It's Golden

Fifty games of A Touch of Evil in this blog after this update. 

Which continues the long-running (currently at six years) campaign. And starts to look like it might one day be over.

Villain was Unspeakable Horror, to whom we had lost Katarina the Outlaw and Frederic Leon earlier. Was it to devour the souls of Heinrich Cartwright and Eliza the Witch Hunter?

Maybe, because on round two there was already one dead town elder and three (3) evil elders. All the elders of the coastal town had revealed their rotten core right from the start.

Early in the game the heroes had to suffer At Mightnight, They Come and the game saw at least the appearance of The Heretic, Matriach of Silence and The Outcast. 

Fallen demons were sprouting all over the countryside of Shadowbrook, and their 4+ to ignore a wound was a nuisance that caused a few greedy knock outs. But other than that the fight against Unspeakable Horror was rather steady. Shadow Track was surprisingly stable - probably again thanks to not too many Murders being committed. 

Doctor Manning was struck dead by the villain, then revived by Eliza, only to be killed again by her. Just wondering who's the real villain here.  

Sophie and Magistrate Kroft went mad from encountering the ancient demon, and Lady Hanbrook was seen running all around the locations until she was betrayed by, well, a Betrayer. 

Turning point for the game was when Eliza found Cross of Kandor, Family Bible, Sacred Stone and even had the Sacred Chalice - that was +8 fight dice on command. Heinrich had been keeping a collection of your everyday tools such as hatchets, axes and pitchforks - all the while being possessed by perhaps another demon, rival to Unspeakable Horror.

Half of the board was filled with summoning circles, but the rolls of 3+ were merciful. And the procession of cultists was sluggish at best, which was perhaps suggesting the heroes were hunting a greater demon of sloth after all.

This all culminated in a 30 fight dice attack with silver bullets against the villain when showdown began. The Ancient Evil stood no chance, and Katarina and Frederic Leon were avenged.

 Campaign statistics

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper, Dreamweaver, Werewolf, Unspeakable Horror
Villains still to be defeated: 3, +1 investigation vs Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 8

Stashed investigation: 8

Nostalgic

 A while ago I played a few board games from the childhood of Dearest. 

First one was called Taika Kengät, which apparently only has a Finnish edition. Name translates to Magic Shoes. The game had elves trying to find magic jewels from a realm torn asunder by an evil troll. Elves need to find proper shoes to travel from different area to another. Magic Shoes were the only shoes that could traverse any terrain.

It quickly dawned on us that this particular game, perhaps, had lost some of its enchantment in the latter years. The age recommendation of 5+ was there for a reason.

Another game was Sphinx, which was a bit more engaging and kept us entertained for two games. 

Burkstad Renaissance (Gwendor Thrice Cursed and Twice Lived)

 Lantern Year 21 hunt was a level 2 Gorm. 

First attempt to hunt was a miserable failure. Cat Eye Circlet wielding Vladimir got Tunnel Vision disorder, and Mortis decided to never show up in the showdown in the first place. With three underleveled survivors our forecast of winning wasn't looking all bright and sunshine. Also, it would have been a tad boring session for one of the players had we actually tried that showdown.

No, we fed Gwendor to Gorm to proc Hours Ring. 

Oh, the irony of having to use this rare item right after we built it last year. But hey, it's Burkstad after all.

Second attempt went a little better, except if it wasn't for our inept hunters Gwendor, Vladimir, Purvina and Mortis who somehow got around five extra events during hunt phase. Fortunately nothing excessively punishing showed up, since it's not like Dash is the only thing keeping survivors alive against level 2 Gorm, and Madflies giving Frenzy to Mortis locked away her survival actions. She was also the one who had +5 evasion and Rawhide Armor.

Oh well. Maybe we'd manage with 25% of our number frenzied.

In the end survivors found a strange path that had the hunters ambush Gorm.

Fetid Grotto gave also Gwendor frenzy. Half of the team without survival actions. Oh, and Gwendor had also donned Death Mask, so that was -4 to severe injuries with no possibility to dodge.

When Mortis crawled back to settlement on the first hunt attempt before Hours Ring, she obviously had seen this coming and knew what'd be best for everyone involved.

Thanks to ambush, survivors at least got some wounds in to the beast. Four, in fact, on the ambush turn. Might have been a good start, but it ended up with Gorm retching on three survivors. Miraculously no-one rolled head location, and game continued with heavy injury levels only.

