Shifting Loyalties Campaign - Week 3 (Chaos Unleashed)

In Week 3 of our Shifting Loyalties Campaign, the Hogs faced off against Nix and the Ratcatchers. We played the only Divergent Paths Scenario that I hadn't yet played - The Trickster's "Chaos Unleashed", in which players have to Interact with a Trickster Marker and flip a card. Rams and Crows on this flip score 1 VP (max 2 per turn), and any other suit results in the Trickster being pushed by one of the players. The Weekly Event was Arcane Monument:

This week's encounter must include an Ancient Monument terrain piece. While placing terrain, randomly determine a player to place the Ancient Monument. The Ancient Monument is on a 50mm base and is Ht 5, blocking, impassable terrain. It may be placed anywhere on the table within 2" of the centreline. While within 2" of the Ancient Monument, models receive +2 Ca to all Ca actions.

Whenever a model within 2" of the Ancient Monument kills or sacrifices an enemy model, the Acting model's Crew gains 2 Scrip.

A lot to keep track of!

Scheme Pool: Distract, Cursed Object, Assassinate and Outflank

Gremlins:

Old Major with Corn Husks, Grotesque Trophy (Terror) and Expanded Palate (Eat Corpse Markers to heal up)
Gracie with Thick Hide (Regenerate +1)
The Sow
Wild Boar
Piglet
Piglet
Hog Whisperer (this week's new hire!)
3 Soulstones

Schemes: Distract and Cursed Object (must-takes for the Hogs, really, and Nix is not easy to Assassinate!)

Outcasts:

Nix
Sue
Killjoy with -1 Wp but +1 Ml
Obedient Wretch
Rat Catcher
Rat Catcher
Malifaux Rat
5 Soulstones


This Scenario used Blind Deployment - each player takes a number of Red or Black cards equal to the amount of models to be deployed, and shuffle them into a temporary deck. The players then take turns to place the cards face down all over the board, and then they are all flipped over. Finally, the players deploy their models one by one on top of the cards of their colour.

Deployment:





Despite the random Deployment, the Hogs managed to stay pretty close to each other. The lone Malifaux Rat staring down Old Major seemed like an odd choice, until I remembered Killjoy can Unbury whenever any model dies... erp!



Winning the Initiative, the Hogs went first, with a Piglet charging a Rat Catcher and Interacting as a (0) for Distract. The Rat Catcher hit him back, summoning the first Malifaux Rat of the game. The Hog Whisperer ran forwards with Reckless, casting Sooey with the +2 Ca bonus from the Arcane Monument to bring Old Major forwards a bit, but more importantly getting the second Piglet into his Pork Whisper'n bubble.

Nix charged the Wild Boar before it had a chance to activate, and began handing out Blight. The Wild Boar retaliated and gave him Distract, forgetting that Nix can choose not to receive Conditions. Oops! The Piglet interacted with the Trickster Marker, forgetting it only gave VP after the first turn. Old Major and the Sow advanced while Gracie chased the Obedient Wretch, only for the Wretch to Distract her. Meanwhile, Sue charged the Wild Boar, which cheated to stay around for another Turn.

At the end of the Turn, the Blight on all of the Hogs increased by 1.



Old Major began Turn 2 by stomping on the Malifaux Rat, having ensured there was no space for Killjoy to Unbury in base contact with it. Sneaky! He then used his Nudge to push The Sow forwards, into charge range of Sue. While Nix and the gang laid in on the Wild Boar, The Sow charged Sue with the crazy amount of Positive Flips from Old Major's Aura and her Three-Headed ability. Surviving, Sue used Ring of Fire to cause any enemy that ended an activation nearby to gain Burning +2. As the Wild Boar only had two wounds left, it tried to kill anything to heal up from Eat Your Fill, but to no avail.

