Argentbadger

Game 3: Outcasts (me) vs Resurrectionists (Andrew) Strategy: Stake A Claim, normal deployment Schemes Pool: Convict Labour, Show Of Force, Catch And Release, Exhaust Their Forces, Mark For Death Outcasts: Convict Labour, Show Of Force Resurrectionists: Show Of Force, Mark For Death Story scheme: Models with one of the scheme conditions push toward a marker in the centre at the end of each turn; at the end the player with the fewest models within 6" of the marker gets a clue Crews Outcasts: Leveticus (Tally Sheet, Desolate Soul), 2 Hollow Waifs, Taelor (Scramble), Freikorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, Johan, 2 Ronin, Hodgepodge Effigy Resurrectionists: Dr Douglas McMourning (Moonlighting, Evidence Tampering, Plastic Surgery), Nurse, Flesh Construct, Zombie Chihuahua, Guild Autopsy, Sebastian (Transfusion, These Are Not Ours), Mortimer (Corpse Bloat, My Favourite Shovel), Rafkin (Transfusion) I find this board really tricky to play on as it is full of awkward places to move to, mixed with great places to hide if only you can get to them. Facing McMourning I thought that Taelor remained a good option (I kept Scramble as I needed it for Show Of Force; I'm not sure that the extra move was really that helpful and might have been better with something else). With so many places to hide I planned to use my numerous crew to spread out and drop markers for Convict Labour on the way to putting down Claim markers. I hoped to use the Trapper to drop a Claim marker at the start of turn 2 as I didn't have anything else that was going to be able to make it across the halfway line in time. Turn 1: The Autopsy gets us underway by shooting the Trapper and flipping the Red Joker for damage, leaving him clinging to life. Rafkin throws yet more poison on the Flesh Construct, Mortimer drops various corpse markers and Sebastian summons a Canine Remains. The Nurse joins in the poison party on the Flesh Construct. The Trapper drops the Autopsy and the Librarian shoots the Flesh Construct. McMourning curses how awkward this board is to negotiate with pushes, and eventually kills the Trapper with scalpel to the face. Leveticus kills the Flesh Construct and summons an Abomination which moves in to annoy Rafkin and Mortimer. Turn 2: Rafkin kills the Abomination. Leveticus kills the Canine Remains to summon another Abomination and puts a good number of wounds on Mortimer. The latter throws some poison onto Taelor and McMourning, finding himself stuck in an awkward corner, fails to Rancid Transplant Taelor. The Librarian kills Sebastian as Andrew forgot about Soulstoning damage. Johan kills the Nurse, and Taelor nearly kills Mortimer and pushes him away from the centre to stop him from scoring Show Of Force. The Abomination dies to poison and turns into a Canine Remains which is immediately charged and killed by Taelor with Welcome to Malifaux. I score for Show of Force and Convict Labour. Turn 3: McMourning and Rafkin try to kill Taelor. Leveticus kills the Chihuahua and Mortimer, summoning Abominations from both. The Effigy puts down a Claim marker. Taelor and Johan kill McMourning and the Librarian kills Mortimer. Taelor eventually dies to Poison. I score for Stake A Claim and Convict Labour. Turn 4: Johan charges Rafkin who hits back before Leveticus finishes the last Resurrectionist off. Outcasts win 7 - 0 (3 for Stake A Claim, 3 for Convict Labour and 1 for Show Of Force; nothing for Andrew). That game was a lot of fun as we both tried to negotiate the challenges of the board, but Andrew was got his crew tangled up with each other and let me pick them off without reprisal; notably I was able to kill the Flesh Construct and Nurse for no risk. On my side, it all went pretty much to plan although I think that perhaps I should have taken a one-point upgrade on each of Johan and Taelor instead of Scramble on the latter to make Show Of Force a bit more realistic. So once all the scores were in, the clues were read and various baffled players took their guesses at the story mystery, I managed to get one of them and come in second in the story game. I was probably somewhere around 4th or 5th in gaming terms. Connor put on a great event and I had a lovely time; the sheer amount of preparation work he had put in really paid off. So thanks to Connor for his great organisation, and thanks to Maria, David and Andrew for three fun games of Malifaux.

