Harpoon contest

 Had two games of Warmachine a while ago. Both were 25 point games of Brawlmachine.

Game 1:

My list:

Cryx

Goreshade the Bastard [+29]
 - Corruptor [12]
 - Leviathan [14]
 - Stalker [8]
Necrotech [1]
Warwitch Siren [3]
Bile Thralls (min) [6]
Mechanithralls (min) [6] - Brute Thrall (2) [4]

Opponent had:

Cygnar

Commander Coleman Stryker [+30]

 - Defender [14]

 - Hammersmith [12]

 - Lancer [8]

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios [6]

Stormguard Infantry (max) [15]

Forest in the middle divided the battle, Bile Thralls and Warwitch Siren approaching from the left, warjacks and warcaster from middle and Mechanithralls from the right. Leviathan inflicted some serious damage on Defender. With a good damage roll Stalker could have removed Defender from the table, but that was not to be. But at least Stalker was contesting enemy  flag.

Cygnar had a good turn where it removed half of Bile Thralls with Stormguard and all regular Mechanithralls with the rest, while having Brute Thralls knocked down. Stalker went down with a single hit from Defender.

As Stryker didn't use his feat yet, it was Goreshade's time to cause as much havoc as possible. Feated Bane Warriors removed Hammersmith, and Bile Thralls did away with the few Stormguards that were contesting my flag. To give opponent something that required immediate answer, Corruptor charged Lancer and mostly managed just to nearly fry its own Cortex.

Opponent tried to assassinate Goreshade and knocked him down with Earthquake. A single Lancer, however, just was not enough to kill the eldritch. Cryx had gained such an upper hand in terms of points, so we just started another game.

Game 2:

Second game was against Cryx.

My list:

Cryx

Captain Aiakos [+29]

 - Harrower [13]

 - Malice [13]

 - Ripjaw [6]

Bloat Thrall [2]

Necrotech [1]

Warwitch Siren [3]

Wrong Eye [16]

Opponent had:

Cryx

Iron Lich Asphyxious [+28]

 - Defiler [7]

 - Desecrator [12]

 - Reaper [11]

Pistol Wraith [4]

Bane Warriors (min) [8]

Satyxis Blood Witches (max) [11]

Bloat Thrall attempted to control my flag, while the rest of my forces advanced to meet enemy on the right side of the forest. Wrong Eye & Snapjaw tried to protect my models from being dragged by enemy Reaper.

Enemy Reaper, then, switched fronts and tried to drag my arc node from the left side of the forest. Harpoon missed, as usual. 

It's funny how badly I manage to mess up my movement next when I only had nine models to start with! Well, the thing is, I replied to enemy harpoon action with my own - and Malice delivered the required hit. Then, however, I realized how I had dragged a heavy warjack to contest my flag! Also, I had moved Necrotech to block the charge lane of Snapjaw. So it was upon Wrong Eye to remove Necrotech from the board. This succeeded, but after Star Crossed he no longer had fury points to use Submerge. Harrower charges Bane Warriors to contest enemy flag, and Ripjaw ran to contest enemy zone.

Bane Warriors and Desecrator make short work out of my Harrower, no surprises there. Satyxis Blood Witches clog up the bottleneck that is between forest and structure. Arc node runs into position, and Asphyxious charges Ripjaw, not doing anything. He uses feat to try to assassinate Aiakos, but after first Breath of Corruption leaves much to be desired, he instead launches the volley on Wrong Eye, thus removing both the warlock and the warbeast.

Grim situation for Aiakos, but I conjure a plan to assassinate. Ripjaw tries to  move into back arc of Asphyxious, but the ensuing free strike cripples Arc Node. Then I spend my activations trying to clear up a lane for Malice to move and drag Asphyxious. Aiakos has to do some acrobatics to get into position to try White Squall Asphyxious - which would throw him into completely wrong direction anyway. But that didn't bother my plans, as the spell never hit. 

It was over for Aiakos. Over.

They grow in vats

Scenario six for Rise of Fenris, the Scythe campaign.

My first game with Fenris faction. So far in the campaign only Togawa shogunate still plays with their original faction so the board has changed.

Faction combos were:

Mechanical Fenris, Agricultural Togawa, Engineering Albion and Militant Vesna.

Thanks to infrastructure mods my faction wasn't that horribly hosed by the starting location of old Nordics. Mods change the game rather drastically anyway, as seen when a Mech jumped with two starting workers to village beyond the river.

There, my latest technological breakthrough, automachines, started constructing, well, people. And a whole lot of them, actually. In a single turn all of my workers were on board. 

Rasputin started hopping from event to event, which most notably gave me the oil fields. 

Albioneers got event where they paid for me to never-ever attack them, pinky pwomise, so I kind of had zero reason to quarrel with them. Instead, I bullied Togawa shogunate with influence tokens. Game seemed like it was strongly in my favor, but then out of sudden those Vesna people start spewing victory stars left and right. And my bold attempt to teach them a lesson was spoiled by the arrival of Vesna people cavalry. 

In the end I only received six stars. Had I only won that one combat...

Oh well, at least I secured one final victory row. 

Scores went:

Militant Vesna 76 points
Mechanical Fenries 71 points
Agricultural Togawa 59 points
Engineering Albion 49 points

Guilty Dreams

 A Christmas game of Malifaux with 50 soul stones. Without pictures this time, because a) horrifying proxy terrain, b) 75% unpainted models, c) 40% unassembled models and d) no camera.

Standard deployment Break the Line.
Scheme pool: Bait & Switch, Research Mission, Let Them Bleed, Hidden Martyrs, Outflank.