Gorm does Body Check, which is almost beneficial if it damages survivors - at least it pushes you away from the end-of-turn retch. Nice in theory, but Gorm failed to score any hits. All four of us had now received a baptism of vomit. 

So, any accidental retches could prove fatal from now on, so Vladimir - now with less Tunnel Vision in this parallel universe - starts checking hit locations rigorously every turn.

Next, Gorm draws it's duration card that gives adjacent survivors severe injuries when it lands down.

For the heck of it, Purvina wounds the beast despite its +5 toughness tokens. 

Gorm wallops Purvina around a bit with a large trout, but deals no serious damage.

It was a showdown that had the potential to go south without a moment's notice - but this time that note never came. Purvina with her Lantern Halberd dealt half of the wounds, and the remaining survivors did the rest. 

Lantern Year 22

Finally the oppressive Gorm Climate subsides. Inspired by this heroic showdown, a new age of arts, sciences and strange ideas began in Burkstad. First, survivors perform a magnificent theatrical masterpiece called "The Hunt of Gorm level 2" in hunt re-enactment. Gwendor is nominated as the favorite survivor, and Lefasu was the least favorite survivor. 

Gwendor, being the Prima Donna he is, overdoes his part and slays Gorm again. Because that's what happened, right? Too bad it was played by Lefasu.

The rumors about this play had reached far, and Armored Strangers had come to silently spectate the stage play. Their review had some mixed signals though, as they impaled a survivor to a lantern halberd guidepost and left it on the outskirts of the settlement.

Settlement innovates Sculpture, so that's another category of fine arts altogether. And also groundbreaking new science was made in the form of special innovating Albedo via gormchymy. 

But what would a renaissance be without it's l'uomo universale? Love Juice blessed the settlement with it's sixth savior.

Gwendor becomes a tinker with Augury and shrine ritual is a success. Mortis hones her proficiency with grand weapons in Nightmare Training. Vladimir learn Synchronized Strike and to leave her impact to this new and wondrous age, Purvina dances the Forbidden Dance. 

Fortunately the critics had already left the settlement.

Next, Sunstalker level 2.

Population: 9

Principles:
Protect the Young
Graves
Barbaric + Ultimate Weapon


Innovations:
Language
Hovel
Ammonia
Bed
Nigredo
Symposium
Lantern Oven
Paint
Family
Bloodletting
Inner Lantern
Cooking
Shrine
Drums
Momento Mori
Scrap Smelting

Nightmare Training

Song of the Brave

Sculpture, Albedo, Guidepost


Locations:
Lantern Hoard
Bone Smith
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Catarium
Gormchymist
Gormery
Weapon Crafter
Leather Worker
Skyreef Sanctuary

Plumery

Gear:
1x Cloth
3x Stone Noses
Full Rawhide Set
1x rawhide vest, 1x Rawhide Gloves, 1x Rawhide Headband
Gorment Boots
2x Skull Helm
Bone Dagger
Bone Darts
Rib Blade
Greater Gaxe
2x Leather Shield
Cat Eye Circlet
3x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
Bandages
Catgut Bow + Claw Head Arrow + Hollowpoint Arrow
Full White Lion Suit
Scrap Sword
Flower Knight Badge
Cycloid helm + vest
Death Mask
Whisker Harp

Hours Ring

Lantern Halberd



Resources:
3x Monster Bone

3x monster hide
2x Skull
1x Broken Lantern

Dense Bone

Meaty Rib (organ, bone)

Jiggling Lard (organ, hide)

Milky Eye (organ)

Stout Hide

2x crab spider

1x nightmare tick

Sinew
2x Lion Claw
2x Great Cat Bones
4x Iron

3x small feathers

1x tail feathers

1x pustules (organ)

1x black skull

Asphyxious on Halloween

 

Had a 50 points game of Warmachine about a week ago on All Hallows Eve, which is the reason for a particular piece of scenery.

My list:

Cryx

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
 - Defiler [8]
 - Harrower [16]
 - Ripjaw [7]
 - Seether [13]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]

Misery Cage [2]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent:

Protectorate

High Exemplar Kreoss [+29]

 - Crusader [10]

 - Sanctifier [14]

 - Vigilant [9]

Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [5]

Vassal Mechanik [1]

Vassal of Menoth [3]

Choir of Menoth (min) [4]

Exemplar Bastions (max) [15]

Exemplar Errants (max) [16]

Scenario was the one from main rulebook with three flags on the centerline, and five points to win.