Game 2: Outcasts (me) vs Guild (David) Strategy: Headhunter, normal deployment Schemes Pool: Convict Labour, Mark For Death, Show Of Force, Hunting Party, Undercover Entourage Outcasts: Hunting Party, Undercover Entourage (Leveticus) Guild: Hunting Party, Undercover Entourage (Joss) Story scheme: Pick a piece of terrain in the far half of the board, then end the game with two scheme markers next to it Crews Outcasts: Leveticus (Tally Sheet, Desolate Soul), 2 Hollow Waifs, Taelor (Scramble), Freikorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, Johan, 2 Ronin, Hodgepodge Effigy Guild: Hoffman (Arcanist Assets, On Site Assimilation, Field Mechanic), Joss, Mechanical Attendant, Ryle, Guardian, Mobile Toolkit, Howard Langston I took exactly the same crew as before, only swapping in Taelor for an extra Relic Hammer at the expense of Alyce. Partly the reason for keeping mostly the same crew was for story reasons, but a crew with a good number of minions has a chance to pick up heads while the elites make sure there are plenty of heads lying around. Undercover Entourage on Leveticus is not hard to score (though it is quite easy to see coming) and I chose Hunting Party as there were only three targets and I felt that I could take them all out. Turn 1: Hoffman is pulled forward by the Attendant. He Slows it, Power Loops Langston and the Guardian, then give Joss Hydraulics and Ryle Targeting Systems. Finally, he Machine Puppets both Ryle and Langston forward. The Trapper picks off the Mechanical Attendant. Ryle walks forward, pushes away from Joss and finds himself in range of two Waifs; he nearly guns them both down but they survive on one wound. The Toolkit puts armour on Langston who moves up right into my face (I was trying to tempt him in with Joss so I could apply Taelor but David didn't take the bait); he pulls Hoffman with him. The Librarian shouts at Ryle. Turn 2: Langston moves in and Flurries Johan; I let him die to Decapitate on the first attack as it was probably not worth the needed resources to keep him alive. Leveticus fails to kill Ryle. Joss hurts a Ronin; the Librarian finishes Ryle off. The Guardian Protects Joss. Hoffman Loops Langston Machine Puppets Joss to kill the Ronin (scoring a point for Hunting Party) and picks up a nearby head. The Ronin on the left is too far away from Ryle's head to get it. Taelor smashes the Guardian for my Hunting Party. David scores Headhunter. Turn 3: Langston bounces off Taelor; I was sympathetic for the big guy considering the effect that Leveticus had been making on the games so far. The Trapper drops the Mobile Toolkit to lock in the rest of my Hunting Party points and pushes to engage Hoffman. Hoffman Power Loops Joss, Slows him, Machine Puppets Joss a couple of times to kill the Trapper (scoring for Hunting Party) and picks up a head. My Effigy picks up Ryle's head. Leveticus zaps a few wounds out of Joss, who runs for it. The Librarian and Taelor gang up to kill Langston. I get my Hunting Party point and we both score on the strategy. Turn 4: Taelor kills Hoffman. Joss picks up a head and engages Leveticus, who hurts him but is careful not to give him Reactivate. The Effigy picks up another head. Leveticus reappears in David's deployment zone as this is the last turn. Outcasts win 8 - 7 (2 for Headhunter, 3 for Hunting Party, 3 for Undercover Entourage for me; 3 for Headhunter, 2 for Hunting Party, 2 for Undercover Entourage for David). David a lovely chap to play against and it is great to see him out at events again. The score was close here, but I think that I could have made a bigger differential if we'd made it to turn 5 as Joss wasn't going to get to the end of another turn on two wounds left without Soulstones and facing down Taelor and Leveticus. I was a bit too cautious with the Ronin on the left at the start (I was afraid of getting her gunned down by Ryle) but in retrospect I should have been more aggressive; if she got killed I could have picked up her head and if not she'd have been in a better position the pick up his head and score for Headhunter on turn 2.