My list:

Jack Daw (outcast) & Ligeia
Montresor
2x Guilty (one of them was martyr)
Hanged with Servant of Dark power (martyr)
Drowned
Prospector

Pool: 2
Schemes: Bait & Switch (Guardian), Hidden Martyrs

Opponent:

Hoffman & Attendant
Melissa K.O.R.E
Guardian
3x Hunter
Riotbreaker

Pool: 2
Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Research Mission

Turn 1:

I have Prospector far on the right, trying to sneak to one strategy marker. A little closer to middle are Hanged, Guilty and Montresor. In the middle of board is Jack Daw, Lady Ligeia and Drowned. Guilty and Johan Creedy are handling the left.

A big blob of Hoffman, Guardian, Mechanical Attendant and Hunter approach from the middle. Left has just one Hunter, and a little on the right we have last Hunter and Riotbreaker, plus Melissa far right.

I try to bring Jack Daw to give Guardian an upgrade, but fails to deliver. Hanged does better job, and middle Hunter received Forbidden Knowledge, while interacting with a strategy marker after Montresor stared it to walk twice.

Turn 2:

On the left Guilty activates first and interacts with strategy marker, charging Hunter afterwards. Jack Daw gives upgrades to Guardian and Mechanical Attendant. 

Hoffman charges Hanged, Guardian and Hunter mauls Jack Daw, and Mechanical Attendant tries to shoot Lady Ligeia. Terrifying, -1 willpower from Jack and Lady Ligeia's betrayal ruin Guild's capability to deal damage in the middle. And I had been a little worried about the safety of Jack on turn 1...

Prospector interacts with marker. Hunter on right deals moderate damage to Guilty with two negatives, but this happened to be to my advantage. Last attack by Hunter I won, but cheated to fail - minimum damage killed my guilty martyr.

And right next Montresor comes to execute the Hunter, bringing me a more or less fresh Guilty on board.

Last, Johan Creedy Red Jokers the Hunter on left dead. 

Situation was grim for Guild, when points went 2-0 for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

After Jack Daw executed Guardian, Hunter and Mechanical Attendant, we called the game done.

So, yeah... it was a brutal match-up for Hoffman. Maybe even one of the worst match-ups available in Malifaux? I do not know, but for certain I feel a little...

... Guilty.

End of a chapter

I was visiting family and friends back in Kuhmo, and there we had an "epic" conclusion to our Touch of Evil campaign.

 It's been seven and a half years since the campaign began. 

Our mission was to fight and win every villain there is - from all the expansion as well as the web exclusives. If heroes died in showdowns, they were out for the rest of the campaign.

So, Shadow Witch it was with our last remaining heroes, Abigail the occultist and Captain Hawkins.

And then, after two turns Shadow Track was already almost half gone. Way to end a seven year campaign. Or?

Once more elders were dying left and right, spawning Spectres as they went. Situation would have been hopeless if it wasn't for the loyal militia of Captain Hawkins. Many a lives were lost... but at least Spectres disappeared as fast as they emerged.

Heroes also seemed to figure out themselves how to "game" Shadow Witch. Subsequent two draws from mystery deck were Traitor's Blood, which has a hero kill off an elder. I guess it went something like "You can't believe how sorry I am, but this is for the best for the community."

Soon enough there were only two elders left that had highest honor, so that was a lot of pressure off from the shoulder of heroes.

Once Captain got the militia engine running, and Abigail got Sacred Chalice, Shadow Track stopped in its... well, tracks. It was as if heroes had some hope. Captain even managed to buy musket and silver bullets. 

It wasn't all fun and games, though, because constant struggling against the odds kept heroes away from securing clues against the final showdown.

Which soon had to happen. When Sacred Chalice emptied, Shadow Track was at it again.

Heroes barely got to start the showdown. Shadow track was at one.

Strangely enough, Captain Hawkins blows half of Shadow Witch's wounds away with first attack - and survived the 13 or so fight dice attack. Abigail scored no wounds, but was saved by Hawkins with Honorable Gesture.

Then Captain shoots the villain down to one wound remaining, but was KO'd after his feat. Just one wound, Abigal, please! She was able to do five dices worth of attacks, none of which was a 5+.

Next something miraculous happened. Shadow Witch failed to KO Abigail, so she still had the chance to make this a victory. But that needed a 5+ on two dice.

...

Throughout the showdown, Abigail had made 10 dice worth of attacks. None of which was a 5+.

Maybe Abigail was the Shadow Witch all along...

Thus ended the Touch of Evil campaign.

Fine Art of Deployment

 Had a 50ss game of Malifaux. Here I have almost no pictures since my earlier camera broke and I needed to use manual settings on an unfamiliar SLR camera. I really do hope that new micro-SD memory card fixes the previous camera... because...

Anyway, the game.

Strategy: Break the Line with Wedge deployment

Schemes: Assassinate, Claim Jump, Outflank, Breakthrough, Vendetta

My list:

Molly & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
Hanged with Grave Spirit Touch
2x Crooligans
Night Terror
Rabble Riser

Pool:3
Schemes: Outflank, Breakthrough

Opponent:

Asami & Amanjaku
Ama No Zako
Fuhatsu
Lone Swordsman
Samurai with Trained Ninja (Claim Jump)
Akaname

Pool: 8
Schemes: Assassinate, Claim Jump

Turn 1:

As a fun fact, we had to flip for initiative four times because of even results. 

I was the defending player, so I placed my strategy markers on the furthest points of the middle line, right next to table edge. Along with Crooligans. Another two markers were in the middle where you'd expect.

Well then... there was this Obsidian grenade launcher called Asami on the other side of the Wedge deployment zone. With essentially three gatling gun attacks. 

