Anger Issues

 A 50ss game of Malifaux over Vassal.

Strategy: Corner Raid the Vaults

Schemes: Let Them Bleed, Hold Up Their Forces, Protected Territory, Death Beds, In Your Face

My list:

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

Pool: 3
Schemes: Protected Territory, Death Beds (Corpse)

Opponent had:

Tomb Delving Lucas McCabe & Luna
Sidir
Koji
Kara
Huckster
Cryptologist
Tanuki
Ruffian

Pool: 4
Schemes: Death Beds (Scrap), In Your Face

Turn 1:

Montresor gave Hanged a little walk and lumbered towards center-left strategy marker along with Malifaux Child. Auguste was speeding to top-left strategy marker and for a long time seemed uncontested, until Ruffian that had Fast from Timeworn Blade took a full run towards top.

After Sidir had activated Jack Daw felt bold enough to hide behind a forest at the center, almost contesting center-right marker. Lady Ligeia and Crooked Man were lazily following him.

Hanged attempted to connect some Forbidden Knowledge to Kara, but the cat was just damn too menacing. Guilty ran to Hanged, and Midnight Stalker joined to form a trio that could seize bottom-right strategy marker next turn.

Lucas and Sidir were holding the middle behind center forest. Kara and Koji reinforced Sidir with claims to center-right strategy marker. Huckster was kind of everywhere, at the moment of picture she was inside the building near bottom-right strategy marker. Cryptologist was also jogging there, but with Mv 4 it was going to take a while.

Tanuki and Luna acted like the animals they were behind Lucas' back. 

Turn 2:

I was hesitant, because I was quite aware of the risks involved. But nonetheless, when I won the initiative, Montresor activated and ran into forest. Luna dug up artifacts-to-be, and then - Jack Daw charged and landed hazardous terrain aura on Sidir. Two Draw Them Ins later both Kara and Koji were engaged by Jack Daw and were staggered,

It was an oppressive move for sure, but now my master was next to Sidir, Koji, Kara and even within easy charge range of McCabe.

McCabe, however, didn't charge Jack. Instead, he tossed Phantasmal Mask for Sidir and went to contest center-left strategy marker. 

Lady Ligeia moved to complete the unholy trinity of Montresor, Jack and her. 

Huckster used secret passage to deliver a scheme marker below Kara and near Jack Daw. Death Bed mirror seemed likely. So, Guilty came to plant a scheme near Kara. Guilty received some consolation from Sidir after sharing his guilt. Sidir was staggered below the burden.

Sidir tried to give shielded for Koji and Kara with Phantasmal Mask, but didn't want to cheat to succeed. I guess it was the guilt. Or, maybe not, because he had no qualms about cheating attacks against Jack Daw. Jack received only three damage in total, but this drained all of my soulstones. 

Koji and Kara went berserk and tried to kill Jack Daw, to hell with hazardous terrain! Too bad none of the actions scored a hit. But Koji and Kara were down to three health both. Ouch. At least Crooked Man didn't manage to land earthquakes on Huckster. 

Malifaux Child came to wrestle center-left strategy marker from the clutches of McCabe. This, however, prompted Russian to shoot the kid with derringer and then walk a little closer after he failed to score a kill. Tanuki ran to secure the vault for Ten Thunders. Oh well. At least it wasn't healing Koji or Kara.

Auguste went to control top-left strategy marker and began an interview with no-one. That's his thing. 

Hanged went to place a scheme marker near bottom-right strategy marker, and after Midnight Stalker failed to leap, he ran to at least secure the marker.

Cryptologist went to provide his aura to the troubled lot near middle. 

Both players scored strategy, and neither revealed schemes. But the situation was rapidly turning sour for Ten Thunders. However, Jack Daw was vulnerable now. They had their chance.

Turn 3:

Unfortunately Jack Daw won initiative. While opponent passed admirably Draw Them In checks even while the models were staggered, there were just too many checks. Only Koji died, though. Lucas whipped up another Timeworn Blade for Sidir and went to whip a kid to death. 

Guilty was only guilty of compassion. He tried to pet the kitty. Kitty died. Tenderly Guilty dug up a pretty Death Bed for the kitty and scored a scheme for Outcasts. 

Sidir tried to remove Jack Daw, but managed to bring him down to two health remaining. As a final act of defience Sidir did Blade Storm, prompting tests for Montresor, Lady Ligeia, Guilty, Jack Daw, Huckster who was at one health and Cryptologist who was at one remaining, too. 

It would have been cool to lose Jack Daw this way, but it was not to be. Only Huckster died.

Montresor activated and did his things, killing Cryptologist. It started to look like game over, so Ruffian tried to make the unlikely shot that would kill Jack Daw, who got both concealment and friendly fire.

Attack did not land, and we did not continue the game. My gambit paid off in a brutal manner. 

Changing Plans

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Standard Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Protected Territory, Deliver a Message, Ensnare, Let Them Bleed, Power Ritual

My list:

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

Pool: 4

Schemes: Ensnare, Power Ritual

Opponent had:

Colette DuBois & 3x Mechanical Doves
Carlos Vasquez
Cassandra Felton
The Firestarter
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
Showgirl

Pool: 2

Schemes: Ensnare, Protected Territory

Here's the thing.

We got presidential elections coming up in Finland. So I printed out the candidates and put them into strategy markers, and randomly distributed the markers over the board. So now we just wait and see if Malifaux matches are a reliable way to predict these things

Turn 1:

Power Ritual in standard deployment, so I placed a scheme marker to both of my corners. White Rabbit & Co. placed it right, and then pushed itself forward a little by tossing a hat to Bete Noire. A Rotten Belle did the same left, except no hats. 

Mortimer managed to dig up a zombie while going far left to offer his votes. Dead Dandy put a scheme marker next to my left strategy marker and begun to wait for the ballots to open.

In the middle Rotten Belle advanced a little and lured Seamus forward. Carlos, also going to middle, put a pyre marker blocking Seamus from using his gun unless he would take some burning in the process.

Madame Sybelle went mid too and activated Undivided Attention. I wanted opponent to activate the dreaded Coryphee Duet, but for some reason he just wouldn't. So I had to offer a bait. Bete Noire. 

Colette and Angelica had moved Coryphee forward, so it charged Bete Noire. Fortunately it failed the first attack with Black Joker, but second had Bete Noire fade away. Coryphees split their duet. 

Copycat Killed transferred Seamus to right wing, and from there he dismantled a piece of destructible terrain, took aim and shot the activated Coryphee. Blam. And now it's a mannikin! Severe 8.

Remaining Coryphee seemed much less threatening until it walked and charged Madame Sybelle, dealing moderate damage even with two negative fate modifiers. Damage block was one. Whee. 

On the performer side of things, Showgirl was waiting in performer-left strategy marker. Carlos and Colette were center-stage, while Angelica, Firestarter and some birds were holding right. 

Turn 2:

Dead Dandy placed a couple of votes on my left strategy marker, while Mortimer went to place one on the far-left. A Mechanical Dove attempted to peck him, but didn't feel that murderous today. A Rotten Belle on the left took a double walk to a corpse that had been dug up by Mordimer prior to his vote. Showgirl also placed two votes on performer-left strategy marker.

Those were the easy parts of the turn, but then there was a sort of cluster copulation in the middle. Coryphee attacked Madame Sybelle twice, dealing moderate damage both times despite having negative modifiers. Three times in a row. Madame Sybelle was burning through my soulstones rapidly.

To offer Madame a degree of protection, White Rabbit & Co. walked and charged Coryphee, and tossed a fancy bullet sponge hat for Madame Sybelle.