The Hog Whisperer used his Sooey to pull the Piglet and The Sow out of combat, and tried to give Reactivate to The Sow, but failed. The Piglet charged back in after pushing the Trickster Marker back towards Old Major, who Interacted twice for a healthy 2 VP.

Gracie and the Piglet gave out Distract and Cursed Object, and gained Distract and Cursed in return. At the end of the Turn, the Wild Boar died from the Burning, and the Blight on all of the Hogs increased by 1. Both sides scored for Distract and Cursed Object.

Having failed to Reactivate, The Sow started Turn 3 with another Charge, but failed to kill Sue - flipping a Black Joker and leaving him on two Wounds.



Sensing his time was up, Sue unloaded into The Sow. Forgetting about Killjoy, the Hog Whisperer used his extra AP from Reckless to reposition and charge Sue, bringing forth the horrifying Killjoy, who immediately struck him down.



The Obedient Wretch denied any further VP for the Hogs by turning herself into a pair of rats (and I thought Gremlins were weird). Gracie, disinterested in the rats, wondered off.

One of the Piglets fell to mass Rat bites and Nix's ability to cause damage equal to the current level of Blight, which at that point was an awful lot.

At the end of the Turn, neither side scored for Distract, but both scored for Cursed Object.



The Blight on all of the Hogs increased again, and I had to resort to writing it on their cards instead as I ran out of dice!



Killjoy began the slaughter again on Turn 3, killing The Sow, who spawned two Piglets from her Farrowing ability. Surviving a charge from the Rat Catcher. these Piglets frantically fished for Crow triggers on their melee attacks to heal up, with only one of them succeeding.

Gracie decided to show Killjoy how it's done, charging in and leaving the monster with only a couple of Wounds remaining. She then gave herself Reactivate. Old Major pulled her out of engagement, after scoring another VP from the Trickster, ready for Gracie to charge again...



..which she did.

Meanwhile, the Malifaux Rats assembled themselves into a Rat King (again, I thought Gremlins were the strange ones...).

At the end of the Turn, the Hogs scored for Cursed Object and gained more Blight.







On Turns 4 and 5, the Piglets slowly fell to massed Rat bites, and Nix tried to kill Gracie using the massed Blight on her, but Regenerate, Hard to Kill and plenty of Rats (and Rat Catchers) to eat for Eat Your Fill kept her going.

Having kept the Trickster out of reach of the Rats and maintained Cursed Object and Distract, the Hogs ran away with the victory - scoring 12 VP and 6 Scrip in total!

The Hogs came out of this encounter very well, having cheated Aces and the Black Joker to avoid any Injuries. In the Aftermath stage, the Hogs acquired some new Skills and Equipment - Healing Salve for Gracie, which she can Annihilate to remove an Injury from a nearby model; a Tool Kit for the Hog Whisperer, allowing him to take (1) Interact Actions as a (0), just like the Piglets; a Long Lost Cousin for Old Major, from completing the Strange Times Bounty, allowing him to summon a Totem as a (0), and The Trickster's Favour, from winning the Scenario, a Skill that allows the user to choose Blind Deployment instead of the Deployment flipped for a game, but only once.

Being almost at the half-way point of the Campaign and with 10 Scrip remaining after buying a Bounty and their new Skills and Equipment, the Hogs can afford to hire a Master after their next game...! Which one, though? Hmmm...

Wong vs. Sandeep - Panicked Flight

Unhappy with losing the Self-Righteous Man to the Arcanists, Wong has followed rumours and hearsay to find the Inquisitive Child, chased by Witchling Stalkers, in the hope of finding an apprentice. Sandeep appears to have similar goals, ambushing Wong with the help of some Sanctioned Spellcasters! (Apparently Wong and Sandeep are the favourites at the moment!)