Last year I had the pleasure to attend the Kings of the North festival held at the Moor House Adventure Centre (i.e. a Scout camp) near Durham for 2 days of Malifaux goodness. After some reorganisations, the equivalent event took place this weekend, this time under the banner of Fated Festival. This post is about the story encounter run by Connor Barker on the Saturday. The event was structured with three sets of three tables and some match-making jiggery-pokery to ensure that each player got to play on each of the sets once. In addition to the schemes and custom strategy for each table, there were other things that could be done to earn clues to a mystery. Winning the game was worth one clue, as was playing a fully painted crew, taking a certain pre-specified scheme from the pool (and scoring at least two points from it). Each table also had a special condition that variously affected the game state and allowed one player to get another clue. Finally, each master had a list of things to do for clues; for example one of Leveticus's was to keep his favourite waif alive for the whole game. Game 1: Outcasts (me) vs Outcast (Maria) Strategy: Shindig; Handbags and Gladrags (like Squatter's Right, but instead of tagging the marker you could pick them up and wander off with them); random deployment Schemes Pool: Convict Labour, Hunting Party, Exhaust Their Forces, Catch And Release, Search The Ruins My Outcasts: Hunting Party, Search The Ruins Maria's Outcasts: Catch And Release, Hunting Party Story scheme: Interact with a remarkably tough neural Performer in the middle of the board to get her to your deployment zone. Crews My Outcasts: Leveticus (Tally Sheet, Desolate Soul), 2 Hollow Waifs, Rusty Alyce (Desolate Soul), Freikorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, Johan, 2 Ronin, Hodgepodge Effigy Maria's Outcasts: Hamelin (Infectious Melodies, Piper, Sewer King), Stolen, Ama No Zako (Oathkeeper), Nix (Oathkeeper), Hodgepodge Emissary (Conflux of Plague), Iggy (Oathkeeper), Crooligan Maria and I had been out for a nice run before the event, but getting back a bit late resulted in our being paired together. Between the Shindig and random deployment I didn't really have any idea what would be good, so I just figured to take a straightforward crew for Leveticus that I knew I could make work. The advantage of this crew is that there are so many anchors that it can be tough to get rid of Leveticus permanently. I chose Hunting Party thinking that I could easily drop the Stolen and Crooligan, and that would force Maria to keep summoning other options for me to kill off for points. Search The Ruins felt like a good fit since I'd have to be in the middle of the board anyway. Turn 1: Hmm, random deployment is a mess! My Ronin pushes the Performer my way. Nix tags her for Catch And Release. The other Ronin picks up a Squat marker on the right; the Emissary Blights her, tags her for the scheme and casually steals the marker off her. Johan picks up another Squat marker and Iggy sets him ablaze. Hamelin Obeys my Trapper to break the Shindig by shooting the Crooligan (scoring 2 points in the process), then Obeys the Crooligan twice to pick up a Squat marker and tag Johan. He finishes up by summoning a Stolen. Now that the gloves are off, Alyce guns down Iggy; Leveticus is foiled by bad cards trying to hurt the Emissary. Maria scores for Catch and Release. Turn 2: Johan smites the Crooligan to score Hunting Party and the Emissary kills a Waif to do the same. Nix disengages and collects another Squat marker. The Trapper kills both Stolen (this was a mistake; I should have left them be and hoped to pick them off later with Johan or Alyce). The Blighted Ronin bounces off the surprisingly resilient Emissary. Hamelin Obeys Ama No Zako twice to collect another Squat marker and the Librarian takes the last one. Alyce and Leveticus fail to finish Nix. We both score for the strategy, Maria scores again on Catch and Release. Turn 3: The Emissary hurts the Ronin and gives the Memento trinket to Nix; sadly it can't push to within chain activation range. Leveticus polishes off Nix and knocks the Emissary down to a single wound. Ama No Zako drops Oathkeeper and charges in to kill the Trapper (Hunting Party). The right Ronin guts the Emissary and both Ronin do Seppuku (to stop Catch and Release). Hamelin Obeys Ama to collect the Squat marker dropped by Nix and flee; Johan charges in to put some big damage on her. We both score for the strategy again. Turn 4: Johan Flurries to kill Ama No Zako. Hamelin walks over to pick up both Squat markers. My entire crew throw what they have at him, but it isn't enough. One surviving rat runs to escape my crew. We both score again for the strategy. Turn 5: Leveticus kills Hamelin but none of my crew can reach that rat who is denying me the points for Hunting Party. I do score for the strategy though. My Outcasts lose 8 - 9 (4 for the strategy, 1 for Hunting Party and 3 for Search The Ruins for me; 3 for the strategy, 2 for the Shindig, 2 for Hunting Party and 2 for Catch and Release for Maria). As with every game against Maria, I had an absolutely wonderful time. Every move Maria makes seems to make my own game plan harder to achieve and she is so focused and aware of how she'll score or deny VPs at all times. The move from Hamelin to break the Shindig by using Obey on my Trapper was very clever and really set the tone. My biggest mistake was wasting shots from the Trapper to kill Stolen in turn 2; I should have put them into Hamelin to either eat resource or soften him up for later. That would have given me more targets of opportunity for scoring Hunting Party. Everything else worked reasonably well; there was no danger of losing Leveticus to a mis-placed anchor or Waif. I had hoped to use the Tally Sheet / Hodgepodge Effigy / Abomination summoning machine in this game but somehow I just couldn't get it going at all.

Here is the Brutal Effigy, symbol of the Guild for Malifaux. It's a wonderful piece in the game, and could reasonably claim to fit into any crew. Even if it had no actions it is cheap, somewhat fast and quite durable, therefore making it a pretty good scheme runner. It does have fairly rubbish gun (though that can be handy from time to time) but most importantly can turbo-charge the crew's master to heal when they do damage and draw cards when they kill enemies. In particular with Sonnia, this ability is amazing as she tends to splash damage over a wide number of enemies and is also very easy to hurt. In short, I would consider taking one of these in most Guild crews as it offers something for almost every occasion and is disproportionately tricky to dispatch. I chose to paint this Brutal Effigy very simply, as befitting its status as a doll. There is no particular adornment, just red coat, brown clothes and brown coffin. I absolutely love the pose of the little chap with one hand on his pistol and the other pulling down the brim of his hat, doubtless to keep the High Noon sun out of his eyes.

I like them a lot, they're very neatly painted. The blood around the mouths of the Blood Wretches seems a bit excessive (unless they just have red mustache/goatee combos). The basing is particularly nice.