This prompted Colette to secure vantage point for her spectacular tricks. She placed a vote to the center ballot, and presto-changoed... changod? White Rabbit & Co. for a Mannikin. Madame Sybelle was not grateful for her hat, but when she lashed where hat crafters had been, a Mannikin fell dead in their place. 

Two murderbirds, Angelica and Carlos ganged up to beat up White Rabbit & Co., or maybe they just wanted new clothes and demanded them rather forcefully. Miraculously White Rabbit survived, but with two health and Burning +1. Rotten Belle lured them away from their way too enthusiastic customers. 

Seamus ran to place a vote far-right, while Firestarter flew to my right corner to place a scheme. 

Copycat Killer tried to shoot Coryphee, but results were not impressive. 

Bete Noire popped up from zombie dug up by Mortimer earlier. She charged and climbed to the stage to place a scheme marker, with the marker and her hat easily within 3" of Colette.

Both players score strategy, but no schemes were revealed. Scores: 1-1.

Turn 3:

Mortimer wrecked Mechanical Dove and moved as far forward as close as possible to performer top-left corner while still being able to vote. However, he wasn't able to dig up a homing beacon for Bete Noire this time around. 

Carlos, Andgelica and a bird are able to finish what they started with White Rabbit & Co., but not until they were able to offer their most magnificent hat to Rotten Belle. Well, not all of their resources went into killing the merchants. They were also able to score Ensnare with Madame Sybelle.

When Colette activated, Resurrectionists scored their Ensnare. Colette removed Coryphee from melee with Madame Sybelle, and went to strike Bete Noire with distracting illusions. Well, most distracting illusion probably was that Bete Noire faded away. 

Rotten Belle on the left walked and tried to lure Showgirl away from top-left strategy marker. It kind of worked, just not the way Belle meant. Lure attack failed, but Showgirl walked in to melee to strike Rotten Belle with a hairpin.

Coryphee nimbled and walked to Dead Dandy and struck him. The puppet was distracted, but still hit. And again the thing scored moderate wound with two negatives on damage flip! Ouch.

Bete Noire popped up from a corpse Mortimer had dug up earlier and charged Showgirl. She was quite distracted, and managed to land one hit of moderate damage. 

Firestarted went to place a vote to bottom-right marker and flew as far from Seamus as possible. 

Carlos had placed a spectacular fire show next to ballot on the far right. Seamus had to make his run through the flames to reach top-right corner with his four actions.

Both players scores strategy and Ensnare, but Resurrectionists got the lead by also scoring Power Ritual. Scores went 3-4.

Turn 4:

Rotten Belle on the left killed Showgirl. Mortimer's decay and Dead Dandy's cane finally killed Coryphee and the ensuing Mannequin. 

Firestarted planted a scheme and went to bottom-right strategy marker, where Dandy had spammed three votes. 

Carlos managed to drop a pyre near the center ballot and. shuffle himself to far-right strategy marker and even place a vote there. I had two there, though. Seamus placed another scheme to top-right corner and went to vote on top-right strategy marker.

Madame Sybelle kept lashing at Mechanical Doves while engaging Angelica. Angelica was trying as hard as she could to cane Madame Sybelle dead. 

I don't remember why Colette walked down from top of the building in the middle, perhaps to place a scheme for Ensnare and/or Protected Territory.

Hatted Rotten Belle started to climb closer to center ballot.

Bete Noire popped up from Showgirl's corpse and went to place two votes to top-left strategy marker. Copycat Killer was speeding towards top-left corner.

Performers failed to score strategy, but got Protected Territory instead.  Ressers got third strategy, for scores of 4-5.

Turn 5:

We didn't play fifth turn past Angelica's activation where she failed to cane Madame Sybelle's hat off and Rotten Belle's vote to center.  This ensured Ensnare end condition for me and tied Colette's hands to come back to center and claim the strategy marker back.

It was apparent that I'd get Power Ritual and Ensnare end conditions, while opponent would get Protected Territory end and strategy for a grand total of 6-7 for Resurrectionists.

Now. One question remains. What did Cassandra do during this entire game? I don't know, somebody has to go and ask her at her slot in carrying case.

Infiltraitor

A 50 point game of Warmachine on War Table.

My list:

Horruskh, The Thousand Wraths

Spell rack: Inviolable Resolve, Second Sight

10          Jackal 1, Arc Node, Hunter Rifle, Assault Shield

7           Jackal 2, Bloodthirst, Mace, Assault Shield

17          Molok

3           Reaver Commander

7+2       Strike Reavers &  Reaver Standard

4           Warwitch Coven

Command Cards: Careful Reconnaissance, Grave Robbing , Infiltration, Old Faithful, True  Inspiration

Opponent had:

Khador - Winter Korps

Kapitan Ilari Borisyuk

Spell Rack: - Avenging Force, Fog of War

11          Dire Wolf, Pathfinder, Long Axe, Plow-Shield

14          Great Bear, Reposition, Heavy Cannon, Blasting Fist

2+2   2x    Battle Mechanik

7       Shock Trooper Gunners

6+1       Winter Korps Infantry, 2x Rocketeer & Standard

6+1       Winter Korps Infantry, 2x Auto-Cannon & Standard

Command Cards: Blessing of the Gods, Break Through, Careful Reconnaissance, Infiltration, Old Faithful

Scenario was Invasion

Khador started and advanced with a unit of Winter Korps on both flanks, with everything else in between. Ilari cast Fog of War and Avenging Force.

Horruskh cast Inviolable Resolve on Molok and Second Sight on Jackal with rifle.

Melee Jackal was almost the sole contender to zone on the right. Horruskh, Molok and Jackal with rifle were in the middle, with Strike Reavers and their solo advancing behind a forest. Molok also played Grave Robbers already 

Khador wasn't able to do much else than positioning next. Great Bear that went to contest rectangular zone missed its cannon on Reaver Commander, but Ilari was able to snipe that solo off. Winter Korps unit went to contest circular zone one left with half of their strength, with Shock Troopers backing them up in a trench nearby.

Dire Wolf went to contest circular zone on the right, supported by Auto-Cannon group of Winter Korps and a singular Mechanik.

Orgoth also wasn't in a position to dish out that much damage, but it was in position to endure it. Strike Reavers popped True Inspiration on them, walked into the forest and managed to kill one of the three contesting Winter Korps.

Molok and ranged Jackal were filled with focus by Warwitches, and Molok took Pathfinder card to charge a single Winter Korpsman. It certainly died to a 17-point beatstick with three focus. The grunt became a +3def buff for Molok.

Ranged Jackal shot the last contesting Winter Korps, thus giving Orgoth point advantage.

Horrusks used his feat, turning that Molok into a dreadful Def 14, Arm 24 monstrosity that cannot be knocked down!

Melee Jackal just went to contest circular zone, staying within charge range of Dire Wolf. I wanted to believe my light warjack would be able to take some Long Axe into face with Arm 22. 

Khador turn was painful to watch. That +3 armor messed up a lot of things, when opponent's highest rolls were just about the average. Dire Bear was able to deal a few points of damage to melee Jackal, but not enough to destroy systems. Shock Troopers were able to kill two Strike Reavers - that's it. No more killing today, folks.

Warwitches filled melee Jackal and ranged Jackal with focus, and went to Dark Shroud the Dire Wolf. Jackal wasn't able to do much, especially considering that there was a Mechanik nearby. Even if it had hit with all of its attack, I doubt systems would have broken anyway, because I rolled columns poorly.

Molok removed two Winter Korpsmen that had ran to block easy access within 1" of Great Bear. That probably saved Great Bear, because even five P+S 18 attacks that all hit, plus a POW 13 rifle shot and whatever Strike Reavers were able to do didn't bring the bear down.