First rounds are pretty straightforward. Cryx advances behind Caustic Mist clouds. Exemplar Errants spread out and take random shots, mostly at Bane Warriors who defy death a second time. 

Vigilant with Defenders Ward is contesting middle flag, Crusader flag on the right and some errants the flag on the left. 

Harrower, Tartarus and Bane Warriors maul the Vigilant, but the light jack just refuses to go down. Well, of course there was this ARM 23 thing going on, too.

Bile Thralls, Harrower and Defiler remove all but two Errants. I could have scored a point with Swamp Gobber River Raider, but I had already activated it before the opportunity arose.

Protectorate secures flag on the right. Kreoss uses his feat, and Sanctifier charges Harrower to get through caustic mists in order to attack Seether. Opponent doesn't bother attacking Bane Warriors all that much, as Kreoss had come to a rather vulnerable distance in regards to Asphyxious' feat. 

Bastions charge in, and while Harrower and Seether both are severely beaten up, neither lost Cortex. This was a big turnpoint in the game, because now I was able to remove Sanctifier and what was left of Vigilant. 

However, Kreoss and Bastions were next going to remove both of my warjacks, too, and Crusader was unscathed - at least until Tartarus charged in to die himself in turn. 

Cryx managed to even out the advantage opponent had in scenario, but that likely was too late - I was had a couple of Ironmongers left, plus the feat. Kreoss had cast Defenders Ward on himself, and had been keeping up the Lamentation throughout the whole game - six focus Hellbound sure feels costy.

But.

Kreoss was within charge distance of Asphyxious, and there were six Bane Warriors waiting to take a dive into Caen once more. 

So, Asphyxious used feat and charged the Protectorate warcaster. Asphyxious did well enough, but Kreoss was not dead. Only two Banes got to his back arc, so those went first. First one hits, and Kreoss fell to only a few damage boxes remaining. Another one lost. 

So, next four attempts to score 10 on 2d6 and win the game, or miss them all and go home. So, better hit since we were playing in my apartment.

No Banes hit, so I'm currently looking for a new home I guess... or?

Opponent had to leave to not get a parking ticket so the grande finale was never actually rolled. I added the game to my spreadsheets as a loss anyway, since opponent would be doing damage with -2 to dice, and would be able to do two fully boosted attacks, and one attack with a hit boost.

Time For Classics

Played a 50 point game of Warmachine. My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Inflictor [13]
- Ripjaw [7]
 - Slayer [10]
Iron Lich Overseer [5]
- Desecrator [14]
Swamp Gobber River Raider[1]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent had:

Baldur the Stonecleaver [+31]

 - Gorax Rager [7]

 - Megalith [20]

 - Woldwatcher [8]

Gallows Grove [2]

Lord of the Feast [6]

Shifting Stones [3]
Gatorman Posse [16]

Warpborn Skinwalkers (max) [15]

 - Warpborn Skinwalker Alpha [4]

Scenario was the point scoring Annihilation from main rulebook.

Circle had Gatormen approaching from the right and Skinwalkers from the left. The obstacle in the middle was a nasty table divider, and I sort of did a mistake by directing Slayer and Desecrator to go from the right side.

Neither player had no LOS to anything, thanks to Ashpyxious's Caustic Mists and Baldur's forests. But when Lord of the Feast ran behind the center obstacle, Cryx opened game by running Ripjaw to get arc node into position. I wanted to get rid of the solo before it had the chance to do any major damage. 

Excarnate, however, didn't do much.

Swamp Gobber River Raider, however, did. That little fellow scored a hit with it's harpoon against a Gatorman, and - killed one of the Posse members. 

In retaliation I lost the arc node and a couple of Bane Warriors. Baldur also used his feat, which obviously wasn't going to be all that impactful.

But my next turn isn't that big either. Bane Warriors and Inflictor manage to destroy all but two Skinwalkers and Slayer ate one Gatorman. So it was Circle who got to make the first major turn.

Woldwatcher, remaining Skinwalkers and Lord of the Feast remove all but two Bane Warriors. Megalith deals with Inflictor and Gorax comes to cuddle with Desecrator. Gatormen charge Slayer. Shifting Stones annoyingly teleport in front of Megalith.