So maybe I'll deploy as a hugeish blob in the middle of the board? What could possibly go wrong?

Looking back, I should have scrapped the idea of contesting middle of the board completely, and focused on the edges. But that's not what I did, and as a result Rabble Riser was at two health remaining, on fire. Philip and the Nanny at half hit points remaining, on fire. Night Terror and Molly, a couple of points in and Night Terror on fire, plus no soul stones remaining. Not to mention needing to waste three actions points to remove the Obsidian Oni before it activated.

Lone Swordsman was nearing my Crooligan on the left. Ama No Zako used double-walk and Dark Bargained itself to make an interact on a strategy marker on middle-right. Necrotic Machine ran towards marker on middle-left, because apparently there were no viable targets for Emergency Syrette and its heal...

Well, at least Molly had given Rabble Riser another activation, who charged Fuhatsu and Hanged managed to land its upgrade on Fuhatsu.

Turn 2:

Lone Swordsman butchers Crooligan with just one action point, and thus manages to lob strategy marker on the left towards my side of the board.

I jump at my chance to possibly kill Fuhatsu - Hanged places its anti-healing aura on, and lands a moderate wound to the henchman despite being on a negative damage flip. Fuhatsu is at three wounds now and unable to reliably heal!

Well, except that then the gunner hit Hanged with Daze trigger, and uses Scatter to place the aura well beyond 4" range. Fuhatsu is at five!

Rabble Riser (now at one health and burning) charged Fuhatsu and after attacking three times. After all the stones and whatnot, Fuhatsu is at three!

Molly then does a double walk and kills the henchman by telling him a real disturbing story.

All good, although Molly was now in the middle of board.

At least Ama No Zako had been busy with killing another Rabble Riser that Forgotten Marshal had summoned earlier, and Night Terror. 

Asami used her hair strike on Philip and Nanny, pulling them away from a strategy marker they were hugging. Then a gigantic arachnotaur appeared behind Molly and in-between the aforementioned strategy marker. 

Thus robbed of their meaningful target, Philip and Nanny charges Asami that had no Protected targets nearby. After all I had Red Joker in my hand, and while I had an inkling that I should have saved the card for something else, at least Asami was at five wounds remaining after Pram Ram.

Jorogumo then removes Philip & Nanny from the equation.

Both players score strategy, and Ten Thunders reveal Assassinate. Scores are 2-1 for Ten Thunders.

Turn 3:

Because I'm kind of worried Molly might soon kick the bucket, she has one last chance to start asking questions from Asami. Irreducible damage would have been nice, but opponent was at full hand. Asami gets to one health remaining from Molly's unending stream of questions, which incidentally was the same amount of health Molly had.

I still had one chance to kill Asami, and that was using By Your Side on Crooligan and delivering the killing blow. It was the heat of the moment that told me Asami would die to minimum damage. Yeah, sure, but that didn't count for soulstones...

Because of that miss-step I lost my chance to get a point off from Outflank this turn. 

Forgotten Marshal and Hanged were busy delivering strategy marker deeper into enemy lines, and because of that Resurrectionists scored their second point from strategy. Ten Thunders did, too, and revealed Claim Jump on Samurai.

Turn 4:

Starts with three models on my side, with Resurrectionists two points behind and opponent 100% scoring two end conditions, and 90% scoring full strategies. No point to continue. Victory for Ten Thunders.

I think it would have been a tough game for Molly even if I hadn't screwed up deployment so bad. My lack of hitting power didn't mesh well with an assortment of Armor +1-2, hard-to-would and hard-to-kill models.

In this particular game Grave Spirit Touch on Hanged was just dead weight - Fuhatsu didn't care about the Terrifying, and the thing didn't actually need regeneration either.

The Whisper on Forgotten Marshal was kind of dead weight too, but that was just because of pure chance - not once there was a high enough Crows coming up to do summoning.

"Influential reward"

 So we continued a four-player Scythe campaign, the Rise of Fenris.

In the fourth game Fenris actually began to show up. Agricultural Nordics, Industrial Albion, Patriotic Togawa and Mechanical Vesna were catching up their agents. There isn't much to tell about this game. No clear defining strategies had time to develop because of this over-enthusiastic world police called Vesna. Mechanical Vesna mobilized themselves to catch any and all Fenris agents they could find.

Game ended in just eight rounds. As a result, no-one got much in the way of mech mods or infrastructure mods. Final scores were:

Patriotic Togawa 29 (two Fenris agents)
Agricultural Nordics 28 (one Fenris agent)
Mechanical Vesna 27 (four Fenris agents)
Industrial Albion 17 (one Fenris agent)

Because the scenario ended so soon, we took on the fifth scenario with a big mystery box in Factory.

This time nations were Mechanical Nordics, Militant Albion, Patriotic Togawa and Innovative Vesna.

Because of my goal cards I had started hoarding power with Nordics.

Out of curiosity I uncovered the Seaworthy ability as quickly as I could and stomped to factory - the only route to ignore any influence tokens.

It was sixth round when my bear rider got to Factory. A big, stompy robot appeared and we had a cutscene.

In the cutscene an influential reward was promised to the player who'd manage to vanquish this new menace. Because it had worked so well for our Vesna player, I decided to try and uncover some hidden boons for me in the later scenarios. I was a bit envious that he already had +2 power and +3 influence at the start of every game.

So my hero punched the behemoth real hard, and the thing fell down in just one hit. I had gained a combat card with value of five, and had rolled one for the strength of the annihilator.

Bam. Scenario over. And it was the sixth round. Oh well.

Scores were:

Mechanical Nordics 41
Innovative Vesna 24
Militant Albion 19
Patriotic Togawa 16

And my influential reward, hmm, hmm?