I didn't consider Horruskh was in that bad of a position, and so didn't even consider playing Infiltrate on him. 

Then... Old Faithful repairs Great Bear for five. On its activation Great Bear also uses Breakthrough to gain Unstoppable which it already had to move away from melee. It scores a critical shot against Horruskh. No damage, though, thanks to the only point of focus camp.

Ilari advances next and shoots Horruskh with his rifle, but doesn't score a crit and is able to remove only four of Orgoth warcaster's health.  Next shot, though... Is a critical, Horruskh is already knocked down and damage roll is exactly 15 points in.

That's what you get for not infiltrating around. 

Christmas in a Pine Box

 Some Christmas games of Malifaux.

First game:

Strategy: Standard Plant Explosives

Schemes: Information Overload, Protected Territory, Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual, Hold Up Their Forces

My list:

Molly Squidpiddge & Necrotic Machine
Philip & Nanny
Archie with the Whisper
Forgotten Marshal with the Whisper
Rabble Riser
Night Terror
2x Crooligan

Pool: 3
Schemes: Protected Territory, Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Charles Hoffman, Inventor & Mechanical Attendant
Melissa K.O.R.E
Peacekeeper
Guild Steward
2x Hunter
2x Watcher

Pool: 2
Schemes: Sweating Bullets, Power Ritual

Turn 1:

For a change I did not deploy Crooligans via From the Shadows, and deployed them instead to both of my corners. There they were able to bluff Power Ritual while making Information Overload more difficult for opponent.

Guild also had Watchers to their farthest flanks, and one of them placed a strategy marker to one of their corners. 

Hoffman, Peacekeeper, Steward and Mechanical Attendant were closing in from the middle, while Hunters were also at flanks, just not as far there as Watchers.

Peacekeeper was Guild's spearhead, and Forgotten Marshal went to summon a Night Terror to engage the scary enforcer. 

Night Terror was providing concealment for Molly, Necrotic Machine and Philip. Archie thought it was safe to leap, walk and place an explosive near a trench, but Hoffman offered him some electric current. Melissa was more traditional and filled Archie with lead. Worried for his safety, Molly ran to remove one pylon near trenches and heal Archie for two by making him discard a moderate card.

Turn 2:

Turns out I overestimated Archie's survivability once again. Melissa didn't manage to do much, so Necrotic Machine went to heal Archie back to seven health. But then Hoffman himself activated, walked and charged Archie - and killed him with two strikes.

So, instead of spamming explosive markers around the board, Night Terror and one Crooligan from one of my corners went to tie up Guild Steward and Mechanical Attendant so that it would be difficult for them to come and heal Hoffman. I had plans for that guy.

And once healers were tied, Molly started disturbing Hoffman with her stories. She had to turn Archie's corpse into Lost Knowledge first, and still was able to land only one batch of three irreducible damage to Guild master. 

Rabble Riser was fighting a Hunter on the left, while Hunter did the same with Rabble Riser. Neither was doing any progress. Watchers were flying towards my corners, and one of them planted an explosive token on board. 

Hunter on right tried to shoot Forgotten Marshal, but was distracted by Philip and the Nanny's boring conversations.

After Guild Steward removed Slow from Peacekeeper that had been caused by Philip and the Nanny, Peacekeeper smacked a summoned Night Terror dead and rather walked than charged to engage the prams. 

Another Crooligan teleported to Necrotic Machine in the middle and went to place a strategy marker. 

Forgotten Marshal put on a camera and filmed his most successful boxing video ever and uploaded it to youtube - Hunter was put into Pine Box. Summoning failed, though. 

Necrotic Machine was engaging Charles Hoffman, and by then I was misremembering that Guild Steward was five points. I thought I didn't have Hold Up Their Forces secured, so Philip and Nanny didn't push away from Peacepeeker with Deadly Pursuit. 

Soo... Guild scores Sweating Bullets and strategy, Resurrectionists got Hold Up Their Forces and strategy for a 2-2 tie. 

Turn 3:

Necrotic Machine poisons Hoffman and drains his last soulstone away. Melissa shoots Rabble Riser away from board and opens way for Hunter to go and place an explosive. And it does that, but only after Molly had disturbed Hoffman down to one health remaining. 

Hired Night Terror attempts to sacrifice itself by killing Guild Steward, but only manages to bring him down to one health. I see a pattern emerging here.

Guild Steward fortunately fails his motivational speech, but poison was dispelled from Hoffman's system. 

Forgotten Marshal walked on top of hill to summon third Crooligan and shoot Hoffman with Peacebringer, thus avenging the butchering of Archie.

Hunter inside Marshal's pine box wasn't able to get out. Peacekeeper also didn't manage to destroy a baby carriage. I suppose that didn't sit well with its protocols. Although it took all of my soulstones to protect the henchman.

A Crooligan that was engaging Mechanical Attendant went back to Forgotten Marshal and placed scheme marker and third explosive for me. Another one went to hide behind building, hiding a scheme marker there. 

Both players score strategy, but Resurrectionists also snatched Protected Territory for a 3-4 lead.

Turn 4:

Crooligans began to spam scheme markers all over the place. Melissa tried to discipline the kids a little with her gatling gun, but not a child listened. Watchers essentially did the same to my corners.

Night Terror was finally able to kill Guild Steward that had an explosive token, but died itself to reprisal. 

Hunter still wasn't able to get out of Forgotten Marshal's pine box. Another one attacked Molly and dealt good enough damage if we don't take into account it was turn four already. Forgotten Master disengaged, and disturbed Peacekeeper to death. Necrotic Machine moved forward to place fourth explosive marker next turn.

Guild wasn't able to get their strategy point this round, but did scored Power Ritual. Resurrectionists got strategy, still continuing with one point lead of 4-5.

Turn 5:

Situation looked difficult for Guild. Watcher failed to kill Philip and Nanny who had only one point of health left. That could have given at least strategy point for Guild by giving Peacekeeper an opportunity to plant an explosive. 

Resurrectionists had so many vectors to score at least two of the three possible points, and it seemed unlikely that Guild would get strategy point this round that we ended the game when Molly managed to kill Peacekeeper. Victory for Molly. 

Game 2:

Strategy: Standard Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: In Your Face, Outflank, Information Overload, Power Ritual, Take Prisoner

My list:

Molly, Chaotic Conductor & Necrotic Machine
Grave Golem
Rogue Necromancy
Noxious Nephilim
Forgotten Marshal with The Whisper
2x Crooligan

Pool: 4
Schemes: Information Overload, Take Prisoner (Mr. Graves)

Opponent had:

Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet & Hungering Darkness
Kitty Dumont
Mr. Graves
Soul Battery
Illuminated with Silent Protector
Illuminated
Beckoner
Tanuki

Pool: 3
Schemes: Outflank, In Your Face

Turn 1:

Information Overload and Power Ritual in the same scheme pool in same deployment made for a quite similar start as last game - both Crooligans were deployed regularly to place a scheme marker to both of my corners. 

Ten Thunders had Hungering Darkness in far-left with Mr. Graves nearby. Hungering Darkness took a double walk and concentrate, guarding the strategy marker with its 2" melee range. Forgotten Marshal summoned a Night Terror that eventually went to engage Hungering Darkness in hopes of wasting its action points, or perhaps walking away next turn to place a scheme. 

Noxious Nephilim flew to the hill on right, within walking distance of both strategy markers. 

Grave Golem inside a cloud for some concealment. Rogue Necromancy had a whopping 6" move from activating near Molly and ambushing. It walked and interacted with strategy marker, and later interacted a scheme marker past centerline

Even if I had two 10-point rather resilient models in the center, a whole throng of everything else than Hungering Darkness, Mr. Graves and Kitty Dumont looked overwhelming in a big blob like that. Kitty was going towards the rightmost strategy marker.

