In this Encounter, two of the players had to fight over a Treasure Marker, gaining a hefty amount of VP for holding it at the end. A randomly determined player would be the Wildcard, having a separate, secret Strategy to themselves. Fittingly, the Gremlins were the Wildcard - having to get Scheme Markers close to the Treasure Marker.
As we were quite short on time, and there was a lot going on, this will be more of a 'Highlights' than a 'Battle Report'...!
Gremlins:
Mah Tucket with Know the Terrain, Out for Blood and Dirty Cheater
The Little Lass with Lead-Lined Apron
Trixiebelle with A Gun for a Lady
Lenny with "I'll Love it and Pet it..."
Lightning Bug
Slop Hauler
Bayou Gremlin
Bayou Gremlin
Schemes: Plant Explosives and Cursed Object
Ten Thunders:
Asami Tanaka with A Heavenly Design, Feigned Weakness and Grasping Strands
Amanjaku
Ohaguru Bettari
Shadow Emissary with Shadow Conflux
Wandering River Monk
Bunraku
Wastrel
Tengu
Tengu
Schemes: Power Ritual and Plant Evidence
Arcanists:
Joss with Imbued Energies and Bleeding Edge Tech
The Firestarter with Imbued Energies
Arcane Emissary with Ironclad Conflux
Large Arachnid
Steam Arachnid
Steam Arachnid
Schemes: Bodyguard on the Emissary and Cursed Object
Deployment:
Mah and the Little Lass chose not to advance with "Get Off My Land!", and the Chores for the first round was a Rams, granting +1 MI to all friendly Gremlins.
The Ten Thunders took the first move, cautiously advancing a Wastrel. In response, the Gremlins sent a Rooster flying into the Bunraku and Wandering River Monk, which put out some damage but failed to put either enemy down. Surviving the retaliation, the Rooster was pulled out of combat with Trixiebelle's 'Lure' for the Lightning Bug to heal up by blasting Lenny - only for the Lightning Bug to flip a Black Joker..!
Meanwhile, the Arcanists advanced, running straight for the Treasure Marker, with Ironsides actually sitting on it. The Emissary pulled the Firestarter forwards, who could Reckless and discard Imbued Energies to swoop in and pick up the Marker, even with it needing a (2) Action.
Ignoring the poorly positioned Rooster, who would rampage through the Gremlins if not healed, the Ten Thunders used their Tengu to drop Scheme Markers all along one side of the board.
Lenny prevented the Bunraku from advancing closer by tossing a Piglet in its path, while a panicking, Mah stepped in to solve the Rooster situation, pushing into base contact with the Rooster Rider with her (0) let Mah Handle This and pushing it away towards the Slop Hauler.
Realising she still had three AP left and a target in her sights, she walked up and used her (1) Aim For the Sore Spots, spending a Soulstone and cheating a high Tome to hit the trigger that let immediately charge the Shadow Emissary, whacking it for a ridiculous 10 damage! (I didn't realise at the time that the trigger let her charge as a (1), so she only got two attacks off... not that she didn't do enough damage!) As a bonus, she now had a 3" melee engagement range - trapping two more Ten Thunders in combat! Mah survived the retaliating Dragon, flipping nothing but twelves and thirteens.
Getting the initiative on the second turn, with +1 MI from Chores again, the Gremlins went first. Seeking to stop the Firestarter, the Little Lass charged in with her Medium Sized Spoon, but failed to finish the Firestarter off or stop them from disengaging - allowing them to run off with the Treasure. Ironsides then killed the Little Lass, despite her Lead-Lined Apron. While the Ten Thunders continued dropping Scheme Markers all over the other side of the board, the big hitter of the Arcanists turned towards the Gremlins, zapping the poor fishing Gremlin for two damage, while the Large Arachnid gave a Gremlin a Cursed Object.
The Gremlin Slop Hauler healed the Rooster Rider out of the 'Danger Zone', then Trixiebelle took some shots at the Emissary, hitting a trigger that let her pull the Rooster Rider into base contact with her. This got the Rooster Rider far enough to Reckless and chase after the Firestarter, ready to charge her on the next turn.
The newly summoned Piglet proved his worth by giving a Cursed Object to the Bunraku.
Meanwhile, the Arcanists sent some Steam Arachnids after the Tengu to try and hinder their plans.
Mah finished off the Shadow Emissary, having survived another barrage of attacks with high flips, then whacked the Wandering River Monk to death and damaged the Wastrel, having hit the trigger on Aim For the Sore Spots that let her take an attack after bumping her range to 3" again.
The fisherman Gremlin charged the Arcane Emissary, hoping to prevent it going after the Rooster Rider, and Lenny threw a Piglet into the fray in an attempt to stall it further, hurting the Bayou Gremlin in the process. Joss managed to hand out a Cursed Object to Asami, meaning my Lightning Bug didn't have to try and kill the poor Bayou Gremlin before the Arcanists scored a VP.
On what would be the final turn, the Gremlins cheated the initiative flip (thanks to Trixiebelle's ability), going first and getting to draw a card every time a Gremlin died thanks to the Chores for the turn. The Rooster Rider started the turn by charging the Firestarter, which clung to life with a lot of cheating and Soulstone usage.
Lenny moved into position for Mah to pull herself out of combat, but Ironsides tricked the poor Wp 1 Lenny into moving into combat with her and taking a swing, taking four damage himself from her trigger. Ironsides then pulled the Bettari into combat as well, and ended by doing some more damage to Lenny. Having lost Lenny as a Mah delivery system, Trixiebelle used Reckless and ran forwards to Lure her out of combat instead. The Bayou Gremlin stuck in combat with the Large Arachnid took a swing at it, only for Mah to sacrifice it for a positive flip to all Gremlin melee attacks for the rest of the turn (harsh!). After the Arcane Emissary activated, killing the Pig with his (0), the fisherman Gremlin with a (1) and zapping the Lightning Bug for five damage, leaving three smoking Corpse Markers, Mah activated. Now out of combat, she used Aim For the Sore Spots again, hitting the charge trigger thanks to a Soulstone and a cheated Tome, flinging herself at Ironsides. Flipping and cheating some high Rams, her Critical Strike trigger - buffed further by Lenny's Rams aura - almost took Ironsides out, forcing more Soulstone usage. The Slop Hauler and Piglets took the last activations of the turn, the Hauler running in and dropping a Scheme Marker for Plant Explosives, scoring 2 VP from the Large Arachnid and the Emissary, while the Piglet gave another Cused Object to the poor Bunraku for another VP.
It was at this point that we had to finish. The Gremlins were sitting on the most VP scored during the game, but the Arcanists revealed Bodyguard, scoring a good amount of VP, and the Ten Thunders also scored a healthy amount with their many Scheme Markers. However, having failed to kill the Firestarter, the Arcanists were sitting on another 4 VP from the Strategy. Had we played another turn it would have been another story - not only was there a Rooster Rider in its face, but a summoned Yokai, too...!
Despite running out of time, it was fun to play a three-player Encounter. Not many systems can pull off games with more than two players, especially three, but the Schemes and Strategies of Malifaux seem to solve the usual problem of one player being massively ganged up on.
Mah was definitely MVP for the Gremlins this game, although the Rooster Rider and Trixiebelle were great, as well as Lenny and his Piglet summoning. I'm looking forward to trying them all again in a one-on-one!
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