She Just Doesn't Care

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Carve a Path

Schemes: Breakthrough, Hidden Martyrs, Secret Meetup, Public Demonstration, Catch and Release

My list:

Jack Daw, Ensouled & Lady Ligeia
Montresor
Jaakuna Ubume
Malifaux Child
Hanged
Crooked Man
2x Guilty

Pool: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Guilties), Catch and Release (Hanged)

Opponent had:

Youko Hamasaki, Unseen & Chiyo
Bill Algren
Shojo
Kunoichi
2x Bunraku
Tanuki
2x Geisha

Pool: 4
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Geisha and Kunoichi), Secret Meetup (Crooked Man, somebody and building in top-left quarter) 

Turn 1:

Chiyo, a Geisha and Bunraku were delivering a strategy marker from top in such a manner that I instantly suspected Breakthrough. 

Jaakuna and Crooked Man were doing the same, but closer to middle, while the second strategy marker from Ten Thunders was also sitting in the center gathering of Youko, Kunoichi, Geisha, Shojo and Tanuki.

The middle gang would have likely killed Lady Ligeia already when Geisha lured her early in the turn. Montresor couldn't do much else than walk and watch an action for Lady, or risk losing Betrayal aura. Boring Conversation already had an effect, because Montresor kept yawning cards off my hand.

But, Guilty, Hanged Montresor and Lady Ligeia were bringing one of my strategy markers from bottom side and the two minions even managed to push it to centerline. Bill Algren, however, came to end such a folly with his stoic posture. A Bunraku was a little bit farther, but close enough to act as his aide. 

Jack Daw was going to center too with Malifaux Child and another Guilty. Jack Daw dealt a couple of damage points to Geisha that were promptly healed by Tanuki. She wouldn't even share Guilty's guilt. 

Turn 2:

Chiyo ran past centerline, and Geisha and a Bunraku pushed strategy marker to the totem. That ball was now way out of my reach. 

Jaakuna pushed my strategy marker past centerline, activated Drowning Aura and moved to keep the marker inside her aura. 

A Guilty had charged into the thick of action, engaging Kunoichi, Youko, Shojo and whatnot. I started to get really worried when Shojo gave him five poison. before activating Boring Conversation... Losing martyr to a bottle of wine wouldn't be... ideal. 

I don't quite remember what Montresor did other than walk within 6" of the majority of Ten Thunders' models. Chances are he listened some boring conversations, and was suddenly slowed by Geisha's sharp wit.

Crooked Man managed to stagger Guilty, Youko and Kunoichi. It's just that Kunoichi didn't care about that with her nihilistic tendencies. Oh, I would make her care! Crooked Man also activated Malifaux Mining Law with crows trigger.

First, Malifaux Child drew Geisha, Youko, Shojo and Kunoichi in. Well, make that Geisha only. Kunoichi still refused to care.

Jack Daw used Draw Them In on Montresor, even bought a Rams with a soulstone. And yet Kunoichi refused to even twitch her eye. Apparently Shojo was her uncaring drinking buddy, since she also passed every and all movement tests.

Alright, Kunoichi. You win this round of nihilism. At least Geisha fell a little easier with one inaudible whisper. And Youko just took two damage in just because her soul was not quiet. Oh wait... but how's that possible when she isn't keyword Tormented? 

Well, that's because I'm not advancing chronologically. Fortunately Kunoichi failed to kill the Guilty, so Youko had to finish the job. And she did, gaining Punish the Wicked upgrade in the process.

At the bottom of things, another Guilty had walked forward to kick my strategy marker back to my side of the table. I didn't believe I would be able to push through Bill and Bunraku, and they might very well start kicking the marker to bottom-right corner where it would be quite out of reach.

However... now I had my second Hidden Martyr in the charge lane of Bill Algren, who would kill the thing with two minimum damages. Hanged had to come to rescue. It walked and managed to land Forbidden Knowledge on him, and even stagger Bill with an attack.

Bill hit Hanged a couple of times, and it spent soulstones to block a total of five damage. Bill pushed Hanged out of Catch and Release range, but thankfully opponent had not removed the upgrade, and I was able to push Bill back to scoring range.

One Guilty dead, another still living. That's Hidden Martyrs for me. However, the Geisha was also a martyr along with Kunoichi. Both players scored strategy, so it was 2-3 lead for Outcasts.

Turn 3:

If last turn had been intense, this was even more so. 

Bill Algren, who had healed to full and gained Fast mauled my Catch and Release model horrendously. All three attacks hit, and one even scored Red Joker on damage. Last attack hit when Hanged had one health remaining. However... Red wasn't the only joker on damage flips that this activation saw. It's a miracle!

Hanged didn't wait for Bunraku to come and finish what Bill couldn't. It teleported away by giving Guilty the Forbidden Knowledge, cheating in Black Joker for masks. It kicked strategy marker behind Montresor and ran as fast as it could. Which isn't a lot with Move 4. 

Opponent didn't give me time to do movement shenanigans with my various models. Bunraku walked, used bonus action and charged Hanged, killing it. It looks like Hanged was... Caught and released.

Bunraku and Chiyo pushed a strategy marker to my deployment zone. 

Jaakuna did the same and activated Drowning Aura. But the aura wasn't enough to deter Geisha from pushing my marker outside of enemy deployment. 

Meanwhile, I had created an absolute hell for opponent to navigate. Crooked Man had two scheme markers in the thick of enemy blob of models, all hazardous terrain. Moreover, Jack Daw had walked, pushed my strategy marker past centerline and landed 3" aura of hazardous terrain on Shojo. 

Opponent had no cards left in hand, so if I was going to stagger Kunoichi, it would have to happen now. Malifaux Child went to use Draw Them In (unfortunately without rams) to get her that. Youko failed, Tanuki failed. But guess who two didn't fail? Yeah. Still no stagger on Kunoichi. 

Youko makes a rather impactful activation when she pushed Shojo with hazardous aura away, and Kunoichi next to my strategy marker. Finally Kunoichi was staggered! Probably because there were no flips involved. Hidden Ledger left only trash cards on top of my deck when only Montresor was left to activate, and she even kicked Ten Thunders strategy marker to my side of the table. Sure, that was five points of damage in to her during her own activation, but whoa. 

Montresor, who had Slow, had his time to shine. I knew there were a two, four and six in the three cards from Hidden Ledger. 

Since opponent had no cards in hand, and I had one (a twelve), and Kunoichi was staggered, I figured Crooked Man had realistic chance of Earthquaking her even with a guaranteed "2" that was coming. Well, he didn't.