This pair of gentlemen are Guild Austringers for Malifaux. They are really, really good in the game; indeed they are one of the few pieces that I think could afford to be a whole soulstone more expensive and still be worth it. Not only do they have a decent ranged attack which ignores line of sight, cover and (often) randomising into combats, but they also have an ability to move a friendly piece and let it take an interact action. The latter ability is golden in Malifaux, as this effectively means 'push your model around and score points'. Strangely, they also pack a gun, though why anyone would use it over the bird is a mystery to me except in a handful of rare situations. In my experience one of these chaps is enough in a crew; however on the internet it seems that they are frequently recommended in pairs. The miniatures are rather annoying and fiddly to put together, with lots of hanging straps etc. Of course, attaching the birds with their tiny spindly legs is the most prone to breakage and I am sure that it is only a matter of time before I'm re-gluing them together. Despite (or perhaps because of) all the detailed strapping I found them quite uninspiring to paint. Their coats are the same red as the rest of my Guild. I briefly considered painting the Malifaux Raptors in the colours of hyacinth macaws just to make them brighter, but I couldn't find a way to do it without it being rather garish.

Wow, those are beautiful miniatures atop beautiful bases. Everything is so smooth looking. My favourite is the pig's skin tone, even among the rest of these lovely looking pieces.

Haha, thanks Trikk! I'm still doing the reports, it is just that I'm enjoying a run with Outcasts at the moment instead. I seem to end up playing one faction for about a year before my attention wanders to another one - Ten Thunders in 2013 and 2014, Guild in 2015 and Outcasts in 2016. Variety is the spice of life after all. Did I see that you're considering coming to the Scottish GT? If so, it would be great to meet you in person. Plus you have 5 chances to appear in one of my game write-ups (if you want to, of course).

I played tournaments in the UK using Guild for pretty much the whole of 2015. I used Perdita and Sonnia almost exclusively (one game with Lady Justice near the end) and had a pretty good record. Having 7 masters in your case is only useful if you can make them do what you need; in general you're better off knowing a small number of masters really well. If you want the long version, search for threads started by me in the battle reports sub-forum and you can read all about it in tedious glorious detail. I don't really find that Francisco is that much of a crutch for me. Papa Loco plus Death Marshall plus Sonnia though... now that is a crutch (it does feel so good). Fixed master formats inevitably lead to a certain amount of counter-picking. They're a fine way to play the game, but I prefer fixed faction.

LusciousMcCabe - OK, that makes it clearer. I generally paint for gaming, so as long as things look fine at arms' length then I'm fine with it. The best of painters must do hundreds of layers of highlights, my miniatures consider themselves lucky to get one at all. Here is Tara, Herald of Obliteration. She is the first master I've painted up for my Outcast crews in Malifaux (though like her totem, Karina, she is also dual-faction to Resurrectionists). Tara is a mistress of time and her rules are mainly around manipulation of how many AP friendly and enemy models have. She also has a strong theme to bury models; on paper this looks like it should be very strong, but it is quite tricky to get to work as there are numerous stipulations on when and how it can be done. In addition, the enemy has only to pass a (fairly low) simple duel against a flat number to avoid it. My best use of the burying so far has been to take Killjoy, start with him buried, the fling him at the enemy crew to keep them busy while the rest of my crew score points. Overall, Tara seems to be regarded as a weak master in Outcasts; this might be true (after all, unless the balance in perfect then something is the weakest) but if so it is not by a big margin and she is certainly strong enough to play in tournaments and do well. I was a bit stumped on how to paint Tara and after a couple of tests I ended up keeping her clothes simple and 'realistic' (i.e. not bright colours). I'm not really sure on the fluff as to why she has a giant monster arm, but it seemed like a good place to use for the pink that I'm using for my Outcasts theme. The photography is worse than usual; I couldn't get the highlighting on her green coat to show up at all. It is hardly impressive of course, being intended for tabletop quality, but there was some work done on it.

Terrific painting all round, but the flame effect (tattoo?) on the Enslaved Nephilim is particularly sweet. That base for Abuela is the best thing though; who would have thought that tiny pants and socks would be so epic?

I'm not sure about the theory because I generally select my master at least partially based on 'what I feel like', but here are some practical example of when I've chosen Tara in GG2016 singles format games. Outcasts, corner deployment, Headhunter, Convict Labour, Hunting Party, Catch and Release, Show of Force, Occupy Their Turf: Here. Result: win. Arcanists, flank deployment, Collect the Bounty, Convict Labour, Exhaust Their Forces, Leave Your Mark, Search The Ruins, Mark For Death: Here. Result: win. Arcanists, close deployment, Collect the Bounty, Convict Labour, Catch and Release, Undercover Entourage, Hunting Party, Leave Your Mark: Here. Result: draw. Resurrectionists, corner deployment, Reckoning, Convict Labour, Exhaust Their Forces, Take Prisoner, Covert Breakthrough, Inspection: Here. Result: Loss, turned into a win on review (a bit of strange case). On review, it seems that I favour her somewhat for killing strategies and have a pretty good record. You could probably make a case that other masters would have done better in any scenario, but at the least it might be concluded that Tara is capable of mixing it with the best. For anyone who is not familiar with the UK scene, none of these games are against weak or inexperienced players.