Time to draw out the toolbox. Oh right, I haven't got one.

Deathripper succeeds to kill Lord of the Feast. Desecrator also makes Gorax problem disappear, while Slayer takes down two Gatormen. Two remaining Bane Warriors kill last Skinwalker. Only their Alpha left now. 

Asphyxious walks and teleports next to Desecrator so that he might be able to flank and shank Baldur with his feat.

Circle wouldn't have any of that, and Megalith, Gallows Grove and Shifting Stone all come to block the charge from any possible feat Banes. Woldwatcher and Skinwalker Alpha remove last Bane Warriors from the unit. 

I have my chances to "win" the game now. Random models (Desecrator, namely) removes Gallows Grove from blocking charges. And I believe it was Iron Lich Overseer who shot the last remaining Shifting Stone.

Asphyxious advances. Megalith benefits from cover, so it is def 14 against shooting. I can either cast unboosted Parasite on it and teleport away to safety, or secure the spell and leave my warcaster exposed. I choose the latter. Ironically the Parasite would have caused a hit on any combination of the rolled dice. Oh well.

Parasited Megalith goes down like butter, which kind of surprised me. The Banes could have probably done it without Parasite, too. Now Circle has only their warlock, Woldwatcher and a lone Gatorman around.

And when the measuring starts, Asphyxious is found to be within charge distance of Baldur. He just straight up butchered the Lich Lord, not even needing to expend all of his Fury points.

Had I placed Asphyxious exactly within 8" of Megalith, this would not have happened. Had I teleported, this would not have happened. I suppose you can call a game end like this "classic".

Overconfidence is a sudden and insidious killer

Alright, time to tackle this one. This one is a few years of Kingdom Death from the start of this month when a friend visited. Fortunately I made some notes about what happened.

Year 8 hunt: Snellana, Ursa, Sven and Pudge took off to hunt for a Gorm level 1 to get rid of Gorm Climate. Hunt phase was a challenge when survivors got stuck in a never-ending mudslide. We lost monster grease and skull helm that way.

But the showdown itself was a triumph. Execution was flawless - I think we got only one retch over us. And we got both Active Thyroid and Pure Light Bulb from death blow location. We had good feelings about the King's Man fight. 

Lantern Year 9 - Weird Dream.

So, we had a giant butt, realizing the thing from first list doesn't exist, and dying a pointless death.

Dream was about a giant, shining butt in the sky, lighting up darkness. The butt sings melodiously, enticing the survivor to follow the Devil's Symphony. Mesmerized, our dreaming survivor travels into the darkness. He doesn't pay attention to his surroundings, and on the edge of a cliff, in the middle of a step, the butt disappears and survivor realizes he had just conjured up the image from his subconscious. Too late to reverse the step, he falls down and dies. This wicked dream gave us only 1 extra endeavor.

We include Dung Beetle Knight. 

Two matchmakers give two intimacies, which came out as Sibylla and Watson.

Settlement innovated Saga,

1: innovated Saga, and a couple survivors get new fighting arts from Settlement Watch. Someone also receives Synchronized Strike.

We should be ready for King's Man level 1.

Ursa, Stratogda, Sven, Snellana and Butcher's Axe wreck the King's Man so hard that the survivors all die. Well, this particular settlement has been living the dream on Kingdom Death. Every showdown has been either a light challenge or a breeze. 

Heck, we even got Tall Grass terrain. I was certain the worst we'd get from this fight would be King's Curse. Well... maybe we needed this lesson in humility. 

We lost all of our best survivors, as well as the irreplaceable Butcher's Axe.

Lantern year 10: Hunt Re-enactment

Moldonial and Nameless Eetu play the showdown against Butcher. Both participants gain Fated: Butcher ability.

As we had only one Endeavor from Collective Toil, we spent it to innovate Storytelling.

And then right after the heavy loss against King's Man, we get this Manhunter level 2 knocking on our door.

Watson, Butrifice, Sibylla and Tyypi challenge the pro wrestler.

And on the second or third turn Sibylla dies. We had done like two wounds to Manhunter.

"Not this again" was thick in the air. 

But then something happened. It wasn't like the Manhunter didn't manage to do any damage - the fight was one of the more exciting ones in recent memory. Plenty of severe injuries were rolled. Tyypi got Broken Back and Butrifice got his arm broken. 