At least a blind Asphyxiation worked, but Kunoichi was still with three hit points remaining. Two after she activated and pushed my strategy marker past centerline. Catastrophy! Victory point, denied!

My another Guilty had earlier tried to charge Bunraku who had killed Hanged, but dealt in just one damage.

Outcasts are cast out from point scoring this turn, so it's a 3-3 tie.

Turn 4:

Ten Thunders won the initiative, and Geisha activated first to make Jaakuna slow, so she wouldn't be able to interact with strategy markers this round.

Montresor made his move next, bringing Kunoichi and Tanuki down to one health remaining. He tried to make an out-of-activation kill for a Guilty that was fighting with Bunraku, but managed to deal only one damage with two strikes. At least the puppet became staggered. 

I had been worried that Bill would have killed my second Guilty martyr, but instead he went to charge Montresor and pushed him over 6" away from Kunoichi. 

So, Jack Daw had to activate to use his bonus action to push Montresor closer to Kunoichi. He then made a melee attack against Youko and scored a Burst of Speed that collaterally damaged Tanuki dead. I was worried that Shojo would go to heal Kunoichi, so instead Jack Daw killed Kunoichi eventhough she was at one health remaining, thus dying when she activates. Youko was left with two health.

Situation looked devastating for Ten Thunders... but, then Shojo activated. By now opponent had no cards in hand, so Shojo was not able to rely on getting the triggers she wanted. Slurred Speech? Rams, which healed Youko for two. Biting Insult? Rams, which healed Youko for two. 

Youko then disengaged from Jack Daw and murdered Crooked Man who had not yet taken even a single point of damage with two strikes. Somehow it was no longer looking that strong of a position for Outcasts...

At least the Guilty didn't die to Bunraku's blades. However, it took both actions and the bonus action with crows for the trigger to kill that thing.

Malifaux Child was able to secure me my second victory point, but thanks to losing two action points in the form of unactivated Crooked Man, I wasn't able to deny opponent their third point.

Chiyo went to place a scheme marker on my deployment to scare me a little. 

Scores go 4-4.

Turn 5:

Jaakuna went to push my marker deep into enemy deployment zone. Montresor interacted twice with Ten Thunders strategy marker to make it impossible for opponent to score.

Shojo had put up Boring Conversation and walked and charged to engage Malifaux Child. 

Jack Daw tried to charge Bill Algren, but wasn't able to Slow him with two strikes. My plan had been to give Slow for Bill so he wouldn't be able to kill Guilty. Then, Malifaux Child needed to come and heal Guilty for at least two to score Hidden Martyrs end condition. However, Bill was able to bury naginata into my martyr. 

Bunraku went to kick my strategy marker to center line, so no strategy points for me or the opponent.

Chiyo was no longer able to secure end condition for Secret Meetup alone, so the game ended with the same score total as last round: 4-4 draw.

Anything But Doves!

 Whoops! I completely forget to push the publish button.  This game was played almost a week ago. A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Cursed Objects

Schemes: Assassinate, Sabotage, Spread Them Out, In Your Face, Catch and Release

My list:

Molly the Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie
Noxious Nephilim
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Spread Them Out, Catch and Release (Crooligan)

Opponent had:

Colette Du Bois & 3x Mechanical Doves
Carlos Vasquez
Cassandra Felton
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
2x Showgirl
Mannequin

Pool: 1
Schemes: Sabotage (Forest on my side), Catch and Release (a Showgirl)

Turn 1:

I had Red Joker in my hand, as well as total of two 13's, a 12 and one or two 11's throughout the turn after Molly had put up Remember the Lost aura. This time around I remembered to draw cards when I passed with two or more.

But despite all that Archie died on first turn. A Red Joker on damage did its thing. 

I had deployed one Crooligan near each point where centerline meets table edge. Molly, Noxious Nephilim and Philip and the Nanny were all benefiting from Night Terror's concealment aura in the bottom-right quarter. Rabble Riser had to take a long walk from behind the walls thanks to bad deployment and me not wanting to activate Necrotic Machine just yet. So he was in the bottom-left quarter not doing anything useful. 

Performers had more or less even line up going towards center, with both Showgirls, Angelica, Mannequin and Colette with assorted pigeons in top-right quarter, and both henchmen and some birds nearby in the top.left quarter. And the odd Coryphee Duet, of course, scissoring ornamental rows of Christmas elves out of Archie's remains.

Turn 2:

Both Crooligans went to place scheme markers almost on the centerline, with my Catch & Release kid being behind a ruined house and a forest. But that didn't save her from a charging Mechanical Dove, who first managed to deal two points of damage with an attack, and then one more damage plus self detonation. Fun times. 

At least Coryphee Duet didn't make as horrifying activation as last turn, as it wasn't able to kill Night Terror. 

I wanted Remember the Lost early in the turn, and Molly had less than ideal activation, healing Night Terror and parading Coryphee Duet into pyre marker. 

Colette Presto-Changoed Showgirl and Philip & Nanny, using sword trick to bury the pram. Because the Showgirl had curse token, I wanted to score my strategy point from her. Noxious Nephilim charged and killed the girl with just one strike. Little did I know that the showgirl was opponent's Catch and Release target! 

Crooligan on the left had to endure murder doves, and indeed, even this time around some damage trickled in. Bewildered Philip & Nanny appeared from scheme marker on left and it drove over one of the doves. 

Rabble Riser had tried to challenge one of the doves, failing at that. Carlos did not fail in dealing damage to Rabble Riser twice, setting the zombie in flames. 

Performers had gathered in the middle. Encore called Coryphee Duet from pyre marker and Cassandra assisted the burns away. 

Last model to activate for me was Necrotic Machine. Seeing that opponent had no cards in hand, it walked past the pyre marker and charged Cassandra, delivering moderate damage. Then, as turn ended, it took the 2" push and free action to interact a scheme marker in the middle, thus netting me Spread Them Out.

Scores go 2-1 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Noxious Nephilim was Presto-Changoed and sword ticked off the board. Suddenly Molly was looking rather alone, being mostly just herself looking at Cassandra, Coryphee Duet, Angelica and Colette all easily within 5" of her.

Whoops, another Presto-Chango, and most of those models were in base contact with her. Cassandra and Mannequin were now deep behind my lines. 

Carlos killed unactivated Rabble Riser and Necrotic Machine in one activation, and Cassandra walked back to shuffle Coryphee Duet into a better position, and breathe some fire over Molly. Thankfully that one missed.

Night Terror had ran to offer its auras for the blob of Performers. Angelica tried to cane the bat away, but that champ continued enduring far more attacks than Archie did. 