I lost my faction and gained a new one.

One that doesn't have swimming workers. On a starting area with no village whatsoever.

Thanks, Vesna.

Asteroid belt

 Had two games of Warmachine. Format was Brawlmachine, and scenario in both games was the new Asteroids.

In first game I had:

Aphyxious the Hellbringer [+24]
- Reaper [11]
- Ripjaw [6]
- Slayer [10]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [5]
Pistol Wraith [4]
Bane Warriors (min) [8]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [5]

Opponent had:

Commander Coleman Stryker [+30]

 - Hammersmith [12]

 - Ironclad [12]

 - Lancer [8]

Black 13th Strike Force [7]

Rangers [7]

Stormguard Infantry (min) [9]

With Mobility up, my both heavies enter the rectangular zone. They are greeted by Stormguard that are screening enemy warjacks. Rangers on right are opposed to Bane Warriors, and Black 13th is flanking from left. Pistol Wraith tries to relocate itself away from their magical pistols. Nothing especially fancy.

But then... it seems there are some things I never really learn.

One of them is trying to make an initial opening by pulling an enemy warjack with a harpoon drag.

Feels like that misses 75% of the time.

And now my heavy warjack had only exposed itself to enemy charges. I tried to bring Asphyxious to front and use feat in an attempt to deter opponent from wrecking Reaper, or at least pay a price for doing so.

At least Hex Blast from Vociferon did exceptional job, frying three out of six Stormguards.

Ripjaw charges Black 13th and kills their double pistol model.

Stormguards then charge Reaper, and take almost half of its hit boxes away. Ironclad who comes to assist is far less effective, and leaves Reaper standing with cortex and melee arm still functional.

Lancer tries to free Black 13th from Ripjaw, and kind of succeeds. Bonechicken loses its head, meaning it wouldn't hit with free strike even if it rolled a six. Gun mages try to shoot Vociferon, but do not hit or damage. 

Stryker uses feat, making my next turn difficult.

Asphyxious had gained exactly one (1) focus point from his feat.

Ripjaw moves a bit so that it contests cygnaran flag. Bane Warriors destroy enemy objective and bring back all dead Bane Warriors via minifeat. 

Heavy warjacks and Asphyxious deal with the remaining Stormguards. Asphyxious is left with three focus for damage mitigation.

Three focus points just wasn't enough, as Stryker got Earthquake on Asphyxious. Black 13th and even rangers dealt in enough damage to take out two focus points, so there really was no chance for the iron lich when Ironclad parked itself within melee range. Loss for Cryx.

Game 2:

My list in second game:

Lord Tyrant Hexeris [+28]

 - Agonizer [5]

 - Aradus Sentinel [12]

 - Cyclops Raider [9]

 - Titan Gladiator [13]

Mortitheurge Willbreaker [2]

Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]

Thrullg [3]

Venator Slingers (min) [8]

Opponent had:

Kaya the Wildborne [+32]

 - Feral Warpwolf [14]

 - Gnarlhorn Satyr [10]

 - Wild Argus [6]

 - Wild Argus [6]

Gallows Grove [2]

Lord of the Feast [5]

Gatorman Posse (max) [13]

Circle approached with Gatormen, Gallows Grove and Lord of the Feast on the left, and the rest coming from the middle.

My battlegroup was also nearing the rectangular zone while Slingers and Cyclops Raider were bracing against the Gatormen.

Winter Argus managed to freeze Aradus Sentinel for a while. Circle warbeasts did clump up rather nicely there, so Aradus took a walk and sprayed some respectable damage in to both arguses and Feral Warpwolf. Attack on Kaya missed even with a re-roll from Puppet Master.

Gatormen had ran closer, so I though I might try to get some mileage out of Hexeris' feat. 

It didn't turn out so well, as the one and only Gatorman the slingers succeeded to kill passed its Tough roll - no Dark Dominion for me.

Cyclops Raider takes an aimed (and thus stealth-ignoring) shot against Lord of the Feast, and removes the solo single-handedly. Dark Dominion for me. 

Swamp Gobber River Raider tries to act a hero, and harpoons itself to enemy objective, poking in a point of damage into Feral Warpwolf. Hexeris had cast Parasite on it, though.

Gladiator just tries to look menacing, and protect Agonizer that was providing strength penalty.

Turns out Winter Argus is able to spray the lesser warbeast dead, and as a result Wild Argus and Feral Warpwolf butcher Aradus Sentinel. Gatormen remove half of slingers - although only because they couldn't reach for more.

I try to pick the pieces that are left - Feral Warpwolf is left alive with one hit point remaining, despite the efforts of Thrullg and Cyclops Raider. Titan Gladiator charges Gnarlhorn Satyr dead.

Slingers shoot one Gatorman down, and Hexeris charges another. For some odd reason I try to shoot another Gatorman with Sunder Spirits... and didn't even succeed.

Hexeris' downfall was completely unnecessary. Winter Argus could slam him, and then Kaya spammed Spirit Fangs on him until he was torn to shreds - as he had only one transfer available. Loss for Skorne.

Cursed sword indeed

Lantern Year 12 hunt & showdown: Sunstalker level 1

Theonous, Noram, Hovelina and Bulvans will have to do for a hunting party, as both stars of the settlement had been quarreling earlier and exhausted themselves.

Hilariously enough, Theonous who had lost his arm in Triathlon of Death, had a nightmare and woke up with a two-handed Twilight Sword. 

Because he isn't courageous enough to chase the storm, Bulvans proves his braveness in an alternate way and eats some monster droppings, gaining assorted tokens.

