whether to go and try to claim middle-left marker with Nurse, or to engage Kitty and deny a point from Ten Thunders. I choose denial, and scores go 2-3 for Resurrectionists. Ten Thunders got In Your Face, and Resurrectionists strategy.

Turn 4:

Kentauroi stampedes Tanuki dead, but the patchwork horse is then stomped dead by either Hungering Darkness or Lynch himself.

McMourning orders himself out of Gwyneth's melee and charges Kitty Dumont, who had been severely injured by Canine Remains already. McMourning made some hideous damage flips, and is even able to come and attack Gwyneth Maddox for a bit.

Nurse and another Canine Remains engaged Lynch. Second Tanuki had taken a run towards top-left strategy marker with  Zombie Chihuahua yapping right behind.

Corpse Curator was able to secure third victory point for Resurrectionists, and we called it a game then. Opponent had realistic potential for one more point if they won initiative, and while Resurrectionists had zero plausible points coming in, the result was clear victory for Resurrectionists.

Game 2:

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Vendetta, In Your Face, Set the Trap, Spread Them Out, Sabotage

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Rogue Necromancy
Grave Golem
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Gravedigger
3x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Vendetta (Forgotten Marshal on a Hunter), Spread Them Out

Opponent had:

Hoffman the Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa KORE
Guild Steward
Guardian
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 3
Schemes: Vendetta (Guardian on Rogue Necromancy), Set the Trap

Turn 1:

One Crooligan was deployed to both corners of the center line, and one was within 3" of Gravedigger in the middle to get a little focus. Who started right away with blasphemous rituals, no surprises there.

Early on Forgotten Marshal provides some nice defense support against ranged attacks in the form of Night Terror. So nice, in fact, that Forgotten Marshal and Gravedigger both took two points of damage from standing too close to Night Terror after Melissa landed a moderate blast on it.

That went just fine. 

So, Molly went back to making non-activations with Crooligans and whatnot. Molly herself had activated early, too, and went to remove one of Hoffman's pylons. I was a little afraid of harpoons, though. To protect her best I figured the best place to be was on the center line. Well, actually it wasn't a bad spot - she was in base contact with a strategy marker and lamp post, meaning she couldn't be pushed towards any aspiring harpooners. 

Electric current, harpoons and explosions certainly were coming at her, with Molly always dodging behind the lamp post just in time. 

Crooligan on top-left marker was harassed down to three health by a Watcher. Mechanical attendant was also coming that way.

A Hunter had come a little too close with its harpoon, and Rogue Necromancy was able to ambush, walk and charge it without much of an effect. And then turn ended and the robot just walked away with deadly pursuit... doh.

Second Watcher came suspiciously within 2" of both Rogue Necromancy and Molly and placed a scheme.

Turn 2:

Second turn was intense. Guardian charged Rogue Necromancy and brought it down to one health remaining and revealed Vendetta. Gravedigger who was supposed to go and control bottom-right marker pressed panic button and came to stitch the beast back into shape. 

Hunter then charged it, but didn't make an exemplary activation and only brought Rogue Necromancy down to two. Necrotic Machine ran to offer some emergency syrette, but that was a bummer. It healed only one and ended Poison +3. 

Hoffman tried to shoot Molly, but lamp post was a non-alternating target of alternating current. 

Crooligan that was teased by Watcher teleported to middle to place a scheme marker close to middle-left marker. Mechanical Attendant tried to shoot the kid, but missed.

Somehow Rogue Necromancy was able to tear Hunter into shreds with nothing serious to threaten it any longer. Second Watcher went to place a scheme marker near Rogue Necromancy.

Turn was nearing end, so my it was time to unfold my grand plan. Opponent refused to activate Guild Steward, so I had to go with a slightly different route. Molly removed Watcher's first scheme marker near herself with Lost Knowledge and had vendetta Hunter real disturbed with her stories - the thing went down to one health remaining. 

Idea was that even with a heal of three, Steward wouldn't be able to heal Hunter enough for Forgotten Marshal not to score his vendetta, provided that he'd hit.

He did, with severe damage on negative modifier to boot. Hunter was back at one health.