Before Coryphee activated, Molly pushed herself away from melee by discarding a card and then charged Cassandra. I spent three of my soulstones, and it paid off - two hits with the baton sent Cassandra parading over a corpse, scheme and Mechanical Dove marker with irreducible damage trigger. Hooray, strategy point was secured now.

Mannequin went to place a scheme marker behind the forest in the center of bottom-right quarter. Looked like performers were going to sabotage my forest. 

Coryphee Duet and two murder doves did some four points of damage to Molly after Showgirl had lured Night Terror away, so at least that could have been a lot worse. 

Noxious Nephilim appeared on the centerline at left and charged a Mechanical Dove dead. He also planted a scheme marker, which something removed. Crooligan also placed a scheme and continued to hug left board edge. 

Scores go 3-3 when both get strategy and performers manage to sabotage my forest.

Turn 4:

Looks like I forgot to take a picture this turn. But the important bits were Night Terror and Molly failing to kill Angelica, who had curse token. Angelica parading two Mechanical Doves dead certainly was satisfying. Crooligan had to teleport to Angelica and finish her off - and finally, third strategy point was mine!

Losing Molly to Coryphee Duet was... inconvenient. 

Noxious Nephilim and Philip & Nanny try to attack Carlos, but don't do much. 

Both players get strategy for a 4-4 tie.

Turn 5:

Philip & Nanny had used deadly pursuit to move away from Carlos, planted a scheme and charged Carlos. 

Coryphee Duet kills both Night Terror and Crooligan, and we call it a game. I no longer had realistic chance of of scoring either Spread Them Out or strategy, while opponent got curse token from Crooligan and Sabotage had already been secured on turn three.

Scores go 4-6 for Colette and her troupe. 

Last To Speak

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Covert Operations

Schemes: Public Demonstration, Assassinate, Sabotage, Catch and Release, Breakthrough

My list:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Bete Noire
White Rabbit Co.
Dead Doxy
Mourner
2x Rotten Belle

Pool: 4
Schemes: Assassinate, Catch and Release (Mourner)

Opponent had:

Nellie, the Voice of Disorder & Printing Press
Phiona Gage
Allison Dade
Auguste Hart
Undercover Reporter
Field Reporter
False Witness
Guild Steward

Pool: 2
Schemes: Public Demonstration, Catch and Release (Field Reporter)

Turn 1:

Probably because of terrain first round was mostly about positioning. Mostly. Well, one accidental shot by Seamus may have one-shotted a False Witness, sure... yeah. When this happens, it always feels a little filthy, using that cannon. Maybe I should remind myself of all the games where the cannon pretty much amounts to nothing. 

Anyway, Doxy, Seamus and Mourner were pacing towards top half of the board, with Mourner keeping its eyes on Allison Dade for a possible Catch and Release next turn.

Madame Sybelle was standing at the doorway to my deployment zone and beckoned Guild Steward a little closer.

Both Rotten Belles were hiding behind the wall near Sybelle. 

White Rabbit had given a hat for Bete Noire, who ran to bottom strategy marker. Copycat Killer held bottom portion of the board for Seamus.

Journalists were mostly in the middle, with Phiona guarding Nellie and Field Reporter. 

Auguste was a little behind, probably going to bottom portion next turn. Allison and Printing Press were holding top. 

Turn 2:

White Rabbit & Co started turn by luring Guild Steward even further. I considered removing the only heal opponent had that important. Oh, and Madame obviously received a fancy hat.

Unfortunately Phiona charged Madame Sybelle and dealt two points of damage in, making Steward's reprisal that much threatening. She even slowed my henchman.

Rotten Belle went to lure the Steward next to herself and Madame Sybelle, and punched two points of damage in. Minimum damage with critical strike would kill Steward now. 

But, Nellie threw a wrench in the plan. She walked a bit forward and started doing cursed translations on Rotten Belle, clipping Madame Sybelle and White Rabbit Co. in the process and making Madame Sybelle distracted.

Screw this, Madame must activate now before even more debuffs rain in. So, she healed White Rabbit, Rotten Belle and herself a little with rams on Undivided Attention, bought a positive card to negate Distracted and bought rams, and swung her lash at Guild Steward. Steward died and dealt six points of damage in return. Solid investment, two soulstones and a lost hat. Oh well, I got an opportunity for assassinate now.

Undercover Reported appeared next to the Rotten Belle that ho was next to Madame Sybelle and poked some holes in White Rabbit & Co. 

Bete Noire walked and charged Nellie, not doing anything. But Auguste did something, yeah. He walked and charged Bete Noire. She also had comfortable hat, so she chose not to fade away. But the comfort of a hat goes only so far when you're dealt six points of damage despite having a negative modifier. White Rabbit & Co at three health, Madame at three health, Bete Noire at three health. Admittedly, situation was concerning.

One of the Rotten Belles who was covertly operating ran to bottom marker, and Printing Press went to make Seamus' life difficult. Oh wait, but it wasn't Seamus! It was some kind of a diminutive gnome. Seamus had been on the bottom portion of the map all along. 

Dead Doxy pushed Mourner around a little and charged Printing Press. She did manage to land one severe damage, but second attack missed altogether. 

Field Reporter ran within 1" of Madame Sybelle. Seamus climbed on top of some rocks at bottom strategy marker and took a concentrated shot at Nellie, who flipped a black joker for defense. Poor Nellie was blasted with eight points of damage, although damage block was a severe, too.

Finally Allison Dade activated and ran to center-below marker. Just outside of Mourner's reach. Well, at least there was Phiona there for Catch and Release. 

Allison scores and Rotten Belle below scores covert operates a strategy, and both players reveal Catch and Release for a 2-2 tie. 

Turn 3:

Auguste managed to land a killing blow to Bete Noire even with Fade Away declared. At least this bought time for White Rabbit & Co. to craft a hat for Madame Sybelle, walk for a bit and beckon Undercover Reporter to Rotten Belle.

Reporter tries to swing at White Rabbit, but failing at that he removes a scheme marker to walk to engage Madame Sybelle. 

Seamus had to activate next and try to deal with Nellie before she triggered her First to Speak. Handcannon hit home, but dealt only four points of damage, out of which three were blocked by a soultone. Seamus walked and charged the Guild master, and managed to deal moderate wound with his bag of tools. My first two activations were astonishingly successful, not a single test failed.

Allison, however, wasn't that lucky. She failed three One More Questions at Mourner despite having a lead of two on stat, and even failed her impassioned defense. Nobody listened poor Allison that turn. 

Madame Sybelle activated, and managed to Black Joker her heal. To make matters worse, when she Red Jokered her attack on Field Reporter, I realized I might at least push her away with masks. That was until we realized that attack was invalid since Phiona was there. So instead, her bleeder lash only tickled Phiona closer to grit (frenzied).