Gremlins:

Wong with A Gremlin's Luck and Do Over
Sammy LaCroix with Oooh, Glowy!
Trixiebelle with A Gun for a Lady
McTavish with Mud Toss
Rooster Rider
Lightning Bug
Wild Boar
Stuffed Piglet

Schemes: Plant Evidence, Make them Suffer

Arcanists:

Sandeep Desai
The Valedictorian
Arcane Emissary
The Scorpius
Sanctioned Spellcaster
Sanctioned Spellcaster
Ice Gamin

Schemes: Protect Territory, Bodyguard (Arcane Emissary)

Deployment:





Both forces deployed split into two, to try and get the most VP out of the Witchling Stalkers. In this scenario, each Stalker killed after Turn 1 would grant 1 VP to the Crew that killed it. Additionally, on every Turn after the first, if the Inquisitive Child is within 6" of a Deployment Area then that Crew would also gain a VP. I was a bit hasty in charging my Rooster Rider forwards to claim the Inquisitive Child, forgetting to take a picture beforehand! Trixie's ability to cheat the Initiative flip combined with the Rooster's Reckless and a Wk of 7 allowed the Rooster Rider to move up to the centre of the board and push the Child 4" towards my corner of the board.



In my haste, I also forgot about the Wild Boar's Bayou Rampage. Oops! This meant that the Boar would be charging the Rooster Rider when it activates. To get around this a bit, I moved McTavish up and dropped a Hunting Screen - forgetting that McTavish wasn't a Gremlin, and so didn't negate Bayou Rampage. Double oops. Fortunately I could cheat down the Wild Boar's attacks and ignore it for the time being. Meanwhile, one of the Sanctioned Spellcasters moved up with Sandeep's placement ability and a walk, then fired off a shot at the Witchling Stalkers - flipping a Red Joker! As the Witchling Stalkers wouldn't grant VP until Turn 2, the Spellcaster had to show a bit of restraint, but left both of the Stalkers on low health.



The rest of the Gremlins took cover behind the hedge, ready for an ambush. Trixie dropped a Scheme Marker for Wong to send flying into the air, and Wong took a shot at one of the Stalkers, who pushed towards him with his defensive trigger.

Sandeep summoned a Wind Gamin, attaching Commands in Flame to negate Slow but leaving the Gamin unable to Cheat Fate. Said Gamin flew off towards the corner of the board.

Wong's Scheme Marker came back down next to the train platform, which was conveniently on the Arcanist's side of the board. The Lightning Bug revealed a Tome, pushing the Child within 6" of the Gremlin's corner of the board.



Cheating the Initiative again, McTavish went first, taking aim at the Witchling Stalkers and blowing one off the board with a Red Joker. These two Stalkers really were not having a good day! The other Stalker was able to cheat and avoid death briefly before the Valedictorian flew in and took it out. A VP each!

Slightly out of shot, the Rooster Rider went charging into a Sanctioned Spellcaster to tie it up.



On the other side of the board, Sandeep blew a Stalker away, but not before randomising and putting a chunk of damage on Sammy. Trixie, with her Gun for a Lady, took out the other Stalker and then took shots at Sandeep, blowing herself backwards.

The Lightning Bug, forgetting that I needed him to handle the Wild Boar, dropped a Scheme Marker for Trixie to use with her (0) Presents? For me? and a second for fuel Wong.

The Stuffed Piglet then ran into combat with Sandeep. Uhoh..



The Arcane Emissary charged and obliterated the Rooster Rider. Sammy LaCroix ran up to counter the Emissary next turn with her Jynx, and was charged by The Scorpius - clearly it knew about Sammy's efficacy in our last game!

The Sanctioned Spellcaster got to work placing Scheme Markers and running into the corner of the board, going for Protect Territory.

Wong fired his Lightning Jump into the 'combat' between Sandeep and the Stuffed Piglet, hitting the Piglet. Severe damage killed the Piglet, doing Blast damage to Sandeep from the attack, the Piglet's Bacon Bomb *and* the Pulse! The Crows trigger on Lightning Jump let Wong take another shot at Sandeep (and Do Over would've given a third Lightning Jump, if we hadn't misremembered how it works - need to get the second Generalist Upgrade Deck, I guess!). Despite all this, Sandeep survived, as Wong fluffed the rest of his AP. Wong send a Scheme Marker flying, despite not being near enough to a terrain piece for Plant Evidence (the train track didn't count, we had agreed).