One Crooligan placed a scheme in bottom-right corner, and another teleported to Rogue Necromancy to place third scheme for Spread Them Out.

Scores go 3-3 when both players scored both their schemes and strategy.

Turn 3:

Guild wins initiative, which spelled doom for Rogue Necromancy. Two weak damages from Guardian would do the trick. I had Red Joker in my hand, so I was optimistic Rogue Necromancy would survive. First attack was too high for Red Joker to matter, so Rogue went below hard-to-kill threshold. Second attack... opponent flips Red Joker and Rogue draws a "1".

Molly was my first model to activate, and she disturbed vendetta Hunter to death and claimed the resulting scrap as lost knowledge. 

Melissa shot a nasty grenade that caught Necrotic Machine, Forgotten Marshal, Molly and Night Terror in its blast. She also shot Night Terror dead. Damn these bats, they just don't last long enough.

Crooligan in the middle placed scheme and walked behind barrels, safe from the dreaded Mechanical Attendant. Nice. Except now he was half an inch move away from Hoffman's melee range, so I suppose the threat of Mechanical Attendant was resolved for the Crooligan for all eternity when Hoffman tried to pat his head with construction claw. 

Crooligan in the bottom-right corner placed a scheme, and the one Crooligan past center line placed scheme and continued to walk towards enemy strategy marker. 

Forgotten Marshal tried to shoot Watcher in the middle and did some damage, but didn't kill. He then went to summon another Night Terror who discarded a card to get to engage the Watcher.

The mechani-bat, however, disengaged all too easily and flew to contest middle-right marker that I was trying to claim with Gravedigger. Night Terror shrugged and charged Guardian. 

Guild Steward healed Guardian and ran to contest middle-left marker that also had Hoffman, Mechanical Attendant and Grave Golem within 2" of it. 

Both players scored strategy for a tough 4-4 situation.

Turn 4:

It's the eternal cycle of life, where Hoffman continues to beat Molly, Gravedigger and Necrotic Machine continue to heal Molly. 

Night Terror had come to engage Melissa and Guardian. Melissa dispatched Night Terror, and Necrotic Machine went to block Guardian's potential charge against Molly.

Forgotten Marshal, being my Vendetta point, started to sneak away from the action and acted as a homing beacon for a Crooligan that charged Watcher dead.

Guild Steward starts to walk towards middle of board, still contesting middle-left marker. Unfortunately he did so within 1" of Grave Golem, which scored its first and only useful actions in the entire game - killing steward and taking only four damage in reprisal.

Molly started to disturb Guardian with her stories and brought it down to one health.

Crooligan deep in enemy table half ran within 2" of their strategy marker, and Resurrectionists clawed a 4-5 lead from strategy.

Turn 5:

Hoffman didn't want to listen to Molly's stories any longer and finally smacked her dead. However, that was essentially a point loss for Guild. Grave Golem was too firmly lodged in place, and Guild was not able to control bot top-left and middle-left markers with only two models. 

Crooligans were able to place enough scheme markers 10" away from each other, and Forgotten Marshal was at full health and hard-to-kill. Guild had Guardian at one health an no healers, so Necrotic Machine, Grave Golem or Forgotten Marshal just needed to land one hit doing whatever damage. We ended game there in 4-7.

Hunting Spree

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

My list:

Orgoth Sea Raiders
Kishtaar, with Eyeless Sight spell and Hex Blast
-Tyrant (Relentless Charge, Harpoon, Ripper)
-Jackal (Arc node, Hunter Rifle, Pneumatic Spike)
Assault Reavers with Standard
Strike Reavers
Ulkor Barragers
Warwitch Coven

Opponent had:

Cygnar Storm Legion
Anson Wolfe
-Courser with a loadout
-Stryker with a loadout

2x Stormguard Legionnaires
Tempest Thunderers

Scenario was Split Decision.

Orgoth started game. My forces were clumped in the middle with Ulkor leading the way with both warjacks and Assault Reavers. 

Cygnar had one unit of Stormguard Legionnaires on both flanks, and both warjacks and Tempest Thunderers in the middle. Anson used feat as means to contain Orgoth aggression.

On my second turn Assault Reavers made a rather poor engagement, managing only to bring one Tempest Thunderer down to one health remaining, and killing a single legionnaire.