Noram becomes Emotionless after finding some cuddling skeletons.

Showdown itself started with Sunstalker doing nothing for the first two rounds. Except, of course, filling the Solar Track. 

Even after nerfs Counter-weighted Axe is still a beast, and Bulvans deals four points of damage on first survivor turn.

It almost looked like game was over for Sunstalker after turn 2 - had not Hovelina missed her aimed Vespertine Bow attack, Sunstalker would have had no more AI cards. But as it was, Solar Flare triggered and fight continued for a couple more rounds. 

Lantern Year 13 - Elder Council

Council totaled 52 hunt experience in the population. Thus it was the worst result one could have from Elder Council. 

There were a couple of story events on the timeline. First, Hooded Knight challenges the handless Theonous to duel. Disappointed that a guy with just one hand can't swing the biggest and meanest sword around, he kills Theonous.

Then we have Bone Witch. It took two re-rolls to wriggle out of horrible Witch Camp results. She is taught by the witch to be a Bone Whisperer. 

Voxada and Tranaloka drink Love Juice, and it takes all but two re-rolls to succeed on Intimacy. There we have it. Hovelina and the newborn are last remaining re-rolls in Enerva settlement.

Settlement develops Sky Harpoon.

1: Taken by Elder Council
2: Hovelina's Witch Camp
3: Settlement cooks permanent evasion for Laifuseus.
4: Settlement innovates Sacrifice
5: Scrap scavenge for broken lantern
6: Petal Spiral doesn't give anything
7: Augury gives +1 understanding for Hovelina
8: Augury triggers Intimacy for Sylch and Tranaloka. Yikes. Turned out to be +1 population.
9: Shrine ritual is a success

Lantern Year 13 showdown - The Hand level 1

Laifuseus, Hovelina, Agyruu and Bulvans wrestle The Hand.

Agyruu suffers a non-permanent injury during fight. Nothing dangerous there. But then - the survivors are victorious.

Bulvans rolls "1" for applause and uses up Hovelina's re-roll. Re-roll is also "1".

At least Hovelina gains +1 permanent strength and Agyruu gains nothing. Laifuseus rolls the best result - getting +1 permanent accuracy, strength and evasion from The Hand. Then The Hand punts a lantern through Laifuseus' face. 

This didn't go optimally, as now I innovated Sacrifice in vain and didn't get to roll last Age milestone for Laifuseus. Oh well. There goes Enerva's Sleeping Virus Flower.

Lantern Year 14 - Slender Blight

This year's departees need to switch their Insanity and Survival values.

A Warm Virus has Volloka dig a memorial grave for themselves. Sylloka is so moved that gains the most useless secret fighting art there is. Volloka is transformed into Laifuseus.

1: Settlement innovates Nightmare Training.
2: Hovelina trains bow in Nightmare Training.
3: Laifuseus fails at Nightmare Training.
4-7: Auguries spent to get Intimacy. +1 population.
8-9: Voxada scavenges for two Broken Lanterns.
10: Shrine Ritual is a success.

Lantern Year 14 hunt & showdown - Sunstalker level 1

New and improved Laifuseus, Hovelina, Zoronuro and Sylloka hunt for Sunstalker.

Something weird happens right in the beginning. Sylloka's fighting art, Swordman's Promise, apparently was an omen. First hunt event against Sunstalker was again "Nightmare", and again settlement received Twilight Sword! Truly a cursed thing.

Cuddling Skeletons triggered White Secret for Hovelina, and her future became a little complicated when she received Immortal disorder, supported by well-fitting Quixotic. She gained Peerless. Boo.

Thanks to Slender Blight, survivors started showdown with less than ideal survival levels. 

This escalated quickly as Zoronuro was already taking severe injuries by turn 2. I needed to end the showdown as fast as possible, skipping the race for salt. Survivor turn 2 was when Laifuseus scored the final wound. Annoyingly, that was a critical wound to location to gain Prismatic Gills, which in turn gave Laifuseus Emotionless disorder.

Fun fact: out of 11 wounds, Laifuseus scored 10. The one other wound was made by Sky Harpoon.

Lantern Year 15 - Triathlon of Death

So, a third triathlon for the settlement. Isn't there enough people with dismembered arm already?

I took quite of a risk to choose Laifuseus and Zoronuro for the competition, but I figured Nodalus and Firbab would would lose to them in just about any category. 

Race contest from winner to loser: Laifuseus, Zoronuro, Firbab, Nodalus

Debate contest: Laifuseus, Nodalus, Zoronuro, Firbab

Fight contest: Laifuseus, Zoronuro, Firbab, Nodalus

A worthy mention goes to Zoronuro, who has been present in all of the settlement's triathlons and has steadily placed second in race contest in all three events. Firbab is a veteran, too, and placed #4 in debate contest on both occasions. 

1: Settlement innovates Scrap Smelting
2: Matchmaker of Zoronuro for Nodalus and Noanna
3: Matchmaker of Laifuseus for Nodalus and Noanna, takes one re-roll.
4: Failed Nightmare Training for Sylloka
5: Sylloka is given age, he gains Abyssal Sadist from milestone.
6-8: Zoronuro scavenges one Broken Lantern
9: Zoronuro uses scrap smelting to make 2x Iron
10: Shrine ritual is success

Settlement develops Sunspot Lantern, Cycloid helm and skirt.

I'm tempted to hunt Sunstalker again, but no. To keep things fresh, I'll go for the first-time ever Gigalion.

Lantern Year 15 hunt & showdown - Level 2 Gigalion

Laifuseus, Voxada, Sylloka, Lojuba start the hunt, and are immediately greeted by chance-encounter. Fortunately fresh-out-of-kindergarten Lojuba was still sane, and everyone received +1 courage and understanding. Fortune blessed Voxada with +1 permanent movement from triggering Bold.