The Wild Boar chewed on McTavish again, dealing some damage this time.

At the end of the Turn, the Gremlins scored 3 VP from killing Stalkers (in writing this, I realise this should have been 4, as I had Make Them Suffer and the Stalkers are Minions, although I ended up scoring the maximum VP for the Scheme anyway) and taking the Child hostage, while the Arcanists scored 2. Wong's Scheme Marker came back down, but failed to hurt Sandeep.



Winning the Initiative without Cheating for once (13 against 12.. poor Arcanists!), Sammy went first, using her Jynx to shut down the Emissary and trying to walk out of combat with the big robot scorpion, but failing to do so.

While a Wind Gamin ran for the corner of the board and placed a Scheme Marker, McTavish went after the Marker in the other corner, hoping to get a Rams with his (0) that would let him eat the Marker and take a shot at the Sanctioned Spellcaster, but unwilling to cheat a 13 of Rams he just ate the marker and pushed into engagement with it. The Spellcaster attempted to run away and failed, but the Valedictorian joined the fray and left McTavish on next to no health.



The Scorpius and the Arcane Emissary obliterated poor Sammy LaCroix. Wong hopped the hedge and tried to blast the Ice Gamin away for Make them Suffer, failing to kill it but getting close enough to a tree to place a Scheme Marker at the end of the turn with his (0). Sandeep charged Wong, seeing him in the open, doing some damage. He then pulled the Scorpius towards himself and into combat with Wong, healing himself a bit in the process, then pushed out of the melee and dropped a Scheme Marker with (0) As Your Deed, So Your Destiny.

The Lightning Bug went reckless and ran up to the wagon in the corner, placing a Tomes on himself to place a Scheme Marker by the wagon at the end of the turn.

Trixie ran up to the Wild Boar, taking a Scheme Marker with her, and took out the Sanctioned Spellcaster. The Wild Boar then finally ran up, headed for an enemy Scheme Marker, only for the Ice Gamin to engage him.

At the end of the Turn, Wong's Scheme Marker came back down by the tree, damaging the Scorpius and Sandeep, and the Lightning Bug placed his Marker. The Gremlins scored 2 VP, for the Child and Make Them Suffer.



Taking the initiative a fourth time, McTavish tried to kill the Sanctioned Spellcaster, but failed to end it. Perhaps he should have gone for the Corpse Marker and tried to heal, but his Gator clearly saw the Spellcaster as a tastier snack!



Trixie carried her Scheme Marker "present" up to another terrain piece, and used her Gremlin "Lure" to push the Wild Boar towards the Scheme Marker it had been going for. She then took a shot at the newly-unengaged Ice Gamin, cheating a Red Joker with the Rams trigger for a double positive flip for damage and ending the poor Gamin.

The Valedictorian left a dead McTavish behind and flew over to engage the Wild Boar, perhaps afraid it would Charge the Arcane Emissary. The Boar was having none of this, however, and ate the Scheme Marker he had been chasing with his (0) and successfully left combat to engage the Emissary.



Sandeep pulled the Emissary away from the Wild Boar, healing himself again, and tried to finish Wong with the Scorpius. Wong survived the assault once more, activating and discarding Do Over to draw two cards, both of which happened to be thirteens! He used his (0) BOOM! to discard the enemy Scheme Marker and do pulse damage to the Scorpius and Sandeep, disengaged himself from the combat and flung some Lightning at the pair.

The Lightning Bug, ignoring the Wind Gamin's Armour +1, ran around the Wagon and buried the Wind Gamin, placing a Tomes on himself to remove the enemy Scheme Marker at the end of the Turn. However, with a Push from sacrificing the buried Wind Gamin, the Arcane Emissary charged the Bug, killing it and preventing it from removing the Marker.