Turn 2:

Hungering Darkness slapped Night Terror dead and charged Rogue Necromancy, almost killing it. Scared of such a display of power, Rogue Necromancy activated, pushed itself out of melee by discarding a card with Molly, and then took a double walk away from action to protect the intel token.

Mr. Graves ran to cover the same leftmost strategy marker that Hungering Darkness had been guarding. History repeated itself when Forgotten Marshal summoned another Night Terror to block future interacts for Mr. Graves.

A Crooligan jumped to Forgotten Marshal to plant a scheme past centerline, in contact with table edge. When the Night Terror activated, it charged Mr. Graves to deny him any meaningful interaction.

Soul Battery, an Illuminated and a Beckoner all claimed an intel token from strategy markers. Necrotic Machine was also able to claim one intel, and so did Grave Golem while it was walking with pride. 

Lynch made a scary opening by taking two walks and a charge against Molly. I didn't feel like I had enough tools to deal with Luck Thief, so Lynch was now at just about the worst position imaginable. 

Another Crooligan teleported to Noxious Nephilim to walk and scheme.

Since opponent was holding Kitty's activation, I had to activate Noxious Nephilim first and bring it to guard strategy marker - just not interact with it, because Kitty might steal the intel. However, Kitty did not she walked to where centerline met table edge and planted two schemes.

Both players scored strategy, Resurrectionists got Information Overload, Ten Thunders Outflank for a 2-2 tie.

Turn 3:

After Night Terror had clawed Mr. Graves within 1" of Crooligan, he killed the summon, but left the kid intact. 

Lynch shuffled around for a bit and summoned Hungering Darkness next to Molly, and with last action Red Jokered a damage flip to Molly. At least damage block was a severe.

Concerned for master's safety, now somewhat healed Rogue Necromancy charged Hungering Darkness and managed to deal quite a bit of damage that were all healed when Hungering Darkness activated. Hungering Darkness managed to bring both Molly and Rogue Necromancy to low levels of health, but at Molly proved to be an adept healer when she Red Jokered her own heal flip, and gave a little boost to Rogue Necromancy, too. Getting savagely mauled by a monster and a drug addict disrupted Molly's parade and she failed to connect Parade Route to Grave Golem. 

Grave Golem had been pushed into melee with Lynch's delirium, but I wasn't too worried about this turns strategy. I had intel on Rogue Necromancy and Necrotic Machine, and both Lynch and Hungering Darkness had already activated. Grave Golem flailed fruitlessly at something, while an Illuminated killed second Crooligan. Tanuki did... something? and Beckoner ran forward to bring her problematic brilliance aura to middle. 

Noxious Nephilim tried to claw at Kitty, but didn't do enough. At least opponent burned through their soulstones in the process.

To make surviving a little easier next turn, Necrotic Machine came to attack Hungering Darkness and managed to poison it for two. Yay, no more triggers.

However, very last activation was an Illuminated in the middle that had to walk over a wall. It charged Necrotic Machine, and scored severe with a +1 from sharpened brilliance.

It had been a tough situation anyway, but losing an intel point like that made me lose strategy for this turn.

At least the Crooligan on left tagged Mr. Graves a prisoner, so scores were still a 3-3 tie.

Turn 4:

Molly tried to keep me playing the scenario by letting Grave Golem walk with pride to a strategy marker, then parading Rogue Necromancy to spam some movement duels to Lynch, Hungering Darkness, Beckoner and Illuminated. That didn't have much of an impact, though. 

This turn Hungering Darkness managed to kill Rogue Necromancy before it had even activated. Mr. Graves tried to beat a kid with a fencepost, but didn't succeed. The kid then jumped to Forgotten Marshal and charged Soul Battery. Crooligan scored severe damage, but that just triggered hard-to-kill. And then it was perfect opportunity for Soul Battery to sacrifice itself. Yay. First dead honeypot model in this game where I had two 10-point and one 9-point beater. And that kill was opponent's bonus action anyway.

Forgotten Marshal hadn't been able to summon anything for two full rounds. I was running out of activation points to claim points. At least Forgotten Marshal was able to put Mr. Graves inside the Pine Box. I was considering to smuggle my prisoner to my side of the table in a casket. 

Grave Golem claimed a second intel token on its own activation and speeded away from any sources of counter-intelligence. Lynch, however, disengaged and engaged the enforcer in melee. 

Noxious Nephilim nearly killed Kitty Dumont, but "nearly" wasn't enough. Kitty's unassuming demeanor started to actually threaten Nephilim's existence. 

Both players scored strategy, but Ten Thunders also claimed In Your Face from Rogue Necromancy.

Turn 5:

Kitty and Illuminated removed Noxious Nephilim after it had failed to kill Kitty once again.

Lynch summoned Hungering Darkness on the hill so that it was able to go outflanking with a scheme marker. Forgotten Marshal brought Mr. Graves as far past the centerline as possible, and then Crooligan teleported to block Mr. Graves advance as well as possible. It removed Hungering Darkness' scheme marker and scraped two points of damage to Forgotten Marshal. 

I had planned that if all else fails, Grave Golem might distance itself from melee, charge Forgotten Marshal, kill him and thus unbury my prisoner back on board. 

But unexpectedly I was able to claim enough intelligence to get third victory point from strategy. I had also Information Overload secured. Crooligan had ruined opponent's Outflank, and Kitty had chosen to try and secure Outflank, thus Ten Thunders also missed In Your Face end condition.

Miraculously Resurrectionist managed to carve a 6-5 victory although they did not manage to kill even a single model. The only one that Ten Thunders was Soul Battery, to it's own bonus action.

McMourning For President

 A 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Wedge Stuff the Ballots

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Hold Up Their Forces, Deliver a Message, Espionage, Let Them Bleed

My list:

Dr. McMourning & Zombie Chihuahua
Rafkin
Corpse Curator
Kentauroi with Killer Instinct
Nurse
Gravedigger
Little Gasser
2x Canine Remains

Pool: 4
Schemes: Take Prisoner (Rough Rider), Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
Jessie Halliday
Rough Rider
Cryptologist
Tanuki
Ruffian

Pool: 3
Schemes:

Turn 1:

Canine Remains took a bite out of Corpse Curator, and went to north-west marker. Gravedigger spammed Focust for most of my forces and took a double walk behind my crew, maybe still one day getting to a position to contribute to the game.

I had received four high masks in my starting hand, so Rafkin was able to accidentally drop four flasks of formaldehyde at his feet. Had opponent not had the ongoing threat of Sidir, that activation could have been Poison +9 for most of my crew. But I just didn't dare to bunch up like that.

Kentauroi took Rafkin along with a ride and walked within 2" of Canine Remains at north-west marker with the intention of going to top marker next turn.

Another Canine Remains went to south-west marker, and Little Gasser went to concentrate behind destructible boxes too far to walk and interact to either center or bottom marker. Nurse had earlier tried to push it here and there a little, but couldn't open the cap of the bottle.

Corpse Curator had gone to hide behind rocks near middle, and had Chihuahua with it. 

Opponent had been bunching up in the middle with Luna digging up a scrap and Lucas turning it into a Timeworn Blade for Sidir. He took Sidir for a ride, but fortunately wasn't able to place Sidir quite close enough to shoot EVERYTHING. Lucas, however, went to center ballot box and shot Rafkin staggered and slow with his net gun. Cryptologist was there in the middle, too. Tanuki had tried to motivate Sidir but failed.