LusciousMcCabe - thanks. The skin is pretty close to reality (I'm so bad at photography that this is pure luck); I was actually quite enjoying the way he looked. Or do you mean that I should take the highlights a bit further? If so, you are probably right... though that could be said of all of my miniatures. This is Karina, the totem for Tara's crews in Malifaux. I use the pair as Outcasts but both Karina and Tara are dual-faction in Resurrectionists too in case I ever start to dabble in them. Karina is quite unusual for a totem in that she is expensive and neither Insignificant nor a Peon. She has a tolerable gun and some silly corner-case jank abilities that I never found a chance to use well, mainly related to buried models. Evidently Wyrd considered her to be a bit lack-lustre so she has a 0 soulstone upgrade to allow her to do some quite unusual summoning. In a few test games this has been quite handy, albeit highly dependent on getting lucky with card draw as she needs high crows to get it off. I don't actually own any of the pieces that she can summon so I've never had an opportunity to try this in a tournament game. Overall, I've found I prefer the far-cheaper Malifaux child if Tara needs a totem at all, or a Freikorpsmann if I'm just looking for cheap gun. Painting Karina was lovely. I decided early on that she needed a white dress; somewhere I my head I conflate her with a young Miss Havisham, eternally linked to her unused wedding gown. Since she's only wearing one other item of clothing (apart from boots and one Michael Jackson-esque glove), it was clear that the ribbons would need to be the pink for this Outcast.

I like them a lot. The Ronin is much brighter than Taelor with her colour scheme so it kind of looks like Taelor is trying to make the Ronin a bigger target for the other crew. Good luck keeping up with the plog. I've found it very effective as a means to keep my painting mojo going, but of course the key is to know when the mojo is gone and you need to do something else for a while.

Good work so far. I like the unified colour scheme. Looking forward to seeing these completed.

Sweet painting here. The face paint on Gluttony is particularly good, in that it looks like actual face paint.

Excellent work Kai, and well done to everyone who contributed to that magnificent total raised for Beatsons. And since Kai linked his game record, here is mine too: http://themostexcellentandawesomeforumever-wyrd.com/topic/118995-malifaux-tournament-report-gaming-faux-laura-50ss-29may2016/

Game 3: Outcasts (me) vs Arcanists (Lewis) Strategy: Collect The Bounty, close deployment Schemes Pool: Convict Labour, Hunting Party, Show of Force, Neutralise the Leader, Catch and Release Outcasts: Hunting Party, Neutralise the Leader Arcanists: Hunting Party, Show of Force Crews Outcasts: Jack Daw (Writhing Torment, Twist and Turn, Firing Squad Injustice, Guillotine Injustice, Drowning Injustice), Freikorps Librarian, Freikorps Trapper, Johan, Taelor, Guilty, Rusty Alyce Arcanists: Marcus (Hunger Cry, Feral Instincts, Trail of the Gods), Jackalope, Cassandra (Practiced Production, Smoke and Mirrors), Cerberus (Pack Leader), Myranda (Imbued Energies), Howard Langston (Imbued Energies) Lewis and I discussed before the game if we were going to mess about with charity donations for flips, but Lewis decided that he was still hungry to beat me fair and square so we agreed to stick some money in the charity box at the start of the game and play it straight from there onward. I was intending to play Leveticus all day, but it seemed to be a bit to easy giving Lewis three free VP for Neutralise The Leader. Jack Daw can provide some nice damage and is tricky to kill if the other crew don't bring the right tools (i.e. anything with baked in positive twists). I took a mix of each station; I didn't want to give up Hunting Party too easily but I knew I had to take care not to also let Lewis score for the strategy without working for it. In retrospect I should have taken something on Taelor or Alyce to at least challenge for Show of Force. I took a risk for Hunting Party; Lewis could deny it by keeping the Jackalope right back and not using it at all so I had to gamble the he would need the extra threat. Arguably, taking Neutralise the Leader was a similar risk, but Marcus doesn't really support enough to keep him totally safe. I deployed first so I kept my crew back; there was no reason to advance and I was the one bringing guns. Turn 1: The Trapper shoots Marcus and Lewis gives me the opportunity to cheat in a Red Joker with Critical Strike; this nets me an immediate point for Neutralise The Leader. The Guilty makes Alyce Tormented and moves up to bait Howard Langstrom, which he successfully does at the cost of being vapourised. Alyce Rapid Fires half of Langston's wounds off and I forget yet again about the range on Alpha. So Marcus strolls forward and makes Langston take another activation; he uses it to kill the Trapper, thereby guaranteeing Lewis all the Hunting Party points. Taelor kills Langston in return. From a strategy perspective it would be preferable to leave the killing until turn 2, but I can't risk losing initiative and giving Langston another try at mangling my crew. Myranda heals Marcus and Jack floats up to hurt Cassandra and give her Firing Squad Injustice. Turn 2: I got my measurements wrong and Jack Daw is indeed within Leap plus charge range of the Cerberus. I get very lucky, top-decking the Red Joker on the second attack and surviving the first with only weak damage. Johan charges Cassandra who cheats in the Red Joker to get the trigger to push away. Marcus Alphas the Cerberus and uses Darzee's Chaunt on it but the previous actions have seemingly cost Lewis all his good cards and Jack again gets away without too much further harm. Taelor smites the big cat, then Alyce puts a bullet into Myranda. Cassandra uses her activation to flip down the Firing Squad Injustice. Jack Daw kills the Cerberus and zaps Cassandra to give her Drowning Injustice; it doesn't matter though as the Librarian shouts her to death. I score for the strategy and Lewis scores for Hunting Party and Show of Force. Turn 3: Taelor charges Myranda but can't kill her off; Marcus picks up melee expert and extra damage, then returns the favour and drops Taelor. He accomplices to Myranda who heals them both. The Librarian shoots at Marcus. Johan smacks Myranda. Alyce Rapid Fires at Marcus, dropping the Jackalope in the process (I think that Lewis had moved it up to act as a damage soak for Marcus but it did get me a point for Hunting Party). Jack Daw uses Twist and Turn to make Alyce put another bullet into Marcus; it would kill him so after some deliberation Lewis passes the hit onto Myranda, killing her instead. Jack piles in to Marcus but can't do enough damage stick to drop him; having the extra cards from Myranda's death really helps here. Neither of us score for the strategy, we both score for Hunting Party. Turn 4: Marcus chooses to increase his damage profile, focuses and hits Jack Daw. He makes Jack into a Beast, then puts all Beasts onto negative flips. With only 4 wounds left on Jack and both of us on negative flips, it's just a question of whose deck is luckiest (with a stat advantage to Marcus of course)... the blow lands and Jack Daw is killed. Alyce blows Marcus away in revenge, scoring me the rest of the points for Neutralise the Leader, and the Jackalope reappears and runs away. This was a bit of a mistake on my part as I used Rapid Fire but got the kill on the first shot; I should have fired single shots and possibly had the option to pick off the Jackalope with a second AP. Nothing I have is quick enough to catch the Jackalope, nor will they be next turn, so we end the game there. Outcasts win 5 - 4 (1 for Collect the Bounty, 1 for Hunting Party and 3 for Neutralise the Leader for me; 1 for Show of Force and 3 for Hunting Party for Lewis). That was a terrific game and Lewis played very well to keep it close right up to the end. Lewis agonised quite a lot about whether to let Myranda or Marcus die at the end of turn 3; I think that he made the right choice as this way only cost him the point from Show of Force whereas if Marcus died it would have gained me a point for Collect the Bounty and Jack might have been able to kill her anyway without the cards from Imbued Energies. From my side, I got very lucky to keep Jack Daw alive when the Cerberus attacked him in turn 2; I had mistaken the threat range on the big cat and it could easily have changed the game. After all the raffles and so on are done, the event has raised a terrific £1200 or so for Beatsons - you can give too by going here. I take first place in the event and Furycat has a terrific run coming in second, behind me only on VP difference, using the same Ten Thunders Yan Lo crew each time (there was an achievement list which included using the same crew in each game). Thanks to Michelle and Alastair for setting up the gaming day, and to Kai for his wonderful smooth running of the tournament.