And yet survivors gained Manhunter Hat and Crimson Vial. However, Watson had to use Crimson Vial to get rid of his four bleed tokens. If we lost the Vespertine Bow user, fight would have been hopeless.'

Wounds trickled in to nemesis, and showdown ended in victory - Watson even scored Killing Blow. Two killing blows in three showdowns is rather good track record.

It's been a year and a half since Maurala was last played, so this campaign might take a while.

Honeyed Rats

A friend visited me for a few of days. For starters we had a couple of games of Malifaux.

First game. Strategy: Turf War.

Kirai Ankoku + The Whisper & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
2x Onryo
Gaki
2x Seishin
Shikome + Grave Spirit's Touch

Pool: 7

Schemes: Deliver A Message, Outflank

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness (Claim Jump)
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Tannen
Mr. Graves
3x Illuminated

Pool: 1

Schemes: Claim Jump, Outflank

Turn 1

We had an action packed game right from the start. Hungering Darkness, after being pushed by Kitty Dumont, went and interacted with the middle turf marker. Mr. Graves came to offer his bulky presence as emotional support.

Ikiryo charged Hungering Darkness and accomplished little. Shikome with upgrade, on the other hand, went for Mr. Graves and flipped a red joker on damage, cutting right through Mr. Graves's Hard to Kill.

Lost Love and Gaki interacted with turfs on my side, and two Illuminated did the same for enemy.

Kirai summoned a Shikome and fired & forgot it against an Illuminated.

Turn 2

Ten Thunders wins the initiative, which is unfortunate since Tanuki was able to heal Mr. Graves back to Hard to Kill threshold.

Shikome and Onryo die in the middle, while Ten Thunders only have to grieve the passing of Mr. Graves.

After enemy deals with the Shikome that was summoned last turn, Kirai summons another one which gets an extra Walk action from Datsue Ba. Enough for it to score Deliver A Message.

Gaki and Onryo place themselves to score Outflank. 

Scores go 3-1 for resurrectionists.

Turn 3

Summoned Shikome gives opponent a headache on the top-left quarter of the board. Eventually an Illuminated dislodges itself and manages to charge Kirai, who redirects one attack to Lost Love.

Kitty Dumont and an Illuminated tease Gaki, who survives. 

Opponent forces Kirai to activate before Hungering Darkness does, so she only summons a Shikome this turn. The one Illuminated who charged Kirai survived attacks from the master herself, the summoned Shikome, Datsue Ba and even a Seishin. Talk about wasted action points.

Then Hungering Darkness butchers Ikiryo. 

Ten Thunders scores Claim Jump and a strategy point, evening scores to 3-3.

Turn 4

Kitty finishes Gaki and speeds towards turf marker on bottom-left, that had earlier been neutralized. Illuminated closes in towards a turf marker on bottom-right.

And why not. I managed to get only one summoned Onryo even remotely close there.

But at least I had the numbers advantage on top, where Kirai had also summoned a new Ikiryo.

Datsue Ba gave walk action for both Ikiryo and Shikome, who then orchestrated a neutralizing of top-left turf marker and claiming it for Resurrectionists. 

Mr. Tannen charges Ikiryo, and due to some amazing flips he manages to shank the spirit down to two health remaining. 

Resurrectionists score their second strategy point, going 4-3 in their favor.

Turn 5

Ten Thunders won the initiative, and an Illuminated went and interacted with a turf marker on my table half. Kitty Dumont walked up the hill and interacted with the marker I had twice already neutered. And opponent had kept the center since turn 1, so strategy looked grim.

Shikome tried to tie up Lynch for other models to deliver a message to him. Lynch, however, disengaged and shot Ikiryo dead. But, most importantly, Lynch had now activated. If only Mr. Tannen wasn't engaging Onryo, who'd be able to place the required scheme marker for Deliver Message...

Datsue Ba charges Tannen. Manipulative foils her plans, but at least she manages to scare Hungering Darkness and give him -2 Mv. This way the beast was pretty much guaranteed to stay in the middle to score Claim Jump end condition.

Kirai moves closer and uses Spirit Barrage on Mr. Tannen and succeeds to kill him. Unfortunately I had wasted my last soulstone on giving this attack masks. Because now I wasn't able to summon an Urami to deny point for Claim Jump.

Game looked like a draw.

Then Onryo close to the Illuminated on my table half activates. It uses the adversary action on Illuminated and succeeds. Then it charges and does three points of damage.