I made a plan to run with Tyrant and then use Open Fire with feat to harpoon Courser to my lines. This worked just fine when even Ulkors managed to make decent dent in the Cygnaran light jack. Strike Reavers finished what was left of it.

Under Pandemonium even Jackal's rifle did a nice brutal shot at Stryker.

Opponent, however, played the Old Faithful, mitigating most of what Jackal did. 

Tempest Thunderers, Eiryss and a unit of Stormguards promptly removed Assault Reivers from the board completely. Well, at least they didn't get to Jackal.

Stryker, however, did get to Tyrant and wrecked it all too easily. Another unit of Stormguards killed two Ulkor Barragers. 

Situation looked grim, but then Kishtaar started having fun with ricochet. She cleared way for Jackal to shoot Eiryss dead, which gave me the lead in scenario points. Strike Reavers and the lone Ulkor destroyed most of the unit of Stormguard Legionnaires on the left. Now I just needed for Strike Reavers to hold...

... which they didn't, as Cygnar had plenty of access to electro leap. Stryker removed remaining four Strike Reavers alone, and the couple of Stormguards managed to kill Ulkor. Anson ran to the flag, so Orgoth lead in scenario points was short lived. Now Cygnar was in charge.

Another unit of Stormguards easily wrecked Jackal, so my turn started with only Kishtaar and unit of Warwitches left. 

In such a hopeless situation it's time to get dangerous. Kishtaar had a really fun activation, where she charged Stryker, but killed it with ranged shot killing a three Stormguard Legionnaires with two richochet shots and a the reload shot. She took full advantage of Swift Hunter and even ended up engaging the rightmost unit of Stormguards, killing some of them with melee attacks.

Alas, such a killing spree wasn't enough to bring victory when Anson landed a knockdown spell on Kishtaar. A lone surviving Stormguard and two Tempest Thunderers charged Kishtaar dead. 

Follow the White Rabbit (for exclusive discounts)

 

Finished a couple of models yesterday, the other one of them being White Rabbit & Co. 

I had these decorative sticks lying around and got the idea how absurd it would be if you were strolling around in a forest, and suddenly you encounter these guys who try to sell you a hat. 

Considering all the insanity that goes around in Malifaux, I think that's only fitting.

I put the trees in place with epoxy glue, so I believe they are firm enough for play. But only time will tell. 

The hats are separate 3d-printed pieces I just placed on the model. Idea is that when they offer Comfortable Hat to a model, I can actually place that hat on the upgraded model.

Conducting Disorder

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Carve a Path

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Hidden Martyrs, In Your Face, Secret Meetup

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie with The Whisper
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal
Bone Pile
Crooligan

Stones: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Bone Pile & Crooligan), Assassinate

Opponent had:

Nellie, Voice of Disorder with Lead-Linen Coat & Printing Press
Allison Dade with Lead-Linen Coat
Auguste Hart
Pale Rider
Guild Mage
Guild Lawyer

Stones: 6
Schemes: In Your Face, Hidden Martyrs (Lawyer & Auguste)

Turn 1:

Noxious Nephilim kicked one strategy marker down to Crooligan that had deployed From Shadows.  Bone Pile started moving another marker from top. My aim was to somehow hug the edges of the map with my markers so that opponent wouldn't be able to control my interacts.

Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror that eventually went to tease Nellie without much of an effect. Necrotic Machine and Philip & Nanny walked a bit and concentrated, with Philip & Nanny going a bit further with Deadly Pursuit since there didn't seem to be that much lethal threats around for the baby carriage. 

Guild was moving in one, compact front with Pale Rider, Allison Dade and Guild Mage delivering a strategy marker towards top. Nellie was in the middle, with Guild Lawyer, Auguste and Printing Press below, moving second Guild strategy marker from the middle. 

I had been worrying the Guild Mage a lot, since that heal procs also from my discards. I was afraid that Archie would just die embarrassingly, but I did have a really good hand with multiple severes and black joker. 

So, after Molly had paraded Archie a bit forward, the big guy was able to leap and charge Guild Mage and remove it from the board. Major relief.