Game 2: Outcasts (me) vs Arcanists (Michael) Strategy: Extraction, normal deployment Schemes Pool: Convict Labour, Exhaust Their Forces, Leave Your Mark, Undercover Entourage, Frame For Murder Outcasts: Undercover Entourage (Leveticus), Convict Labour Arcanists: Undercover Entourage (Marcus), Frame For Murder (one of the December Acolytes) Crews Outcasts: Leveticus (Tally Sheet, Desolate Soul), 2 Hollow Waifs, Taelor (Oathkeeper), Freikorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, Johan, 2 Ronin, Hodgepodge Effigy Arcanists: Marcus (Seize The Day, Arcane Reservoir, Trail of the Gods), Jackalope, 2 Silent Ones, 3 December Acolytes, Cassandra (Practiced Production, Imbued Protection) Since this strategy and scheme pool didn't penalise having lots of cheap chaff, I used almost the same crew as last time. I swapped out Rusty Alyce for Taelor as I was expecting that Ramos would be a strong option to flood the centre with Arachnids. With Taelor and Johan getting bonuses against Constructs and the Ronin also ignoring armour I think that this crew would have fitted well there. So I was a bit surprised to see Marcus and a load of Frozen Heart models across the board from me. Maybe Michael knew my well-publicised feelings about December Acolytes and loaded up on them against me; it is also true that I have a pretty rough time against Marcus crews in general. I again took Convict Labour as I wanted to push the game line up aggressively and keep Michael's crew back away from the Informant marker. Undercover Entourage on Leveticus felt quite easy as the old chap is very mobile. Luckily I was able to flip high enough for Michael to deploy first so he had to be a bit cagey about deploying his Acolytes. Turn 1: The Trapper takes a shot at one Acolyte and pushes back behind the building to safety. The Silent One on the right heals him up, so all we did was waste all our AP. On the left, the Acolyte and the other Silent One team up to kill a Waif that I couldn't get to cover. Turn 2: The Acolyte on the left nearly kills the Ronin. I possibly should have used her to drop a scheme marker and Seppuku, but instead I went with the Effigy and Leveticus. The old man turned the Jackalope into an Abomination and only an unfortunately timed Black Joker on damage prevented one of the Silent Ones from suffering the same fate. The middle Acolyte walks into the centre of the street and returns the favour by Black Jokering a shot into the summoned Waif. The saved Silent One finishes off the Ronin on the left. Taelor burns Oathkeeper and charges in to smack the Acolyte in the street; the other Silent One heals it and the Trapper takes a shot at him after dropping a scheme marker. Cassandra charges the Librarian and Marcus makes very heavy work of killing off the Abomination that erupted from his pet. I score Convict Labour and Extraction; I move the Informant marker back a little to make Michael's life a bit trickier. Somewhere in here the Silent Ones also did some damage to Johan and Taelor but I didn't note it clearly. Turn 3: Cassandra nearly kills the Librarian. Leveticus kills the Acolyte in the centre, summoning an Abomination and giving up three points for Frame For Murder. The Silent One kills off the Abomination and Marcus tanks round the corner of the building to punch the Trapper ineffectively. Johan and Taelor both charge up the middle to very slowly chip away at the middle Silent One. The Librarian puts a big hit onto Cassandra and the surviving Ronin runs to give me options on Undercover Entourage later with the Waif in tow. I score again for the strategy and Convict Labour. Turn 4: The Librarian uses Furious Casting on Cassandra, failing to kill but drawing some great cards out of Michael's hand. Marcus uses Darzee's Chaunt on himself but still fails to get the Trapper. The Acolyte shoots into the melee with Taelor, Johan and the Silent One and gets Taelor both times; Taelor uses her single AP to finally drop the Silent One. Cassandra polishes off the Librarian and the surviving Silent One kills Johan. Leveticus himself takes out the last Silent One, turning it into an Abomination despite Black Jokering the last attack (Michael flipped an ace and had nothing to cheat). The Trapper pushes away from Marcus in order to be in range to score for the strategy, and shoot the Professor a couple of times just to keep some pressure on. I score for Convict Labour and Extraction again. Turn 5: Marcus runs to score for Undercover Entourage. Taelor moves to engage the Acolyte on the left who eventually kills her off. Cassandra hurts the Effigy but can't get the kill she'd need to stop me scoring for Extraction. The Abomination gums up the other Acolyte and is also eventually killed off. Leveticus saunters into the Arcanist deployment zone. We both score Undercover Entourage and I get Extraction one last time. Outcasts win 10 - 6 (full score for me; 3 for each scheme and nothing for the strategy for Michael). That was a very fine game and it felt very much like we were giving each other tit-for-tat with damage. As soon as I saw that Michael wasn't making any attempt to score on the strategy I felt confident that I could lock in all my own points and keep him from getting the full ten. The board, although it looks very nice and thematic, is actually quite annoying to play on as the cover is all-or-nothing and the main street has very few places to stay out of shooting range. I basically had to just run Taelor and Johan right up the middle and hope that the Silent Ones and Acolytes couldn't do enough damage before they arrived. This was a game where the ability to summon Abominations was useful just to force Michael to spend his activations clearing them out rather than shooting at anything I actually cared about.