But, Guild continued to receive the short end of the stick. Already being said, Undercover Reporter had missed everything. Allison had missed everything. Phiona missed everything, and only Field Reporter managed to take a shaken photo of Mourner. 

Rotten Belle walked to Undercover Reporter with unassuming demeanor, and dealt impressive four points of damage. Mourner fed on Phiona's grief for a couple of additional damage points. 

Dead Doxy caned Printing Press for whatever reason and dismantled it. 

Opponent kept using pass tokens, so Copycat Killer couldn't do much else than walk for a bit and concentrate. This round Nellie was the last to speak. She disengaged and went to center-top strategy marker and translated a couple of damage points to Mourner. 

Doxy got top marker, and Nellie the aforementioned one. Resurrectionists revealed Assassinate for a lead of 4-3.

Turn 4:

Nellie activated first to give herself a chance of survival. She also removed a potential victory point for me by translating Mourner dead.

Since she had done her worst, I supposed I had time to optimize my attacks. Copycat Killer activated and tried to shoot Nellie, and then delivering Seamus to a more charge-able position.

Then it was time for Madame Sybelle to go down, scythed by Phiona. 

Distracted Seamus charged Nellie, and obviously didn't do much. He then concentrated and took a swing, but this time opponent played Red Joker from his hand, thwarting Seamus' blow. To the last attack Seamus used last soulstone in game and finally assassinated his target.

Allison took a couple of worrisome derringer shots at Seamus, bringing him down to five health remaining, and walking to shield Auguste Hart a little. You got it, champ!

And indeed, Rotten Belle couldn't get through Auguste's defenses.

Copycat Killer, Rotten Belle and White Rabbit Company tried to block Auguste from getting to score any points, but Rotten Belle failed her ghost chasing test, and a line was thus opened. 

Field Reporter ran away, but was caught by Dead Doxy, whose blank stare could have slowed even the wittiest of reporters. 

Both players scored strategy for a 5-4 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

White Rabbit created his fanciest hat to-date by sewing one for Seamus. Auguste and Allison tried to kill Copycat Killer but failed. Phiona killed unactivated Rotten Belle and tried to fish Shove Aside from her bonus, but failed. Then there were no real threats for Seamus any longer, so he activated and shot Undercover Reporter into splinters. There we stopped the game, since opponent had had Public Demonstration tied to that barrel. 

Game ended essentially 7-4 for Resurrectionists, with a chance of five for Guild.

True Vendetta

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Guard the Stash

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

My list:

Molly with Grave Spirit Touch & Necrotic Machine
Rogue Necromancy
Carrion Emissary
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Bone Pile
2x Crooligan

Pool: 5
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Bone Pile & a Crooligan), Vendetta (Emissary on Arik)

Opponent had:

Von Schill & Trunk
Arik Schöttemer
Hannah Lovelace
2x Freikorps Librarian
2x Freikorpsmann

Pool: 6
Schemes: Vendetta (Arik on Carrion Emissary), Assassinate

Turn 1:

Looks like I somehow managed to get over 50% of the models hidden behind terrain in the first picture. Oh well. 

Various blast abilities of Freikorps seemed rather scary, and Asami had taught me earlier a lesson or two about clumping my crew in wedge deployment. So, instead, I clumped my models during activation phase. 

Crooligans had deployed to far left and right. Non-martyr Crooligan was further up the board on the left, so close that a Freikorpsmann and a Librarian went to hunt him. Librarian gave one heck of a lecture to the Crooligan and flipped moderate damage of four despite negative modifiers with ancient words. Had the kid been alive, he'd probably have been a goner after that.

Neither my hand nor the cards with Whisper gave a summon option for Forgotten Marshal, so it just walked and concentrated. Arik came to blast him with that absurd shockwave 3. 

Carrion Emissary who had Vendetta on Arik had already activated earlier to make some zombies for blasphemous rituals and whatever Bone Pile wanted to do with them. Still I considered it worthwhile to start softening up Arik. Rogue Necromancy managed to make Arik slow, and Molly told the henchman a staggeringly disturbing story. I bought the Masks with soulstone, because I wanted to lock Arik in place for Vendetta.

Then Arik was healed back to almost full health, and given assault shield. Damn... that Vendetta was going to be tough to score.

Von Schill himself, on the other hand, nearly killed Rogue Necromancy with just two shots. The beast went to one hit point, so I had to commit both Necrotic Machine and Bone Pile to heal it. Now there was a nice blob of both my healers, master and a tanky beater in the middle. 

Turn 2:

Slow and staggered Arik stayed put. However, I needed to wait for opponent to empty his hand a little for some additional disturbing stories.

Forgotten Marshal was able to summon a Night Terror, although Arik's Gravity Well forced me to place it behind Forgotten Marshal so that when it discarded a card via calm their madness and pushed, Night Terror had to do so through Forgotten Marshal. 

Freikorpsmann to the left killed Crooligan with a revolver shot. Maybe the kid should have listened to what Librarian had to say, I don't know. That shot just seemed unnecessarily brutal. Summoned Night Terror tried to avenge the Crooligan, but didn't.

I think it was another Freikorpsmann that shot a Mindless Zombie dead.

Finally opponent had played enough cards, and Molly could start telling stories to Arik. She did that twice and brought Arik down to one health remaining. Idea was to force opponent to heal the henchman, and then come and shoot the vendetta point with Carrion Emissary.

But... opponent didn't. So I couldn't activate Carrion Emissary.

Von Schill was shooting Molly, but she had astonishing luck with soulstones blocking the damage. Martyr Crooligan started to run towards opponent's right strategy marker to offer herself as target practice, but nobody was interested in her.

Finally opponent started healing Arik, and Emissary was able to try its shot. But thanks to assault shield, it needed a severe to score even a single point of damage. As expected, that did not happen. At least Bone Pile managed to break Arik's assault shield, still with zero damage being dealt. 

At least Carrion Emissary was able to deny a strategy point for Outcasts, so scenario went to 1-0 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

I considered that I needed to remove Arik's assault shield before I could realistically charge Arik with Carrion Emissary and deny heals for the rest of turn. So, Rogue Necromancy charged Arik and managed to wreck the upgrade. And then Schill's totem just put it back. Will this never end?!

Von Schill shot Bone Pile down to one health, and I think it was one of the Freikorpsmenn who shot Necrotic Machine off the board. Yikes. There went most of my healing capabilities. 

Bone Pile removed a mine field that Arik had set up and buried itself. The second martyr, Crooligan, went to enemy right marker to hopefully lure somebody to kill her. Didn't work. 