Turn 2:

Since Archie clearly overperformed last turn, he made up for it by not doing absolutely anything at all to Nellie who hadn't activated yet. 

Auguste and Guild Lawyer were busy delivering strategy marker in the middle, but Philip & Nanny managed to kick it back into middle of hazardous terrain.

Night Terror seemed to be impervious to attacks, and that Negation Aura certainly had its toll on Guild until Allison activated and drew, like, almost a full hand back from zero cards. Okay only four cards, but still insane card draw potential. 

Pale Rider kicked strategy marker to my side, but Bone Pile ignored my own marker and went to kick enemy marker back, as Crooligan was able to get one of my markers to enemy side without opposition.

Nellie was spamming Lessons of Ephraim Wade, but fortunately mostly just managed to remove Focused from my various models. 

It seemed like an uneventful turn until Forgotten Marshal, a summoned Rabble Riser and Philip & Nanny were able to kill Guild Lawyer, so even if I couldn't do anything for my Assassination attempts, at least Guild was losing synergy pieces. 

Resurrectionists got strategy, while Guild revealed Hidden Martyrs on Guild Lawyer and Auguste Hart. 1-1.

Turn 3:

Archie tries to grind through Nellie but mostly just manages to remove her Shielded. 

I get fixated on removing Auguste Hart, and toss Philip & Nanny, Noxious Nephilim and even Molly on it. Bad idea, I guess Lessons of Ephraim Wade involved something about not bunching up. Cursed Translation was also a scary ability, but it wasn't until Pale Rider punched strategy marker to my side and charged Archie that my position started to feel threatened. It's only two irreducible damage, sure, but when it ticks on seven models it's bound to have an effect.

Forgotten Marshal failed to summon anything but at least put out Philip & Nanny's fire. Necrotic Machine went to push enemy marker back to their side and healed itself as well as it could. Bone Pile double interacted Resurrectionist top marker to enemy side.

Auguste died, Rabble Riser died and nothing at all was done to my scheme progression, but at least Guild was denied a strategy point while Resurrectionists scored one for 1-2 lead.

Turn 4:

Archie beats Nelly a little, again not accomplishing anything. Pale Rider, however, accomplishes somewhat more by killing Archie in one activation. At least the rider had to bite Burning +7 while doing that. The irreducible damage from Pale Rider's bonus essentially killed Philip & Nanny and Night Terror, although the actual killing blows might have come from Lessons or Cursed Translation. 

Nellie also gave an action for Pale Rider who took a walk way past centerline. In Your Face incoming, I suspected. Because of that Bone Pile and even Molly herself tried to attack the horseman with additional help from a summoned Rabble Riser, but the darnest thing didn't take even a single point of damage. Only damage came from that enormous pillar of fire it was riding with. 

Noxious Nephilim charged Nellie and continued Archie's work of not-doing-damage. Though putting it like this isn't fair for the big guys, at least they were draining Nellie out of soulstones but still it might have been nice to deal more than one point of damage at a time. 

Crooligan was able to kick strategy marker to opponent's deployment, and Necrotic Machine did the same on top. 

Guild surely enough revealed In Your Face while Resurrectionists got third strategy point. Scores went 2-3 for Resurrectionists. 

I dreaded last turn, as so many of my models were just about to draw their last breath. 

Turn 5:

Opponent, however, prioritized In Your Face and went to my deployment zone, far beyond my reach with Pale Rider. 

This left Noxious Nephilim, Molly, Necrotic Machine and a summoned Night Terror to claw at Nellie, and the end result of my Assassination was: Nellie was alive with one point above 50%. I think I scored more than seven hits on Nellie throughout the whole game, so safe to say that Lead-Linen Coat was the thing standing between my two or zero points. 

Allison kicked one strategy marker to my side, but Crooligan was able to By Your Side from Forgotten Marshal to get it back in Guild's table half. 

Rabble Riser challenged Bone Pile and "stunned" it, pushing it 3" closer to Allison. Then it activated within 8" of Molly, discarded a card to move 3" and ran to engage Allison, giving me at least one point from schemes.

Resurrectionists got their fourth strategy point and one point from Hidden Martyrs, while Guild got their In Your Face. Game ended 3-5 for Resurrectionists.