This month's tournament was a charity event held in Common Ground Games in Stirling in aid of Beatsons. Michelle Dallas and Alastair Crowe organised a day of gaming to raise money which included a Malifaux event allowing various arrangement to pay extra to charity to reflip etc. Additionally, I did offer to let people choose my crews, schemes etc for me for a suitable charity donation but in the end we mostly ended up either not bothering, or just putting in a donation at the start and enjoying a normal game of Malifaux. Furycat, Joe and I drove over in the morning; Furycat and I to play Malifaux and Joe to take part in the simultaneous Guild Ball event. Game 1: Outcasts (me) vs Neverborn (Ian) Strategy: Reconnoitre, flank deployment Schemes Pool: Convict Labour, Hunting Party, Exhaust Their Forces, A Quick Murder, Occupy Their Turf Outcasts: Hunting Party, Convict Labour Neverborn: Exhaust Their Forces, Occupy Their Turf Crews Outcasts: Leveticus (Tally Sheet, Desolate Soul), 2 Hollow Waifs, Rusty Alyce (Desolate Soul), Freikorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, Johan, 2 Ronin, Hodgepodge Effigy Neverborn: Zoraida (Animal Shape, Hex Bag, Hexed Among You), Insidious Madness, 2 Silurids, 2 Waldgeists, Iggy, Hans (Mimic's Blessing) Reconnoitre (and Extraction) without Neutralise The Leader in the pool feels like a job for Leveticus. My crew is chosen to have the maximum number of possible anchors to give flexibility on Waif positioning (more importantly, I'm quite bad at predicting where I need Leveticus to be) and cover a lot of options in terms of melee, shooting and casting. Leveticus has Tally Sheet to combine well with Loyalty To The Coin from the Effigy, and of course because he can quite reliably kill off one thing per turn. Both Alyce and Leveticus carry Desolate Soul to gum up the other crew with Abominations; in general I don't care if they die without achieving anything more than wasting AP on the other side of the table. With so many minions on the other side of the board I went with Hunting Party and then decided to use my expected activation advantage to drop scheme markers in places where I would need to be anyway. Turn 1: Hans shoots the Trapper down to a single wound; the Trapper pushes away from the Waldgeist and caps a Silurid with two Critical Strike shots. The Waldgeist Germinates but fails to actually kill the wounded Trapper. Meanwhile, Zoraida Obeys Hans to take the Focus action but a run of bad cards means that he can't actually be Obeyed to take the second shot. Iggy Incites a Waif and sets the Effigy on fire before the surviving Silurid finally polishes off the Trapper and Leaps back to its original place. Leveticus unburies from the Incited Waif to clear the condition. Turn 2: Zoraida summons the Voodoo Doll, Hems it to Alyce and Hexes it to start the Burning going. She also Obeys Iggy to put some more Burning on the Doll, setting Alyce nicely ablaze. Leveticus makes a bit of a meal of killing the Insidious Madness but does bring an Abomination out of it to get in the Waldgeist's way. The other Waldgeist moves to engage the Ronin at maximum range and Entrenches her. Hans drops Alyce down to a single wound after she suicidally guns down the Voodoo Doll (bringing out another Abomination in the process). Iggy gets clear of the first Abomination and Incites it; the Waldgeist Exhausts it. The Librarian uses Furious Casting to kill the Silurid. I score for Reconnoitre, Convict Labour and Hunting Party; Ian scores for Exhaust Their Forces. Turn 3: The Waldgeist moves, Germinates and engages both Leveticus and the Ronin, Entrenching the latter. An Abomination bounces ineffectually off the other Waldgeist, which eventually Exhausts it. Hans Black Jokers a shot on one of my Waifs. Zoraida summons another Voodoo Doll and Hems this one to Johan. She then Obeys the Abomination away so that she can use her (0) action and Hexes some damage onto the Doll and Johan. Iggy puts yet more burning onto the Voodoo Doll. Leveticus kills the Exhausted Abomination using Rebirth to move over to the Waldgeist (and also to remove the Exhaust condition), then kills it in melee with a cheated Red Joker for damage. This does leave me in the unusual position of having Leveticus on the board and wounded at the end of the turn. I score again for the Strategy and Convict Labour. Turn 4: Hans Black Jokers a second shot, this time to fail to kill Leveticus. An Abomination chews the last wound off Iggy, then Zoraida Obeys Hans first to Focus and second to gun down Leveticus. The Ronin finally kills the Waldgeist that has been annoying her for most of the game. I score Hunting Party (no Minions left alive), Convict Labour and Reconnoitre. Turn 5: Zoraida Exhausts an Abomination, then Johan Flurries to kill Hans. Leveticus uses Rebirth to kill my Abomination and prevent Ian from scoring. Outcasts win 10 - 1 (full score for me; 1 for Exhaust Their Forces for Ian). A lovely way to start the event. We didn't end up putting money in for charity for reflips; in my case because I didn't need it and in Ian's case presumably because he didn't think they'd do enought to help. It was interesting using Rebirth with Leveticus as I usually would just kill something then bury again with Sanguine Evocations; I need to be a lot more choosy about when to Channel if I do that in future. In general I think Ian was too passive and allowed me to keep pushing his crew back. Indeed, I actually had to make an effort to keep a couple of pieces back to score for my own sections of the board; in other games I'd have thrown the Ronin at the far side of the board and the Librarian much more actively into the fray.