Rough Rider and Ruffian were going to top marker. Jessie went to forest near center, while Desper LaRaux easily went past the centerline, within 1" of the bottom ballot.

Sidir was the last model opponent activated, and he swaggered a little forward and started shooting Rafkin. First attack was severe damage, how else. Second attack was mask triggered, so I was prepared to say farewell to Rafkin. But Black Joker saved him, and either the additional attack missed Kentauroi or all the damage was healed in the end phase. 

Dr. McMourning was the very last model to activate, and he gave Doctor's Orders for himself to go and make a health inspection to voters. And since brain is required for informed voting, he took out his skull saw to inspect Jessie's brains. Unfortunately one attack missed and another's damage was blocked in its entirety with a soulstone.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists managed to win the initiative, and McMourning tried to kill Jessie. He did get two attacks in and Jessie down to two health remaining. That's when he ordered himself to ballots in the middle to interact. Yeah. I completely forgot Precise ignores even hard-to-kill. Yay.

Sidir starts shooting Rafkin and kills him. Another shot goes to Kentauroi, making it slow.

Kentauroi then activates and shrugs off the slow. I was happily riding with Canine Remains until I realized that is also a bonus action. After some backtracking the centaur just went to interact with the ballots alone.

Luna dug up a scrap marker, and Little Gasser went to gas Jessie to one health remaining + poison from horrific odor. One health remaining and Catalyst nearby at least delayed her activation.

Lucas went next and brought Cryptologist closer with Ride With Me. He scrounged a Phantasmal Mask for Jessie and placed two votes in the ballots. So now was my chance to kill Jessie.

Zombie Chihuahua was not able to reach Jessie with its 0" melee range, but at least it could use Blood Poisoning. It succeeded with a focus, but damage was blocked with last soulstone opponent had. So, dog went closer and stank another poison for Jessie. 

I lost my chance to kill the henchman when Tanuki came to heal her next back to three health. 

Canine Remains on north-west counter placed a vote in and took hiding behind a small shack. 

Cryptologist started making cursed translations out of McMourning's prescriptions, and nearly killed Zombie Chihuahua in the process. Somewhat bothersome was Shielded +1 for Jessie. 

Ruffian and Rough Rider go to tease Kentauroi but in the end only manage to damage themselves with poison. 

Jessie disengages and tries to flare up Zombie Chihuahua and even shoot it with a harpoon, failing at both. 

Corpse Curator walks and charges Cryptologist, dealing a whopping two points through armor.Now the curator was in base contact with Cryptologist, with Poison +7 and even succeeded to leak out an additional point of poison for itself and Cryptologist via bonus action. Result: dead Cryptologist in the end phase.

Desper interacts bottom marker, leaps and charges Canine Remains. Fortunately the dog survives and even bites Desper back with four damage before healing back to full from poison.

Both players score strategy, and Corpse Curator and Canine Remains at Desper reveal Hold Up Their Forces for a 2-1 lead for Resurrectionists.

Turn 3:

Ruffian uses Chain Gang to dislodge himself from melee and interact to votes to top ballot box. McMourning went to finish what he had failed to do last turn and killed Jessie in two strikes. Having thus completed the health inspection, he charged Lucas to start checking if his brain is okay.

Desper killed the guard dog at south-west ballot box, interacted with it and leapt to my deployment zone.

I was afraid that Sidir would shoot Kentauroi, who was my best and only chance at scoring Take Prisoner and strategy. Corpse Curator went to attack him, and managed to make a Sidir-repellent sludge marker. 

Lucas, however, would deny that right next by hitting it with Bull Whip and moving its 0" melee range tad away from Sidir. He also tossed a timeworn blade to the henchman while dropping a vote to the box at the same time. Zombie Chihuahua had to save the Curator, and it took a double walk to shoot it with Blood Poisoning. 

Surviving Canine Remains behind hay shack tried to run to engage Sidir, but even with Mv 6 he was out of reach. At least the dog got close enough to deny any improper advances. Turned out that there were none - Sidir killed Canine Remains with a sword and started shooting McMourning and Corpse Curator whenever a random masks gave the option for him. 

Since most important Ten Thunders models had now been activated in the middle, I decided to make my gambit. Little Gasser went to interact with center ballot once. I didn't have masks in my hand for Nurse, but I waited patiently for one to come up in discard pile. 

Rough Rider started shooting Kentauroi, only getting enough damage in for Kentauroi to heal them all in the end phase. But most importantly, Rough Rider was now more than 2" away from Ruffian. Kentauroi rode to ballots to interact twice and was careful to position itself so that Deadly Pursuit would get it to engage Rough Rider. And there was a mask on top of discard pile, too, with no enemy models left that would likely give me any flips.

But then Tanuki activated. That stupid little furry drunkard charged Zombie Chihuahua, killing it in one inebriated strike, and continued to wobble through forest near middle. Aaaargh! No more masks on top of discard pile.

Well, at least Nurse got two focuses, so she tried to offer Little Gasser painkillers with focus. And so I lost my strategy point for the round - no masks for Pushed Here And There. Tanuki would pay for this! Nurse charged the drunken furball with anger issues to sedate it for good. First attack with focus hit for two points, and Tanuki was stunned. Second attack, now with negative modifier thanks to beer goggles, also somehow hit and gave me masks - making Tanuki also staggered.

Luna charged Corpse Curator and dragged it around the board with You're Coming With Me. 

So, I lost the scenario point but at least I did get Take Prisoner with Kentauroi's deadly pursuit.

Funnily enough, that deadly pursuit also gave Ten Thunders Take Prisoner, as they had it on Kentauroi.

Scores even out to 3-3. 

Turn 4:

McMourning starts the turn getting out of Lucas' melee with Doctor's Orders, and goes to check Sidir's brain. I would have really needed him to die and surely enough I got a stellar hand. But sadly so did opponent - Red Joker made Sidir to go only down to three health, with poison +1. 

Sidir activated next and while he didn't manage to kill McMourning just yet, the damage was serious. Opponent wasn't too scared of my 

Corpse Curator went into shenanigans mode, and put up its bonus aura, making Lucas not engage him.  Then he charged Lucas and brought Sludge Marker on top of the relic hunter and McMourning. It also tried to kill Sidir with its own Blown Apart -marker, but didn't score a hit. Oh no.

Fast Lucas activated next and finished what Sidir couldn't - it went to very last attack Lucas was able to make, but Doctor went down. He did get quite a few poison from that, though, until he was able to ride like the wind away from sludge marker. He also threw Timeworn Blade for Tanuki, presumably to make it fast to come and heal Sidir. But that was out of question - Nurse concentrated and put the final dose in to Tanuki healing it from breathing. 

Desper failed to leap. I don't know what he was planning, but at least now he just took a walk and a charge to middle, engaging Little Gasser. That was devastating, because Desper had no poison and was too far from Corpse Curator's aura anyway. No interacts for me this turn. Instead, Little Gasser disengaged and charged Sidir. Sure, Sidir would die to poison even if Little Gasser did only minimum damage of one. But, the gasball had taken lessons from Tanuki and slapped Sidir dead with frantic flailing. 

On top of things, Rough Rider and Ruffian had been shooting Kentauroi, bringing it as low as one hit point. The undead horse charged Ruffian dead with just one blow, and almost killed my Take Prisoner target with another charge. Whoops. 

Lucas dismounted when his horse collapsed from all the poison.

Thanks to Desper I didn't receive another strategy point even this turn. Ten Thunders also managed to surprise me with Let Them Bleed reveal, gaining a nasty 3-5 lead.

Turn 5:

It was quite the final round of voting in the middle, when Kentauroi first charged Rough Rider dead and rode like the wind away, then rode with itself a bit more and walked within 1" of center marker after Lucast had escaped from there. 