Night Terror managed to kill the other Freikorpsmann on the left with a lucky Red Joker on damage. So it was the first kill for my crew. Not the last this round, though, when Molly told horrific stories to the second Freikorpsmann who just couldn't handle them and died. 

Despite all of my efforts, eventually Carrion Emissary just had to walk and charge Arik and hope for a moderate damage to get through shielded. Still no such luck.

One of the Librarians tried to shoot the martyring Crooligan with a rocket launcher, but missed. 

Marshal summoned a Rabble Riser, whose contributions for the turn were negligible. 

Both players get a victory point from strategy, but there were still no schemes revealed. Resurrectionists had the lead at 2-1. 

Turn 4:

Carrion Emissary finally scores the required point of damage for vendetta. 

Von Schill and Hannah maul Molly rather badly - in fact down to one health remaining. Can't have luck with damage blocks without soulstones. 

Molly unburied to martyr Crooligan and regenerated back to three health. She took a walk towards action, but then I realized I could deny a point from assassination by running her as far from everything as possible. Although this meant that she'd contribute nothing on last turn.

Since Librarians couldn't heal Arik, they kept spewing ancient words at Carrion Emissary, with not much of a result. Emissary had taken four points of damage, so any damage in by Arik would have given vendetta for Outcasts. But in the end, damage was zero.

Despite heal negation aura, I couldn't remove Arik even with combined efforts of Emissary, Rogue Necromancy and Forgotten Marshal. 

Summoned models were teasing one of the Librarians in back rank, but their accomplishments weren't all that impressive. But at least Bone Pile, who popped up from dead Crooligan's body, went to get my third victory point from strategy. 

Scores went to 4-2 for Resurrectionists when both players got one scheme and Ressers got their strategy.

We didn't play the last round. While Outcasts had a chance good enough chance for a draw, so had Resurrectionists in getting either Hidden Martyrs reveal or end this round.

Jack the hitpot

 Two 50ss games of Malifaux during my traditional Kuhmo visit.

Strategy: Flank Guard the Stash

Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Vendetta, Secret Meetup, Load 'Em Up, Assassinate

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Carrion Emissary
Rafkin
Nurse
Little Gasser

Pool: 2
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Rafkin & Little Gasser), Vendetta (Sebastian on Koji)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Gwyneth Maddox
Koji
Kara
Mr. Tannen
Illuminated
Tanuki
Beckoner

Pool: 3
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs (Beckoner, ) Load 'Em Up (scheme)

Turn 1:

McMourning's crew was taking it slow. Both Rafkin and Sebastian were really, clumsy next to Rogue Necromancy, Sebastian, Rafkin, McMourning and Zombie Chihuahua. Unfortunately two out of five formaldehyde flasks failed to drop, so I didn't live the dream of getting to reshuffle my deck within first few activations of the turn. Oh well.

Lynch was doing his thing, dishing out brilliance to friendly models and giving them extra pushes. 

Kara went to place a scheme marker past centerline, and the rest of Ten Thunders were just bunching up and concentrating. Oh. Except for Hungering Darkness, who obeyed Carrion Emissary to Rot and Rend nearby Nurse. Damage ended up being severe, and blast clipped the bird itself.

 Koji was close to the middle, followed closely behind by Gwyneth and Beckoner. So close in fact, that the Emissary was able to pay back in kind and shoot Koji with the gun, and blast over Gwyneth and Beckoner. So... sixteen damage in first turn. Not a bad first appearance for Carrion Emissary, although seven of those were against frie

Hungering Darkness and Illuminated were already contesting the middle-right strategy marker, with Tanuki speeding towards bottom marker.

As the very last activation for the round McMourning went to create a Flesh Construct, who walked and charged Koji. 

Resurrectionists had a high profile first rank consisting of McMourning, Carrion Emissary and Rogue Necromancy in the middle, with most of my other models behind them. Little Gasser was biding its time, so it would be able to run within 2" of top strategy marker.

Turn 2:

A big turn for sure. Kara opened the turn by pouncing on summoned Flesh Construct's chest and tearing it apart for a bit. Flesh Construct activates right away while it still got time for it, and didn't do much damage in itself, but drained soulstones and high cards from opponent, who was trying to protect his henchman.

Lynch finishes the job on Flesh Construct and releases Hungering Darkness from engagement.

Carrion Emissary unleashes another devastating volley of Rot and Rend on Koji, scoring a moderate which meant nasty damage for Kara and Lynch. It also spawned zombies to engage Illuminated.

Carrion Emissary had proved to be such a scary model, and Hungering Darkness wasn't going to have any of it. It was in range to charge the big bird. Fortunately one attack failed to hit, because I would have lost my Emissary. It was sitting with one health remaining after Ten Thunders leader had done its thing. This forced my hand to activate Nurse, who managed to heal the bird only by one, but at least she got off a charge attack against Hungering Darkness that stunned the beast.

Illuminated killed both Mindless Zombies. Sebastian saw a chance to score Vendetta with using Blood Poisoning on Koji. He managed to bring him down to one health, and even Kara received damage from bone saw. 

Koji tried to shoot Sebastian, but didn't do much. Then it was Rogue Necromancy's turn to have probably most effective Projectile Vomit that it ever did. It concentrated and vomited over Lynch, scoring severe damage which meant two blasts. Koji and Kara died, and even Lynch took three damage from Necrotic Decay.

Tanuki came to heal Lynch, while Rafkin took double walk and transfused three poison from McMourning to Lynch.

Gwyneth charged Sebastian, and that deck of cards sure is more lethal than a pesky derringer. Sebastian was left reeling with one health remaining. For the second time ever I guessed right Hit the Jackpot and drew a card instead. 

Fortunately Paw Patrol was left to activate, so Zombie Chihuahua ran to offer Blood Poisoning for Sebastian, which healed him for five. So, he was in a fairly secured position. Or so I thought.

Beckoner lures him to hazardous terrain, and punches him essentially down to two health remaining. Two health points and in a hazardous terrain (Dmg 1, Injured +1) was not a good spot for Vendetta end condition carrier.

Fortunately McMourning makes an amazing activation, raining skull saw attacks on Lynch so that poison is enough to kill him in the end phase.

Little Gasser took a flight to top-left strategy marker. 

Situation looked harsh for Ten Thunders, but scores went even when both players received strategy, vendetta for Resurrectionists and hidden martyrs for Ten Thunders. 2-2

Turn 3:

Carrion Emissary tried to go to smack Tanuki a bit because that is a proper thing to do, but failed at everything except putting down some coffin markers. This resulted in Gwyneth butchering Sebastian. Good bye, vendetta points. Again I guessed right with Hit the Jackpot, so this is somewhat of a record for me.