At the end of the Turn, the Gremlins scored 2 VP, for the Child and Make Them Suffer, as Trixie had killed the Ice Gamin. The Arcanists revealed Bodyguard on the Emissary, scoring 1 VP.



Wong made the most out of getting the initiative on Turn 5. Poor Sandeep. The Scorpius went down alongside him, taken out by the Pulse damage.





The Valedictorian tried to kill the Wild Boar, and Trixie fired into their combat. No matter what she hit, McTavish would be avenged!



Finally, the Sanctioned Spellcaster ensured the Arcanists would be scoring for Protect Territory.

At the end of the game, the Gremlins scored 2 VP, one for the Child and another for Make Them Suffer, as the Scorpius is apparently a Minion! The Arcanists went up to a total of 8 VP after scoring Bodyguard and Protect Territory, but with 2 VP from Plant Evidence the Gremlins won with a total of 11 VP! A victory against the Arcanists at last!

Most importantly, of course, the Gremlins secured the Inquisitive Child. And a Rooster Rider died in the course of the game... leaving a Rooster for the Child to befriend, perhaps...?

We shall see!

Wong vs. Sandeep - Divergent Paths Rematch!

With no winning side in our last game, we decided a rematch was needed...!

This time, it would be Wong vs. Sandeep. The Scheme Pool was Assassinate, Make them Suffer, Breakthrough and Power Ritual, so I went for a small force that could go for Assassinate and Make them Suffer, predicting the fight to bunch up around the Wagon again.

Gremlins:

Wong with A Gremlin's Luck, Do Over and Stilts
Sammy LaCroix with Oooh, Glowy!
Trixiebelle with A Gun for a Lady
Burt Jebsen with Dirty Cheater
Gracie with Saddle and Glowy, from Wong
Lightning Bug
Banjonista

Arcanists:

Sandeep Desai
Kudra
Arcane Emissary
Sue
Ice Dancer
Ice Dancer
Performer

Deployment:





The Gremlins deployed first, allowing the Ice Dancers to deploy in safety, going for Power Ritual.



Both sides advanced towards the cart, taking cover behind the wall. Meanwhile, the Gracie Taxi gave Burt a lift towards the Ice Dancers and using Rile Up to gain Reactivate. The Lightning Bug ran up, took a shot that missed, and placed a Tome on his card that would let him take a (1) Interact Action at the end of the turn. Sandeep moved up and summoned a Poison Gamin, then dragged Sue up, hoping to get close enough to Trixie to go for the kill and prevent me from cheating the Initiative on Turn 2. Trixie used her Gremlin "Lure" to push Sue just out of his threat range. Wong used his first Activation to take cover next to the Lightning Bug and zap away at Sandeep, who flipped a Black Joker for his defense - followed by a Red Joker for Wong's damage! This put some serious hurt on Sandeep despite Soulstone usage, and the Blasts put damage on Sue and the Emissary to boot. Yeah, Wong!



Burt chased after the Ice Dancers, but the Arcanists had more than enough cards to discard for their Butterfly Jump, dancing out of the way. Gracie reactivated, healing 1 from Oooh, Glowy! and giving Sammy a lift into cover.



At the end of the turn, a Scheme Marker that Wong had sent flying came back down, dealing some damage to Sandeep and Kudra. The Lightning Bug placed a Scheme Marker next to Wong as ammo for the next turn.