Failed Start showers survivors with founding stones. I have to trash Cloth, Rawhide Boots and Stone Noses to make place for three founding stones.

Lojuba went hyper-sensitive in wailing smoke. Weeping Faces delay hunters for an additional hunt event roll. Then Laifuseus' Seasoned Hunter triggers on monster droppings for Lojuba. Lojuba investigates, and triggers Insight. Roll itself delays survivors again. Lojuba finds a Lost Survivor, and gains some fighting arts and triggers Bold for him.

Scratching Grounds trigger See the Truth for Laifuseus, who plucks out her eye to gain the sub-par Bitter ability. Or what do I know. Butcher fight is approaching fast...

Overwhelming Darkness was a tad overwhelming. Lojuba lost all survival in attempt to rescue an unknown survivor. Sylloka lost all survival to path of the insane. Even Voxada would have lost all her survival if it wasn't for Otherworldly Luck.

Lion's Sculpture forces Sylloka to use their re-roll. I really didn't want Murder on the timeline 1d5 years from now... Dark Blacksmith was far more manageable. 

Then survivors start showdown confidently. Smart Cat reveals zero mood cards and my confidence grows. The deck is shuffled and first card: Alert. Second card: Bloodthirsty. 

That combination might be too much... Sylloka uses Cat's Eye Circlet and thankfully there is one knock-down critical location coming up. Voxada tosses a founding stone at the beast. Problem solved. At least until the AI deck is shuffled again.

But then Vicious kicks in and the target becomes unreachable. Except for dashing Movement 7 survivors.

Laifuseus gets to attack lion's blind spot, and Voxada with Vespertine Bow gets to launch a full volley. That resulted in one hit, thanks to accuracy penalty from Overwhelming Darkness. But still, it was six wounds in on the first round.

Sylloka and Lojuba go to scavenge survivor corpses and ore veins. The Gigalion is easily navigated by two high-profile Movement 7 survivors. In fact, I don't think it got to make any actual AI combat card swings at all. All attacks came from trap and failure hit location that brought Voxada down to heavy injury levels.

But all in all, it went fine.

Lantern Year 16 - Clinging Mist

A disaster! Two nemesis fights in a year. And Laifuseus, Voxada, Sylloka and Lojuba are not able to take part in Manhunter fight as they are too drenched from acidic mist. Great.

Settlement develops Lion Slayer Cape and Whisker Harp.

Sylch and Tranaloka also drink Love Juice, but turned out the thing might have spoiled somewhere along the way. Sylch died.

1: Settlement innovates Scarification.
2: Matchmaker for Nodalus and Firbab, takes away one re-roll but a child is born.
3: Voxada scavenges a second Broken Lantern.
4: Voxada attempts Nightmare Training, gaining +1 permanent accuracy.
5: Sylloka takes a scarification session, gains Matchmaker and doesn't lose movement despite missing toes.
6: Idoloromias takes scarification, gaining Tough.
7: Firbalus takes scarification, becoming Blinded.
8: Nodaanna takes scarification, gaining Tough.
9: Shrine ritual is success.
10: Laifuseus burns eight survival in Nightmare Training, gaining nothing.
11: Crimson Candy for Hovelina. Too much sugar!

Year 16 special showdown - Manhunter level 3

With best survivors gone for this showdown, Manhunter has to be repelled by Luma, Zoronuro, Hovelina and Idoloromias.

Uncertain as I was, I took two Founding Stones with me to the showdown. There was a hit location that gave -2 accuracy, +1 damage for Manhunter on a critical wound, so there went one although it was a bit of a risk. 

I figured I needed Hovelina to use her Vespertine Bow more often during this showdown, I put her to tank a few hits from Manhunter to get her below Immortal threshold.

First few rounds survivors were trickling in about two wounds per turn. This was mostly due to stakes - by turn three there were three stake traps removed.

And then there was this joy of drawing two actual trap cards in one round.

I think it was the correct choice to give -2 accuracy tokens and +1 damage token. This all but negated Tomb Stone attacks. Zoronuro, the dedicated tank, took severe damage in by taking three hits of four damage to body armor. This scored only one severe injury roll, though, which came up as only two bleed tokens.

Despite constant danger, situation seemed to be in control - but all defensive points were dwindling rapidly. Eight hit locations throughout survivors would get instant severe injuries if they took more than 2 damage (and there isn't that many damage 1 attacks for Manhunter...), Hovelina was at one Insanity (started with 16), Zoronuro had 3 insanity (started with 14) and 2 survival, Luma had 3 survival.

Fortunately Manhunter had also started taking damage. Survivor team wouldn't have lasted much longer, but Hovelina launched a final volley hitting with all three attacks with Vespertine Bow when Manhunter had two cards left. I had planned her to hit two times, though - now she had to take First Strike location that would cause a severe injury.

Intracranial Hemorrhage. Bam. Instantly useless survivor. At least the remaining two wound attacks succeeded, killing Manhunter. 

Idoloromias is nominated to be the veteran for Tools of War. Sylloka is nominated to be the survivor for True Meaning of War.

With remaining endeavor Hovelina tries to cure her hemorrhage with Crimson Candy, but has to skip next hunt instead.

Well. That was only half of the fun. Next...

Nemesis Encounter - Butcher level 2

Laifuseus, Sylloka, Voxada and Idoloromias are the chosen champions for this fight that Enerva needs to win - 31 resources from which 5 are iron is too steep price to pay. Not to mention the life of Laifuseus, the survivor that will carry Enerva settlement to post-watcher greatness, if anyone.