To repay Gwyneth's insolence, McMourning gave himself some doctor's orders to leave the melee range of Hungering Darkness and remove last martyr of Ten Thunders - the Beckoner. He managed to deal damage to already damaged Gwyneth, who was left standing with two health points. Somehow I found the willpower not to try and kill her and instead walk to contest a strategy marker that Rogue Necromancy had been guarding for a couple of turns.

Hungering Darkness charged Carrion Emissary, and this time it smacked the bird dead with just two attacks, and was able to walk to contest the center-right strategy marker. 

Rafkin charged Illuminated, engaging Hungering Darkness just for the sake of it. He didn't hit. Unfortunately Illuminated went to attack Nurse. To remove additional targets around Rafkin the Hidden Martyr, Nurse pulled herself here and there with bottle of painkillers and went to charge Tanuki at bottom-right marker. This forced Mr. Tannen to come and claim the strategy marker.

A bloody game it had been. Neither player revealed more schemes, so scores went to 3-3.

Turn 4:

I had a good hand, but I blew most of the good cards in defending Rafkin. I wanted to waste as much action points from Hungering Darkness and Illuminated before getting him killed. And it worked rather well, Hungering Darkness and Illuminated needed all of their action points to finally score the kill.

McMourning killed Gwyneth, and took a run towards strategy marker in enemy deployment. 

Mr. Tannen and Tanuki were not able to kill Nurse at bottom marker, but neither was Nurse able to do anything useful. 

Scores went 3-5 for Resurrectionists, and as such we didn't play last turn. Ten Thunders had no plausible way to even the scores even if Resurrectionists didn't get any points, and scoring end condition from hidden martyrs was still possible for Resurrectionists anyway.

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Turf War

Schemes: Claim Jump, Detonate Charges, Outflank, Take Prisoner, Vendetta

My list:

Madame Sybelle & Carrion Effigy with Effigy of Fate
White Rabbit Co.
Bete Noire
2x Flesh Construct
Dead Doxy
Rotten Belle
Dead Dandy

Pool: 4
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Outflank

Opponent had:

Perdita the Neverborn Hunter with Lead Linen Coat & Enslaved Nephilim
Francisco with Lead Linen Coat
Pale Rider
Guild Mage
Nino Ortega
Abuela Ortega

Pool: 7
Schemes: Claim Jump (Pale Rider), Outflank

Turn 1:

Perdita started the game by summoning a pistolero, the one that let family members ignore concealment. Guild kept their distance, and I certainly didn't want to give any easy shots for them. However, that still happened when a Flesh Construct went near the middle of board. Nino and Pale Rider took a few shots at it, but thankfully damage was low and Madame Sybelle managed to pull a heal with Undivided Attention.

Another Flesh Construct went to place a scheme marker past top-left strategy marker. Dead Dandy went to interact with that strategy marker, and turned the scheme into a launching pad for Bete Noire. Nino and Pale Rider were there on top-right marker.

At the bottom of things, Dead Doxy and Rotten Belle took the bottom-left marker and had big plans for outflanking. 

Remainder of my crew were in the middle, with Carrion Effigy just concentrating and doing nothing behind dense clouds. White Rabbit Company had crafted a fine hat for Bete Noire, who had ran to middle to possibly act as a bullet sponge next round.

Guild had Francisco coming from the bottom-right, with the remainder of their crew in a not-dense cloud effect packed like sardines. I've been told Flesh Constructs absolutely loathe sardines and are ready to puke from the slightest mention of those...

Turn 2:

Perdita summons the pistolero that reduces blast damage. So, suddenly it looked far less of an option to use projectile vomit with bazillion blast templates over six enemy models when they'd just receive no damage or extra effects - at all.

Perdita managed to shoot the hat off of Bete Noire, but White Rabbit Company demonstrated that there were plenty of those hats where they came from.

Nino shot  Dead Dandy off the board, and Pale Rider and a couple of Pistolero de Latigos did the same for Flesh Construct in the middle. Unfortunately kill shot came from Pistolero, so the upgraded Pistolero got an upgrade.

Francisco landed a horrifying severe+1 on Bete Noire. Fortunately I had chosen Fade Away, but on top of that she also had to discard her second fancy hat. What is this thing happening in here? I was sure Guild keyword was Family and not Fashion Police.

I figured that I just needed to play my game and let Family shoot my crew to pieces and hope for enough points via schemes. And at least outflank reveal wasn't hard to get this round, with Flesh Construct going top and Doxy going bottom. Rotten Belle also went to place a scheme marker that hopefully would be detonated one day.

Madame Sybelle was in contact with the middle strategy marker, and had turned it over for Resurrectionists.

Then we had a little mix up when Bete Noire charged Nino from Flesh Construct's corpse. We had forgotten it had Shielded +1. and Bete had scored exactly enough damage to kill Nino. She used last action to concentrate when we still thought Nino was dead. But come next turn, I realized Nino had been shielded. The best backtrack we could do was putting Nino back on table with one health remaining. 

Scores go 1-2 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

It's big bird time, when Carrion Emissary hatches from Effigy. 

But, Perdita opens the turn by summoning a third model. She then starts taking trick shots at Bete Noire - thankfully none of which manage to land that stun.

Bete Noire butchers Nino this time for real and just concentrates, because not much use in trying to attack the Pale Rider. 

Pale Rider shoots Bete Noire, who fades away, leaving Pale Rider free to ride to strategy marker that had been switched to neutral, and flip it back to Guild's possession.

White Rabbit Company gives a comfortable hat for Madame Sybelle, who then had the difficult choice between trying to score Detonate Charges with her hat, or charge in the thick of Guilders. She chose violence, because I wanted to remove Guild Mage. Both her attacks did hit, but took off only four points of Mage's health.

Doxy placed a scheme marker for Outflank. Situation looked hopeful when Francisco didn't succeed in killing Rotten Belle, but then Abuela took a shot with her shotgun, killing the meatshield. Would Doxy survive two full rounds against Francisco, protecting the scheme marker? Only time would tell.

The summoned gang shot White Rabbit Company to pieces and went to switch middle marker to Guild. Carrion Emissary had to take a double walk to get within 6" of Flesh Construct who had earlier been doing some outflanking to provide +1 movement for the experimental minion. This enabled it to do a double walk and interact top-left strategy marker back to Resurrectionists. 

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

But the start of turn 4 seemed rather grim for Resurrectionists.

Turn 4:

Madame Sybelle killed Guild Mage and tried to retreat into position where her fine hat would perhaps give a point from Detonate Charges. But that did not happen.