The Gremlins cheated the Initiative for Turn 2 and sprung the Prisoner for 2 VP with the Lightning Bug, who decided to get back behind cover and not protect the Prisoner - allowing Sandeep to hop in and push it back into the Arcanist's lines, as well as heal up a bit by pushing the Gamin around. Seeing a target, Gracie charged in, dealing 'Weak' and 'Moderate' damage to Sandeep, then gaining Reactivate. Trying to save Sandeep, Sue activated - putting some damage on Gracie with his pistols and giving his allies, including Sandeep, a positive flip to defend against Ca attacks. Gracie reactivated, going for the kill, but failed to hit Sandeep, and was then thrown out of the fight by the Arcane Emissary. Wong, meanwhile, used Gracie as a target to try and blast Sandeep away - almost succeeding, despite Sue's defensive aura, and put damage on Sue and the Emissary too.



With Gracie on low health, Kudra charged in, leaving the Hard to Kill Gracie on a single wound.. but with two Poison +2! The Poison Gamin walked up to the Lightning Bug and Sammy to engage them, but Sammy's Ca actions could still target Sandeep - although they failed to finish him off, and so did the Banjonista's Banjo "Music" and Trixie's Gun for a Lady!



Meanwhile, Burt tried to Charge one of the Ice Dancers - their Butterfly Jump only working against non-melee attacks. Burt failed to kill her, however, and she danced out of combat with the help of her Momentum!



Not that it mattered too much, though, as the other Ice Dancer managed to place a Scheme Marker for Power Ritual in the corner of the board anyway.



At the end of the Turn, Wong's scheme marker came down again - failing to damage anything this time. Gracie died to her poisoned wounds.



Cheating the Initiative again, Wong got to work - blowing Sandeep and Sue away and damaging the Arcane Emissary a bit more! Kudra managed to survive on two wounds, thanks to Butterfly Jump. Brutal. Sammy tried to kill the Poison Gamin, going for Make them Suffer, but failed. The Banjonista finished it off instead, forgetting that he wasn't an Enforcer... oops.



The Emissary went for revenge, charging at Wong. Unfortunately for him, Wong is a Gremlin, and he ran away with a Squeal. Trixie used Reckless to walk up and charge Kudra, slapping her for Severe damage - leaving nothing but a Corpse Marker!  The Gremlins were feeling pretty confident at this point...!





However, the Ice Dancers were still placing Scheme Markers all over the place. My opponent had pointed out how few Minions I had for Make them Suffer, but perhaps they had taken Breakthrough instead... uhoh!





Giving up on the Ice Dancers, Burt tried to run over and help.. only for the Performer to Lure him in and give him Paralyzed.. oops!



The Gremlins cheated the Initiative again, allowing Sammy to prevent the Arcane Emissary from walking or charging with her Jynx ability right at the start of the Turn. She then turned an enemy Scheme Marker into a Stuffed Piglet with her (0) Putrefy, for reasons that are still unclear.



The Emissary activated and blasted the Banjonista, leaving it on two wounds and Burning +1. The Banjonista then ran up to try and block the Ice Dancers



Wong and Trixie tried to blast away the Performer but only really succeeded in hurting Trixie, meaning the Arcanists would still get a VP from the Scenario at the end of the Turn...



The Gremlins took the Initiative again, flipping the Red Joker - beating the Arcanist's 13 by one and not having to cheat for once! Poor Arcanists. Sammy went first again, locking down the Emissary and killing the Performer. The Arcane Emissary activated, drawing three cards from its Divinity ability, but as it was unable to move it simply raged at the sky and took pot shots at Sammy.



I had been trying to figure out how to use Trixie and Burt to get rid of one of the Power Ritual Scheme Markers, but the Ice Dancer activated and managed to get out of combat with the Banjonista - with us both cheating thirteens. She danced over to the corner of the table and placed another Scheme Marker. As she was cornered, Wong tried to take her out, but failed. Burt couldn't get close enough to matter in time, either.

We flipped for a fifth Turn, but got a measly two. The Arcanists revealed their second Scheme - Breakthrough - pushing them into the lead with 9 VP to my 8. Despite losing almost everything, the Arcanists, or rather the Ice Dancers, somehow managed to win.

Noooo!

Best of three...?!