A quick rundown of my abilities reveals that if we consider Butcher's base accuracy to be 4+, two survivors (Laifuseus & Idoloromias) are only hit on a 10+ (Idoloromias wears Tool Belt), Voxada on 7-9+ (depending how many movements had been used) and Sylloka on 6+. 

Tactics blessed survivors with Quad Strike, which ought to be devastating in this lineup. Three survivors have reach (Vespertine Bow, Sky Harpoon, Counter-weighted Axe) and one doesn't have any weapons at all. 

Voxada screws things up by failing to wound Butcher and inviting him closer because of it. This is where I decide to go all in.

I noticed a neat potential combo for Sky Harpoon and Twilight Sword - you might be able to yank the monster right next to you, and do the cumbersome attack. But it was too late for Sylloka, he had already moved. But at least he got in a wound with dash + normal action. 

After all but the surges of Laifuseus and Idoloromias, Butcher had taken in five wounds. Idoloromias checked the hit location deck, and trap was coming up. Laifuseus surged for block on her shield.

Then Butcher proved his utter feebleness against Laifuseus.

I mean.

There was at least a challenge with Manhunter. This showdown... Out of the nine AI cards Butcher was able to draw, only one attack hit. And that was against Sylloka.

Sunstalker level 2, here we come!

Lantern Year 17 - Hunt Re-enactment

Favorite survivors must be Laifuseus. But the least liked? I supposed that's the last unnamed survivor with no re-roll left. Laifuseus and Hunree play out the last showdown against Butcher. Laifuseus gains Last Man Standing fighting art.

1: Settlement innovates Bed.
2: Matchmaker for Undebea and Phenial gives off a baby.
3: Matchmaker Undebea and Phenial makes another baby, albeit with a re-roll.
4-5: Zoronuro sleeps off his broken rib in Bed.
6: Voxada burns 8 survival on Nightmare Training to gain +1 bow proficiency... and he even had Otherworldly luck!
7: Hovelina cures her intracranial hemorrhage with Crimson Candy.
8: War Room plan.
9: Shrine ritual is success.

Lantern Year 17 hunt & showdown - Sunstalker level 2

Since the party proved to be so effective, Laifuseus, Voxada, Sylloka and Idoloromias start to hunt a next level Sunstalker.

Black to Blue and Empty Pool didn't cause much of anything, but first actual hunt event was Time Lapse. It took one re-roll, but correct result was going to replenish those anyway.

Laifuseuskaja's person in alternate reality apparently was rather similar to her - she received Vermin Obsession again. Syllogi gained Revenge which complements his character's overprotective tendencies. He also triggered Age, and gained Double Dash over Swordman's Promise. Voxanius got squeamish, which will prove troublesome because he has binge-eating disorder too... need to find another consumable gear than monster grease. Menoloromias got traumatized.

Overwhelming Darkness didn't do much of anything, as the penalty tokens could be removed right in the next space by Sonorous Rest. The actual hunt event, however, was Solar Winds. I knew I took a risk in bringing monster grease, and now they were gone. As well as half of Voxanius' survival.

Showdown.

First bubble that Sunstalker makes isn't really doing anything, as was expected. But then is survivors' first turn.

While Voxanius and Syllogi scored in three wounds, it was Laifuseuskaja's time to screw things up. 

Trap was drawn twice on the first round. To make matters worse, Voxanius had inflicted Severed Tentacle persistent injury for Sunstalker, and second AI card sprayed Sylloka and Laifuseus with bleed tokens they now cannot remove... Was this effectively the end of Enerva settlement? 

At least there were some seeds of a catastrophe sown on survivor turn 2. Laifuseuskaja took a couple of knockbacks, and because of Motion Sickness disorder, that was two bleed tokens more. 

However, this time trap didn't come to stop the wounding machine. Sunstalker received seven additional wounds, so if survivors plan their movements extra carefully... maybe there will be tomorrow for us all?

Viscous UV beam, despite hitting on 6+ scored four hits out of five attacks towards Syllogi. 

But then Voxanius manages to score a wound to Sunstalker. And there was Deathblow location coming up. I decided to ditch the another salt pillar and send Laifuseuskaja in for the kill. Which she did. 

Lantern Year 18 - Season of the Spiderling

As if Sunstalker wasn't enough, I have to endure the anxiety-inducing event of Season of the Spiderling.

Laifuseuskaja, Voxanius, Syllogi and Hovelina are the defending warriors. It took two re-rolls and the lives of two innocent by-standers, but the battle was a victory that handed out both Axe and Bow mastery for the settlement. 

1: Settlement innovates Momento Mori.
2: Matchmaker for Chantur and Noanna, Noantur happens without an incident.
3: Matchmaker for Chantur and Noanna. Noanna dies.
4: Voxanius removes her broken rib. I mean... cures it.
5: Noantur breaks his genitals during scarification ritual.
6-9: Voxanius tries to scavenge for a broken lantern, but gains only a point of courage. 
10: Settlement cures leather.
11: Shrine ritual is success.

Kholkho and Undebea drink some love juice, and it once more costs a re-roll.

Settlement develops Cycloid vest, Bone Pickaxe, and two Monster Greases back.

There are a few options on what to hunt now. I need more salt for Sunstalker gear, I need more Gigalion stuff for Gigalion gear, and I could probably take on Dung Beetle Knight now, and Necromancer's Eye from Lion God would be useful in upcoming showdown against King's Man level 2.

Lion God it is.

Lantern Year 18 Hunt & Showdown - Lion God level 1

Laifuseuskaja, Syllogi, Nodaanna and Noram are supposed to bring home the new and improved Cat's Eye Circlet.