Pistoleros, Monster Hunters and Pale Rider shoots dead Carrion Emissary, who had flown to outflank area to place a scheme marker. One Pistolero grew to a Monster Hunter, which I suppose is fair - after all, it killed a gosh darn Carrion Emissary! Can't get much more of a monster than that. 

Flesh Construct flipped top-left marker back for Resurrectionists after it had become neutral from Emissary's death, and ran behind dense clouds to hide from Family's ranged attacks, hopefully getting a point from Outflank last round.

Perdita summoned even more Pistoleros, and then she, Francisco and the Pistolero and Abuela killed Dead Doxy. Thankfully she had managed to navigate Francisco in to a position for me to score Detonate Charges, but that meant I lost any chance for scoring Outflank end condition.

Bete Noire appears from Guild Mage's corpse and goes to flip bottom-right strategy marker from Guild to neutral. Thus, no points for build but one for Resurrectionists from Detonate Charges.

Scores go 2-4 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 5:

A Pistolero goes to engage Flesh Construct behind the clouds, and the rest of summoned gang sets up markers for Outflank.

Perdita uses trick shot to stun Bete Noire, which essentially takes my star player out of the game. At least she was able to go back to strategy marker and flip it out of spite for Resurrectionists.

Then Francisco placed another scheme for Outflank and shot Bete Noire dead. I had the option to threaten the middle area with Madame Sybelle with my stack of six pass tokens, but I thought as far as points go, it's essentially the same to deny a point from opponent. 

Madame Sybelle takes a double walk and swings her lash at Abuela, dealing some four points of damage. In hindisght, I probably should have went to cover the strategy marker entirely with Sybelle's melee range, as opponent was able to a por el and frighteningly remind Abuela closer to strategy marker and out of Madame's melee range. It wasn't a big sliver of marker Abuela had to work with, but it was enough to tag it for Guild.

Pale Rider rides to marker in the middle, thus scoring Claim Jump end condition. 

In one fell swoop, points went from 2-4 to 5-4 for Guild. 

Withers withers

 A couple of years it has been, but during my visit to Kuhmo I got to play my second game of Arkham Horror 3rd edition.

Scenario was the Dead Cry Out.

My investigator was Norman Withers the astronomer, and the rest were Agatha Crane the parapsychologist, Calvin Wright the haunted and Zoel Samaras, the chef.

Of course I didn't have the experience to tell if we were doing good or bad, but after a few rounds the other players started to express their anguish. I don't get it. The first monster that spawned was only some sort of a gluttonous giant, that the chef and the haunted guy beat no sweat.

Norman Withers started to ramble about his psychic visions in a police station, and against all odds he was gifted with map of arkham. Don't know why they had used excessive force when circling the sanatorium with a ball point pen. 

 Well, players were rolling their wardings rather poorly, so Norman Withers had to come and save the day when Uptown had like two, two, three doom tokens in their locations. He and Agatha managed to remove two doom tokens in total. With Lore 4 + rerolls and Lore 5. Yeah.

Monsters kept spawning and Chef and the Haunted guy were busy with them. Also the bystanders needed to be taken into consideration. Situation was doomed, hopeless, without any prospect of good outcome until Norman Withers bought the spell Wither. This is when he started single handedly beating any and all monsters that he engaged, and saved handsome allies like Arthur Johnson in the process. 

Technically I didn't lie. But as it happened, Norman engaged only one monster in the game. 

While scenario sheet didn't receive too many doom tokens, investigators had absolutely horrible luck in getting any clues either. 

Haunted guy was stuck in St. Mary's Hospital, the parapsychologist at train station and chef in silver twilight lodge. 

Only the hero of the team, Norman Withers who uses Wither kept moving anywhere, and he did so into the underworld. 

Painstakingly other investigators flipped those colored markers, and in our plight obviously luck gave us two same colors, which meant scenario just dragged on and on, ultimate demise approaching rapidly while investigators still had no clue how they were supposedly to even win exactly. 

Fortunately they did manage to flip third colored token - one round before the game ended in Mnar thing's victory.

Chilled Rat Cubes

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Flank Covert Operation

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

My list:

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

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

Opponent had:

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

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

Turn 1:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, scores went 0-1 for Arcanists.

Turn 3:

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

Prospector is finally killed by a Arcane Effigy. 

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

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

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

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

Turn 4:

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

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

Benny tried to beat Wendigo, not succeeding. 

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

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

Turn 5:

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

Obedient Wretch had ran to bottom-corner strategy marker.

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

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

Nix was alive, Blessed was not.

Scores jumped to 6-4 for Outcasts. 

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

Ngaatoro's contacts

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Corner Cursed Objects

Schemes: Assassinate, Load 'Em Up, Secret Meetup, Hidden Martyrs, Sabotage

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba with Grave Spirit Touch
Jaakuna Ubume
Lost Love
Shikome with Killer Instinct
Gwisin
2x Seishin

Pool: 7
Schemes: Secret Meetup (Shikome and Mr. Ngaatoro), Hidden Martyrs (Lost Love & Gwisin)

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Tomb Delver & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Jessie Halliway
Mr. Ngaatoro
Rough Rider
Cryptologist
Ruffian
Hopeful Prospect

Pool: 3
Schemes: Secret Meetup (Mr. Ngaatoro & Gwisin), Hidden Martyrs (Rough Rider & Ruffian)

Turn 1:

Well, uh. I had originally planned to walk Shikome and Ikiryo a bit forward with Seishins and whatnot, but somewhere along the way both Seishins gave Kirai a walk. She walked into safety behind the Secret Meetup building in the middle, summoned a Goryo and tried focus it, but shielded it instead. 

Idea was to delay Explorers' movements and give an incentive for Mr. Ngaatoro to step forward. 

Goryo didn't do much except soak up damage and deal like two points to Rough Rider.. Lost Love had to teleport to heal Goryo.

Gwisin ran to take the hit for Lost Love and Kirai. Datsue Ba gave a walk for Shikome, who walked and charged Rough Rider for a couple points of damage more. Perfectly softened up roughness.

Remainder of my crew wasn't set up as perfectly. Because my Seishins had gone wild with Kirai, Ikiryo, Jaakuna and Datsue Ba were walking so, so slowly towards action. Well, as slowly as Movement 6 incorporeal models in severe terrain can move. 

In fact, looking at the picture it's almost as if McCabe made much faster progress despite messing up Ride With Me shenanigans. 

Sidir and Mr. Ngaatoro brought Goryo down to three health remaining. McCabe dug up a Timeworn Blade and it kept getting tossed around Explorers, finally landing on Jessie. 