Corpse Curator also made sure it was in the position. 

Looking back now, I should have tried to scare Desper away with Little Gasser, but I had been saving it up for a potential Hold Up Their Forces grab. But it was not to be. Nurse made an exceptional activation when she gave two interacts for Kentauroi and healed Corpse Curator back to full, pushing herself to engage Lucas. 

Had I activated Little Gasser first, Desper could have only tried to kill Nurse. But now Desper was able to take two interacts and leap away - too far for Little Gasser to reach, and one vote from Gasser wasn't worth anything.

So, nobody scored anything in the last turn. Ten Thunders won 3-5. 

Dominar Wildborne

It was time for monthly game of Warmachine, again over War Table site.

 My list:

Skorne Unlimited
Dominar Rasheth
-Titan Gladiator
-Aradus Sentinel
-Agonizer
Venator Reivers
Tyrant Commander & Standard
Paingiver Beast Handlers
Extoller Soulward

Arcane Forces, Breakthrough, Careful Recon, Infiltration, Power Swell

Opponent had:

Circle Unlimited
Kaya the Wildborne
-Feral Warpwolf
-Winter Argus
-Wild Argus
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters
Warpborn Skinwalkers
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove

Power Swell, Blessing of Gods, Breakthrough, Infiltration, True Inspiration

Circle started game, and had arguses on the left with Lord of the Feast and Gallows Grove, both units, Kaya and Wilder in the middle and Feral Warpwolf holding rectangular area with objective. 

Rasheth cast Carnivore on Titan Gladiator and wobbled forward, about one walk away from my rectangular objective area that was held by Gladiator and Agonizer. I had Beast Handlers with Infiltration in the middle with Tyrant Commander and Aradus Sentinel contesting circular zone. Extoller Soulward and Venators were going towards flag. 

Circle advanced cautiously, with Gallows Grove teleporting to flag and Lord of the Feast hiding behind forest on the left. Warpborn Skinwalkers with Occultation were contesting circular zone, with both argus a little behind. Kaya and Nyss were hugging for cover in open graves templates, and Feral Warpwolf received Infiltration to protect it.

Extoller ran to flag and Venators shot objective off the board. Aradus Sentinel managed to spray one Skinwalker and one Nyss down, and just about the only model realistically in sight for Circle. Tyrant Commander and Beast Handlers were hiding behind the forest. Rasheth got to rectangular zone and continued to proccastigate, while Titan Gladiator and Agonizer just walked for a bit. 

And hot damn that Warpwolf still charges far! Fortunately it had to warp for movement to reach Aradus Sentinel, and thus failed to kill. Skinwalkers didn't have a chargeable line for them, so they just walked into melee and got the last remaining six points of damage in with a single strike. Yeah, that's dice -6. Oh well. Happens.

Nyss charged Venators and killed a couple of them. 

Both arguses went behind Skinwalker screen, and Kaya called Feral Warpwolf back with Spirit Door. Lord of the Feast missed with his bird and was left awkwardly standing in the open.

Rasheth used his feat and shot Breath of Corruption onto Skinwalkers. One was left with one damage point, another had a few more. Castigate was cast again because there was that scary tree behind a forest. 

Tyrant Commander and his sidekick managed to kill Winter Argus, and even Beasthandlers handled the Skinwalker that had a single point of damage left.

Titan Gladiator removed remaining Skinwalker and Lord of the Feast. Agonizer contested enemy flag. Even Venators managed to do some damage to Nyss, although Cylena who was shot down by Extoller Soulward passed her Tough -check retroactively (because we forgot they had True Inspiration on) and as such is missing from the picture. 

Skorne took a two point lead.

Nyss Hunters charged Extoller Soulward, but were not able to kill him. Feral Warpwolf had to tear through Venators to secure a control point. Wild Argus and Kaya manage to kill Tyrant Commander, but not the standard. Kaya uses her feat trying to kill Agonizer, which thankfully fails even after Druid Wilder comes to help with Spell Slave. 

Kaya teleports away from action, and tides of battle seemed to turn against Skorne, despite looking so good just a turn ago. But, they had lead in victory points.

Extoller shot Cylena dead for a second time, and Rasheth managed to clear the remaining two Nyss with the command card that gave +5" range to spells. Agonizer continued to contest enemy flag, and Tyrant Commander standard ran to contest enemy zone. Paingivers dealt respectable damage in to Argus, but not enough for it to matter.

Game entered a phase of cat and mouse, with both players trying to contest something relevant. Circle did gain the upper hand eventually and started catching up in points, but so was game nearing end. When Feral Warpwolf ran to contest both the circular zone and Rasheth's rectangular zone, it was either draw or victory for Skorne, depending whether Rasheth manages to clear zone. And with Agonizer's animus he did. Close game, and probably the first Mk4 game that ended in rounds running out. 

Ghost's Horror Show

 A 50ss game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Corner Plant Explosives

Schemes: Take Prisoner, Information Overload, Hold Up Their Forces, Espionage, Ensnare

My list:

Kirai & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
2x Shikome with Killer Instinct
Onryo
2x Enslaved Spirit

Pool: 7
Schemes: Espionage, Hold Up Their Forces

Opponent had:

Colette & 3x Mechanical Doves
Carlos Vasquez
Cassandra Felton
The Firestarter
Angelica Durand
Coryphee Duet
Showgirl

Pool: 2
Schemes: Espionage, Information Overload

Turn 1:

Both Shikomes were deployed to different table edges, but their activations were mirrored - place a scheme and walk, and later chain ganged even further and also deadly pursuit in the end phase.

Opponent was also spamming scheme markers to their deployment zone. I was waiting for opponent to activate the dreaded Coryphee Duet, but he just wouldn't do that. So, Kirai had to activate to summon an incentive for opponent to bring models to middle. Goryo did just that, and fortunately neither Carlos or Coryphees were able to kill it. Lost Love had to teleport to Kirai to heal it, though, so that it wouldn't burn off the board.

I had Kirai, Lost Love, Ikiryo and Onryo going to middle, with Datsue acting as a Lost Love beacon a little to the right.

Performers had Cassandra, Carlos and Coryphee there in the middle, iwth Colette a little behind them and Angelica Durand to the left. A Showgirl had been left behind, who was apparently going towards top-right corner. Firestarter was on top of a walkway, biding his time with two explosive tokens.

Turn 2:

Colette activated first and went to sword-trick Goryo off the board. So now there was Carlos and Coryphee Duet with only a little terrain between Kirai and Lost Love. Ikiryo went to sacrifice herself and even managed to deal four points of irreducible damage to Coryphee Duet.

Coryphee Duet healed a bunch of vengeance damage from various models nearby, took a swing at Ikiryo and danced apart to form two Coryphees with two health each. 

Both Shikomes went to place a strategy marker, and both Enslaved Spirits chain ganged Shikomes forward, and one of them even managed to place a scheme marker to center line. 

Angelica, Carlos and even a tiny little dove were beating Ikiryo and managed to bring her down to one health remaining. This was unfortunate, as I had been saving enough cards in my hand for a nasty double-summon this turn. So, Kirai healed Ikiryo a little instead, summoned a Drowned and launched a Spirit Barrage over the unactivated Coryphee. 

Cassandra went to breathe fire on Lost Love, who took one attack and and protected itself from one by redirecting the attack to Kirai. Reason for such over-protectiveness was the fact that I had placed two of my explosive tokens on him. 

Sword-tricked Goryo popped up from one of my scheme markers in my deployment zone and took a double walk. Lost Love was thus able to heal Goryo and Kirai a little. Onryo went to assist Burning away from Goryo. Datsue Ba gave a charge to summoned Drowned, who managed to stun a Coryphee, but not kill. Datsue Ba was able to startle the puppet before walking a little to perhaps become relevant for scenario next turn.