Hunt was otherwise uneventful, except for 4x hide resources from Flesh Fields and Noram losing all survival in Overwhelming Darkness.

The actual showdown, on the other hand, got eeeeenteresting right from the start when Lion God drew Woeful Majesty. Then it performed just performed heft, but all in all this showdown has the ingredients for a campaign-ending disaster. 

Survivor turn wasn't exactly a success either. Although five wounds were inflicted that doesn't matter much thanks to Woeful Majesty. Syllogi nearly loses his hand to monster reaction, but Laifuseuskaja manages to save him by first pushing Lion God on top of Syllogi, and then yanking the monster back to herself so that it no longer was adjacent to Syllogi. This, however, damaged Laifuseuskaja badly when Lion God bashed her into giant stone face. Next AI turn the God manages to hit Laifuseuskaja twice with a natural lantern 10. So... that's already two locations at heavy injury level and it isn't even the second turn!

Since a plenty amount of wounds were done, I change tactics and try to trick Lion God into cycling its AI deck via continuous mourning.

Survivors didn't even need to suffer through that many mournings, as there were a few advanced cards (non-relentless) that were easily played around.

Noram was culling monster hit location deck by taking aimed Vespertine Bow shots from locations that made the world explode with bleed tokens.

Then came the big turn. Bam. Everyone lost all armor, survival and insanity and got four bleed tokens. And all terrain got archived. I did this with a surged Rawhide Headband, so I still got everyone's full activations left. Except for hemophobic Nodaanna.

Syllogi cleared two bleed tokens from Laifuseuskaja, who then took a swing at Lion God. She had to take it from whiplash zone, because one of the locations had a knockback reaction.

Of course now Laifuseuskaja who hit on 2+ managed only two hits with speed 3. Both were criticals, though. One location gave an extra wound on critical, too. Too bad Cudgel was still in play and got into discard pile.

There was still one blind card in AI deck, and Noram would need to make his aimed shot that wounded on 5+. And wound he did.

Now there was only Cudgel left in AI deck, which translated into basic action against Laifuseuskaja. Excess of lantern 10's didn't show up, so I started breathing a little easier.

Syllogi used Sky Harpoon's special ability and scored a wound. Laifuseuskaja cut Lion God to pieces.

Syllogi has to use his re-roll on The Knowledge Worm story event. Nodaanna already had used her re-roll to survive a brain trauma.

Oh my phew. What a teeth-grinding showdown.

Lantern Year 19 - Triathlon of Death

Well well. Fourth triathlon during the running of Enerva settlement. Laifuseuskaja, Nodalus, Noram and Lojuba enter the race. 

Race contest: Laifuseuskaja, Nodalus, Lojuba, Noram 
Debate: Laifuseuskaja, Noram, Lojuba,  Nodalus  
Fight: Laifuseuskaja, Noram, Lojuba, Nodalus 

Sadly Laifuseuskaja's victory on racing contest was wasted, as she has already gained +1 movement in her lifetime. But the thing I was after here was Laifuseuskaja's shield proficiency, of which she gained one level.

Nodalus, on the other... hand... became possibly my first ever survivor with two dismembered arms. 

1: Settlement innovates Drums.
2: Matchmaker for Kholkho and Undebea. 
3: Matchmaker Kholkho and Undebea. Undebea dies.
4: Settlement builds blacksmith
5: Settlement makes leather
6-7: Laifuseuskaja takes some sessions in Petal Spiral, not gaining anything.
8: Shrine ritual is success
9: Scarification for Unkho

Settlement develops an additional Round Leather Shield.

But this is enough of Kingdom Death for the year. Probably. Maybe.

Next time around is King's Man level 2. 

Enerva settlement

Population 34, Survival limit 12 (manhunter hooch), +3 on depart, (+3 survival, insanity from Knowledge Worm) +monsterlevel on arrival 

Luma
Voxanius otherworldly luck
Noctamum XXX
Laifuseuskaja 
Zoronuro XXX otherworldly luck
Konahim XXX
Nodalus, hamstrung XXX
Firbab the First Baby XXX
Lepuri XXX -1 permanent strength from Lamplighter, -1 survival
Hunree XXX, played monster in Hunt Re-enactment on LY 17
Nossos, with Ambidextrous XXX
Kholkho, Burning Focus fighting art. XXX +3 insanity, Anxiety from lost companion.
Chantur XXX +3 insanity, 
Phenial XXX
Agyruu XXX
Tranaloka - found from silk nest XXX, +3 insanity, Vestiphobia from lost companion.
Noram XXX SKIP NEXT HUNT
Hovelina XXX 
Mallestik XXX
Kholbab XXX
Pheruu XXX
Chanram XXX
Lojuba XXX SKIP NEXT HUNT
Syllogi XXX
Tranch XXX
Noandalus XXX
Nodaanna XXX
Menoloromias, saved by Lojuba during Overwhelming Darkness
Firbalus, Blinded via Scarification, +1 courage XXX
Phebea XXX
Undenial XXX
Noantur, destroyed genitals via scarification. +1 courage. XXX
Kholbea
Unkho, +1 courage and Tough from scarification.

1x Screaming Brain
1x Muscly Gums
1x Shank Bone

1x Huge Sunteeth

1x Stink Lung
1x Shadow Ink Gland
1x Shark Tongue
2x Cycloid Scales
1x 1000 year sunstone

1x Bladder
1x Beast Steak
1x Fresh Acanthus
4x Broken Lantern
1x Love Juice

1x Sinew (organ)

1x Lonely Ant

4x Red Vial
5x Leather

6x Iron