All the explorers were in a blob, which is usually nice when you got blasts around, but this time a size 3 overwalk was dividing the crew more than horizontal distance. 

Mr. Ngaatoro was exactly where I wanted with the wounded Rough Rider nearby. Jessie was also there, making Urami attack actions less effective with McCabe's aura. That was the first wave, second wave was everything else that was gravitating toward bottom-right quarter.

Turn 2:

Nearly dead Rough Rider rode away from the melee, healing himself for three. He then started taking shots at Goryo. Not ideal, but at least the horse did not run completely away from action - I was planning on getting my curse token discarded from it.

Everything was fine and dandy until Jaakuna Ubume went into full Karen-mode and asked for the manager after screaming out her lungs. She didn't actually manage anything, but the manager McCabe took a walk and sprayed her twice with pepper spray. 

Lost Love teleported to heal Jaakuna, and she admitted that maybe she overreacted a bit. Seishin gave her a walk action to move outside of Sidir's machine gun range. 

After some artifact juggling Sidir moved and shot Jaakuna with a machine gun, making exemplary work on how to deal with frustrating customers. Fortunately Jaakuna did not die.

Goryo that had been summoned last turn was shot off the board by Jessie. I could not take the risk of Mr. Ngaatoro charging Shikome, perhaps in an odd angle and getting away from secret meetup. Gwisin walked and charged the big bully. 

Ruffian, Mr. Ngaatoro himself and Cryptologist eventually remove the second Goryo. I had poured everything I could at the wounded Rough Rider, but only managed to bring it down to three health remaining. 

I had to make my gambit - Datsue Ba walked forward and bought masks and extra card to try and give Shikome a free charge at Rough Rider. Things went unexpectedly well and the rider died instantly, leaving my Secret Meetup model to get back to within 3" of Mr. Ngaatoro and the house. 

Which she did. 

Then came the surprise - both players revealed Secret Meetup. Mr. Ngaatoro had double booked a meetup with Gwisin and Shikome.

Explorers also revealed Hidden Martyrs, which gave them a 2-3 lead. 

Turn 3:

And then we get a messy, messy turn. 

Sidir shoots Jaakuna dead and scores a blast that damages Ikiryo and Lost Love.

I set my aim on Ruffian and charge it with Shikome. Attacks don't do much because the swagger had stacked some focus. 

I try to bring Ikiryo to charge Ruffian, but mess up a few things and end up in melee with Mr. Ngaatoro. Lucas charges Ikiryo back and a weird dance ensues where Gwisin is placed here and there with Take the Hit. In the end it doesn't help much as McCabe scores ample supply of rams, dealing some automatic points of damage with the trigger. 

But the jumping around opened up line of sight for Kirai to shoot Ruffian. She managed to kill Ruffian with two action points, so she planted a scheme for Secret Meetup end condition. Jessie, however, avenges Ruffian in a terrifying way. I had ran out of cards in my hand, so Kirai was vulnerable. Jessie scored a harpoon hit against her and drags my master into melee with unactivated Mr. Ngaatoro.

I had wanted to give a walk for Datsue Ba with Seishins, but I didn't feel like I got the time for that. Datsue walked and weighed Mr. Ngaatoro's sins - and they were grave indeed. Red Joker brought Mr. Ngaatoro to one health point remaining, which combined rather nicely with Kirai's life leech. Disaster averted.

Lost Love heals Kirai for a bit and Seishins walk forwards.

Mr. Ngaatoro has to activate and die.

Both players get strategy for scores of 3-4. 

Turn 4:

Carnage just continues. 

Lucas places a scheme to secret meetup building and charges Kirai. Gwisin obviously takes those hits, because Kirai was at four health remaining. Gwisin dies to the attacks, and even Kirai takes a point from rams. Finally McCabe tosses Phantasmal Mask for Jessie. 

I expected Kirai to die this round, so she went all-in and summoned both a Goryo to center and Ikiryo to Cryptologist, whom I had to kill this turn for strategy point. 

Lastly she walked a little to get Datsue Ba to protected range. And protects the granny did! Both harpoon attacks hit Datsue instead of Kirai. 

Shikome tried to kill Cryptologist. She chose tomes from pale hunger to ignore armor and started flailing at Cryptologist. Both melee attacks missed, though. Challenge gave an extra melee attack, but that missed too. Yaaaaaaaay.

Sidir, on the other hand, makes a brutal activation. He disengages from Goryo and shoots Kirai dead, hits Ikiryo for five points of damage and then kills her with an extra shot - all of this with negative fate modifier from friendly fire. 

Situation looked grim, but I still had plans to get my point from Cryptologist. Fortunately Cryptologist score only a weak damage to Shikome, bringing her down to one health remaining. 

Seishin succeeded in giving a walk for Datsue Ba, who then charged Cryptologist. I needed a moderate or two weaks to kill him. And again. All attacks missed despite me having stat lead this time around. Even startling Cryptologist failed! 

Well, I still had a chance - to give a walk for Goryo with Seishin and then charge Cryptologist. But Hopeful Prospect completely ruined that by engaging the ghost in melee. It tried to launch itself to Cryptologist by getting On Your Heels with the bonus action... but got tomes instead. Hooray, adversary. Frustrated, Goryo punched Hopeful Prospect with moderate damage, but thanks to hard-to-kill didn't even kill Hopeful Prospect.

What a horrible turn. Seishin ran to engage Sidir, and Lost Love went to place second scheme for Secret Meetup.

Explorers score strategy, Resurrectionists Hidden Martyrs for a 4-5 lead for Explorers.

Turn 5:

Despite my grievances, there was still an opportunity to win. Cryptologist started the turn by killing Shikome, so winning became that much harder. Fortunately Datsue Ba managed to kill Cryptologist with one attack. She charged Luna, missing the attack again, but staggered McCabe.

Jessie activated, disengaged from Datsue Ba and tossed Phantasmal Mask for McCabe. 

Seishin walked to engage Luna and McCabe, hoping to block possible scheming attempts. Luna, however, tore Seishin to shreds. 

Goryo failed to kill Hopeful Prospect with Violent Ghosts, so it had to use a real action point for that. Thus, it not longer was able threaten McCabe. But, at least it could walk to engage.

Lucas single-handedly killed Goryo and also Seishin engaging Sidir. 

That sealed the game.

Lost Love was able to teleport to Datsue Ba and go and get engaged by Lucas to score Hidden Martyrs. Sidir Alchibal then had the option to take a double walk and plant a scheme for secret meetup or deny me secret meetup. 

So, it was a closely fought 7-7 or 6-6 draw, depending how Sidir would have chosen.