Firestarter flew recklessly into a position to place a strategy marker, so both players were able to score strategy this turn. No reveals.

Turn 3:

Board state looked really good for Urami. But... somehow... things change.

Angelica tried to cane down an Enslaved Spirit but failed to do so. However, she did drop a strategy. 

Datsue Ba and Onryo tried to kill Firestarter, but didn't do much else than receive Burning and giving Adversary to the wildfire henchman. Firestarter disengaged, took fast and went to place a strategy marker, which was an accidental misplay. No interact action after disengaging. 

Presto-Chango brought Lost Love to middle and Coryphee to Kirai.Center was not such a good position for Lost Love, so he had to be activated next, move to Datsue Ba and go place a strategy marker. 

A showgirl took a charge to Lost Love, and just like that poked a hairpin to Lost Love's brain, killing him instantly with a Red Joker on damage. Then she picked up my explosive marker. That was concerning, as I would have to steal one of opponent's markers now to score four from strategy. Maybe next time I shouldn't put 40% of my eggs to an easily killed basket. 

Shikomes continued closing in the enemy deployment zone, but the one one the left got bogged down by a Mechanical Pigeon and Mannequin that dealt four points of damage with just one moderate. Or, more accurately, that was before tits ransition from Coryphee that took a point of vengeance. Dove and Coryphee brought Shikome down to one health remaining. Yikes.

But, at least Hold Up Their Forces was looking good when Angelica Durand had not managed to kill an Enslaved Spirit, who then went to engage her. 

Goryo from first turn killed Coryphee and/or Mannequin that had Colette had shuffled around.

Kirai summoned a Goryo to middle, took a walk and tried to shoot Firestarter off the board, which just didn't happen. Goryo wanted to keep Carlos engaged, so it just walked and tried to use Violent Spirits for damage. Spirits were not so violent.

But Carlos... Carlos on the other hand was. 

He breathed fire on Goryo and scored severe damage, which meant that both Ikiryo and Drowned died. Goryo was beaten down to two health remaining, but had four points of burning. So yeah. Just like that. Twenty-two points worth of models, gone. And to make it a lot worse, I had been counting on Drowned continuing to engage Colette for Hold Up Their Forces. Nope. Not anymore.

Thankfully no-one scored schemes, so scores went 2-2.

Turn 4:

Kirai upkept Adversary on Firestarter, and so Onryo was able to kill the henchman with a charge attack. 

Colette walked, dropped explosive and used Presto-Chango to switch Kirai and Carlos. Or at least their places on board. There was then a brief comical moment when Goryo tried to land Mark of Vengeance on Carlos, which missed and triggered Butterfly Jump. Then it charged Carlos and missed, which triggered Butterfly Jump. Then it charged Carlos and missed, which triggered Butterfly Jump. I hope Carlos appreciated 9" free movement. 

Mechanical Dove failed to kill the Shikome with one health remaining, but Mannequin didn't. 

Kirai was able to summon Ikiryo back, and with a soulstone even an Enslaved Spirit to engage Colette.

Ikiryo shrugged off her slow and charged Angelica Durand that had already killed another Enslaved Spirit. Damage was too weak to affect the last one and a half turn.

Showgirl had walked and charged Enslaved Spirit on top-right, but this was still not enough for Hold Up Their Forces, because the Enslaved Spirit to Colette had been summoned this turn. I had the difficult choice of going to plant a strategy marker with Datsue Ba, or run to engage Colette. Datsue placed explosive, as I might not have the chance to do that next turn.

Then a Goryo and Onryo burned into crisp sheets. 

Both players scored strategy and Espionage for an excruciating 3-3 situation.

Turn 5:

Murder Dove was not able to kill Enslaved Spirit at top-right, and Showgirl went to place a scheme marker instead of poking holes into ghosts with hairpin. Enslaved Spirit walked to engage her.

Colette used Sword Trick on Enslaved Spirit next to her and went to place a scheme marker. I was worried Cassandra and Carlos might remove both of my scheme markers in my deployment zone, Kirai had to walk and charge to summon third Goryo to engage Carlos.

Fortunately Carlos was more into spamming scheme markers to my deployment zones, and Cassandra came to help him.

Ikiryo didn't bother to attack Angelica and went to sit over one of my scheme markers instead. Angelica? Scheme markers!

Datsue Ba and Enslaved Spirit gave me Hold Up Their Forces, and Shikome had prepared Espionage end condition.

Performers managed to overload Urami with information and still get Espionage, too. They had also enough strategy markers to cleave a one point victor, 6-7 for Arcanists.

We Have Been Trying to Contact You About Your Horses Extended Warranty

Second Gaining Grounds 4 game of Malifaux.

Strategy: Wedge Cloak and Dagger

Schemes: Outflank, Power Ritual, Sweating Bullets, In Your Face, Deliver a Message

My list:

Kirai, Envoy of the Court & Ikiryo
Datsue Ba
Lost Love
Goryo with Grave Spirit Touch
Gwisin with Grave Spirit Touch
Shikome
Enslaved Spirit
Seishin

Pool: 6
Schemes: Deliver a Message (Datsue Ba), Power Ritual

Opponent had:

Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter & Luna
Sidir Alchibal
Desper LaRaux
Mr. Ngaatoro
2x Rough Rider
Ruffian

Pool: 5
Schemes: In Your Face, Ouflank

Turn 1:

Sidir in such a central position was scary to me, so I started by laying schemes to both of my deployment corners, activating Shikome, Ikiryo, Enslaved Spirit, Seishin and even Datsue Ba before even starting to consider my wedge front of Gwisin, Goryo, Kirai and Lost Love. 

Opponent, however, was equally waiting to activate Sidir. Rough Riders at both table edges placed a scheme marker to top-left corner and center-right outflank area. Ruffian was holding left flank. Luna dug up a scrap marker for McCabe to dig up a Timeworn Blade for himself. To my relief Lucas didn't go and toss it to Sidir and held a strategy marker instead. 

This gave me confidence to activate Kirai, put a concealment on her and swirl Gwisin, herself and Goryo up a little. She managed to land Adversary on Sidir and Mr. Ngaatoro before walking outside of Sidir's machine gun range. 

Ngaatoro had taken a double walk to get almost to the centerpoint. Desper was desperately trying to pull Datsue Ba with hooks and chains, not doing much.

I had Gwisin, Goryo and Lost Love left to activate, opponent had Sidir. So I had to bring either Goryo or Gwisin to killing range if I wanted to have access to healing. Goryo went to pick an intel token, and was blasted with a severe damage from Sidir. Yeaaaah. So close.

Lost Love teleported to Datsue Ba and managed to heal Goryo back to full, but this took a 13 from my hand. Gwisin charged Mr. Ngaatoro, but didn't do even a single point of damage. 

Turn 2:

Explorer Society won the initiative, and Lucas charged Goryo who had my only intel token. Fortunately he wasn't able to do much damage. Concerned about the fate of my intel, Kirai activated and climbed on top of a boulder. She tried to shoot adversary to Lucas, but failed. Then she did Swirling Spirits twice, moving Goryo to safety and triggering four TN 12 Wp duels on Explorers. Kirai didn't manage to summon any models, but at least opponent had to burn all but one card from his hand. 

Lucas had tossed Timeworn Blade to Sidir, who now began to shoot all around the board. Five machine gun attacks could have been a lot worse - only two points to Lost Love and two points to Datsue Ba. But this also left me with only one card in hand. Three models activated in total, and both players had one card. Remaining round had the potential to become what I have heard termed as: crapshoot.