So now it only needed a severe injury to finish the Ten Thunders minion. With two negative modifiers to damage flips I can guarantee it wasn't a severe injury. It was severe+1, neutralizing the strategy marker.

The other Onryo interacted close to Lynch, and scores went 5-4 for Resurrectionists. And all thanks to this one lucky Red Joker.

So. In the end opponent had killed two Shikomes, two Ikiryos, two Seishin, one Gaki and one Onryo. Eighty percent of my starting number.

Second game. Strategy: Corrupted Idols. Corner Deployment.

Hamelin & 3x Stolen
Nix
Mad Dog Brackett + Wanted Criminal
2x Rat Catcher
Rat King
2x Malifaux Rat

Pool: 6

Schemes: Ouflank, Harness Ley Lines

Opponent the same list as earlier, except for chosen schemes of course.

Jakob Lynch & Hungering Darkness (Claim Jump)
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Tannen
Mr. Graves
3x Illuminated

Pool: 1

Schemes: Breakthrough, Harness Ley Lines

Turn 1

Pretty much only positioning happening here, as the crews are so far between, and all of the strategic points are also on the middle line. Hamelin had a nasty bottleneck with difficult terrain, but at least the rats jumped easily over with Rat Catcher and Unclean Influence.

Turn 2

Kitty throws a corrupted idol on my side of the board to a position I can't possibly reach. But I try to make the enemy models (Kitty, Mr. Graves, Illuminated) to at least pay for their actions. Focused Mad Dog Brackett and charges, toting his Chesterfield Shotgun. I even spend a soulstone to get extra blast markers. Nope. Nothing.

And second action, nothing. At least he blew up some destructible terrain. Woo hoo. Thirteen soulstones well spent.

Lynch shoots Hungering Darkness into melee with Mad Dog Brackett, which forces Hamelin to activate before Darkness does. He lures the incorporeal monster nearby, advances and then charges the beast just to save Private Brackett.

A Rat Catcher runs into base contact with the idol on top-left, but is unable to throw it anywhere.

Ten Thunders score strategy, Outcasts nothing. 

Turn 3 

Nix lodges itself within range of Kitty, Illuminated and Mr. Graves.

Lynch shoots Hungering Darkness into melee with Mad Dog again, and again Hamelin lures it away from melee with Mad Dog to melee with himself. "I guess", thought Hungering Darkness and began to maul Hamelin, taking some half of his hit boxes away.

Rat King gnaws at a scheme marker and walks to the strategy marker Kitty threw on second turn to lob it back to the side it belong. Rat Catcher on top-left throws another marker on Ten Thunders' side, and puts also a scheme marker. Malifaux Rats that had been accompanying him tried to slow down the Illuminated.

Despite Mr. Graves, Lynch and even Tanuki attacking Mad Dog Brackett, the bandit didn't go down. Well, he was at one hit point remaining and had spend two thirds of my saved up soulstones... 

Outcasts score a strategy point.

Turn 4 

Mad Dog dies this turn, and so does Nix, but I believe the doggie bought his points back by wasting a lost of action points from opponent. Sweet Taste of Failure is rather infuriating rule, at least for the opponent.

Hamelin decides to try and save the "flanks" so to say, and engaged Lynch, Mr. Tannen and lured Hungering Darkness into melee with him. And strangely enough, Hamelin endured. 

Round had relatively few attacks going on, because both players were laying scheme markers down like it's the end of days. (Although... Why would you lay down scheme markers during end of days?)

Both players score a strategy point and Harness Ley Lines.

Turn 5 

With toil and trouble Ten Thunders remove all of Hamelin and all of his children from the board. My Rat King scurried to table corner bottom-right, as it wasn't feeling exactly safe with its one hit point remaining.

Rat Catcher on top had to disengage from Illuminated, and succeeded eventually and reached that hallowed 3" from the corner edge to score Outflank.

Opponent didn't have the action points to deal with these two, because he wanted to secure end condition of Harness Ley Lines.

Which he did. 

There it is. 

First draw of my history with Malifaux. Scores went 4-4. Outcasts had killed zero models from Ten Thunders, while Ten Thunders had removed all but two Rat Catchers and a Rat King. 

That Particular Effect

 I suppose I'm liable to report this in. For I had three rounds of a game of... Domino. Double 9 set to boot, with 55 slabs.