I love these battle reports. Could I request for future reports that you summarise some of the reasons you chose the crew you did? Even if the reason is 'I just painted the model' it really helps to follow the thought process. I found it quite interesting how you started off seemingly trying to keep the group all together but by the end of the game everything was very spread out. Was that a necessity for the scoring, or could you have worked around it to keep everyone tight together?

This is Johan (formerly the Renegade Steamfitter) for my Malifaux Outcast crews. He's quite a simple chap; fulfilling three main functions for me. First, and most obviously, he has a massive hammer that nobody wants to be hit with. Secondly, he has an (admittedly quite hard to cast) spell to remove conditions. While the ability to remove conditions in Malifaux will rarely win you a game, it is the case that not being able to do so can occasionally lose one for you. And finally, partly thanks to points one and two, the other crew will definitely want him to die. When he does, he helpfully leaves a scheme marker behind thanks to Finish The Job. He's a big chap, is Johan. Some of this is probably due to the legendary poor scaling of Wyrd's otherwise excellent miniatures, but at least in his case one could reasonably accept that he's meant to be quite massive. I had a blast painting his rippling muscles and denim overalls, topped of course with a touch of pink on the hat.

I like your painting style a lot and I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished and based versions of these. How do you find the approach of partly building your miniature as part of the painting process? I have to admit that I prefer to fully assemble mine first unless they are outrageously complex.

Those are some very nice Gremlins indeed! I'm a big fan of bright colours for tabletop gaming miniatures as it really helps them to stand out in gaming. I have to say I'm a fan of a few of those little conversions you've done too; like the metal Samael Hopkins and a massive alligator to be McTavish.

Money sent now for the whole weekend. I'll probably play Leveticus as there is no way I'll get enough Gremlins ready in time.