Datsue Ba went to deliver a message to Lucas McCabe, tried to carve it in his flesh with a skinning knife, but missed.

Luna started trekking through a forest to center of the board. Since most threats in the middle had activated, Lost Love started to leisurely heal Goryo, and healed it for two. Still it remained at two, because of a burn-out. 

Mr. Ngaatoro was beating Gwisin with his paddle sort of thing but scored only minimal damage. Gwisin took a double walk through Mr. Ngaatoro and Lucas, and then Lucas and Mr. Ngaatoro. Still no fails. 

Ruffian pushed Rough Rider a bit forward and took a double walk to a strategy marker. Seishin gave Shikome two walks, and she went to the same strategy marker with Ruffian.

Rough Rider rode to shoot Shikome, but missed. To deter enemy from chasing Shikome, I decided not to interact with the marker and instead take a full 14" move towards top-left corner. 

Another Rough Rider tried to shoot Lost Love, who miraculously survived. Goryo had concentrated and took double walk away from the middle and behind rocks. 

Desper LaRaux interacted a scheme marker and went to secure Outflank. Ikiryo, however, charged Desper and took away its intel. Enslaved Spirit just shuffled Lost Love around a little.

Scores went 2-1 for Resurrectionists thanks to Ikiryo who denied victory point from strategy.

Turn 3:

Opponent started by engaging Shikome with a Rough Rider. Kirai healed Datsue Ba and Lost Love, gave Adversary to Sidir and Lucas, plus triggered Chained Spirit tests for Mr. Ngaatoro and Lucas with Gwisin. No fails. 

Luna dug up a scrap marker, while Shikome spent all of my high cards from my hand and killed Rough Rider with one activation.

Lucas dug up a Phantasmal Mask from scrap marker and tossed it to Sidir. Then he started whipping the living hell out of an innocent grandmother. It took just about all of my cards and most soulstones to keep her at four health remaining. But still the onslaught was so concerning, that Lost Love came to heal her at least to six.

Next Sidir charged, and I had to spend all of my remaining resources to give Datsue Ba a chance to survive. Unfortunately she was left with one health remaining, and Sidir had the Phantasmal Mask. 

I did figure out an escape plan - Gwisin took two walks, past Ngaatoro and Lucas. Both failed once, and Kirai summoned... Seishins. This way Datsue Ba would heal first and then take a damage point from Phantasmal Mask. Otherwise a solid plan, but Desper activated and went to deal the remaining damage to the grandmother. And no wonder he did - opponent revealed In Your Face. So that was why killing a granny had been so important - to rub it in Kirai's face. 

This opened up right flank somewhat, and Ikiryo charged Rough Rider. First attack dealt severe damage, but second attack missed. Rough Rider then escaped and started practicing shooting against innocent Seishins who had already lost their function.

Ruffian took an intel token, and Goryo took its second intel aided by Seishin.

I had eleven cards in my deck and Black Joker hadn't come up. Rough Rider was at two health remaining. I just didn't dare to walk and charge Rough Rider with Enslaved Spirit and declare Doomed trigger to kill it. So instead it walked to Ikiryo, chain ganged her forward and picked up intel.

Losing Datsue Ba was a serious blow, and now I pretty much had only Gwisin and Kirai in the middle, while opponent had their master plus three henchmen.

Also, scores went 3-3 when opponent got their scheme and first point from strategy. 

Turn 4:

Situation looked grim for Urami, but when Kirai won initiative there was a glimmer of hope. Finally she managed to summon some ghostly meat shield! Surely enough that took the entirety of her action points. First Gwisin passed through Luna and Mr. Ngaatoro, then through Mr. Ngaatoro and Luna, and then through Sidir, Lucas and Desper LaRaux. Luna was passing the tests like a champ, and so did Ngaatoro although he had to cheat to pass them. But Sidir and Lucas who had Adversary failed, and so did Desper. Two Gakis and an Enslaved Spirit eased my position in the middle a lot. But still... if we discount the fact (we shouldn't, but still let's do it) that Chained Spirit tests made a heavy toll with opponent's hand, it had taken me at least twelve action points (and double the amount of Wp tests!) to summon two cost 4 models, one cost 3 and two cost 2. My impression of Kirai2 certainly wasn't powerful, but annoying for opponent for sure. 

Luna bit Seishin engaging Mr. Ngaatoro to pieces and dug up a scrap marker. Enslaved Spirit on the left chain ganged Ikiryo forward as much as possible and then walked to interact an intel token.

Rough Rider didn't approve, and rode to a better position to start shooting Enslaved Spirit that had two intels. It took me high cards from hand, but the Spirit was left alive with one health remaining. 

Ikiryo charged Rough Rider, but missed first attack. Second attack was enough, but she would have needed an additional walk to go closer to top-right Power Ritual corner.

Desper interacted an intel, leaped away from melee and charged Enslaved Spirit dead. Good bye, strategy point for this round.

At least Lose Love was able to deny a point from Wastrels, too, by teleporting to Ikiryo, stealing Desper's intel and even frantically flailing a point of damage. 

Mr. Ngaatoro, who had been released from melee engagement, ran to my deployment zone to secure In Your Face.

Shikome schemed Power Ritual, and McCabe dug up a Faded Mirror for Sidir. He started whipping Enslaved Spirit, but scored only a single hit which dealt one point of damage. Thus, Enslaved Spirit was able to chain gang a Gaki into contact with Sidir and go there itself, too. 

Sidir killed Enslaved Spirit and scratched Gaki a little, while tossing Phantasmal Mask to McCabe. Gaki tried to eat McCabe's horse, but managed only to heal it thanks to the mask.

Gwisin was a little more successful when it slapped McCabe for a severe damage, but second attack failed to dismount.

Seishin gave a walk for Goryo, who walked next to strategy marker that had a Ruffian standing nearby. Opponent kept using his pass tokens, so Goryo had no other options than curse Ruffian with Adversary and charge him dead. However... no matter how little options there seems to be, you must always remember that it's impossible to see the grand picture and the strands of fate that fork into unseen paths. There are always options. This time it was Goryo missing with two plus modifiers for attack. At least second attack missed, but scored only moderate damage which was not enough to kill the Ruffian.

Ruffian disengaged and swaggered off, nearer an as of yet untouched strategy marker and outflank end condition.

No strategy points were scored by either player, but Resurrectionists finally got Power Ritual for a lead of 4-3. 

Turn 5:

Desper tries to attack Lost Love, but he transfers the attack to Ikiryo. Good then he did, because opponent scored double rams with critical strike. He did not continue attacks and instead placed a scheme marker and leaped almost wholly on top of it. 

Ikiryo runs to top-right corner before anyone engages her. 

Ruffian walks to outflank position on left and picks up intel. 

Lost Love teleports to Ikiryo and secures Power Ritual end condition with Shikome. 

After whipping grandmothers and sad, enslaved spirits, Lucas ditches his entire crew and rides away into sunset, far away from any messages Urami might want to deliver to him.

Goryo picks an intel and tries to kill Ruffian with Violent Spirits, but Ruffian is unimpressed by their display. He has seen worse. He had been worse.

Seishin gave a walk to Gwisin, who went into contact with strategy marker. After Gaki went to engage Sidir, game was finished. Sidir wound not be able to score a point alone and neither player had any more options to deny a point from the other. Gwisin picked up intel, and game ended in 6-5 victory for Resurrectionists when they got Power Ritual end and third strategy, and Wastrels got Mr. Ngaatoro In My Face and Outflank. 

A tough game, and a fresh experience. This strategy plays so unlike any other from any of the earlier Gaining Grounds.