Malifaux Bat Rep: Neverborn (Zoraida) vs. Arcanists (Rasputina)

For our second game of the gaming weekend, Chris made some minor changes to his previous list, while I decided to change things up and run Neverborn. After revealing schemes I chose to try out Zoraida over Lynch. Unfortunately for this report I didn't take any pictures, so excuse the ensuing wall of text.

 vs. 

Deployment was Standard, with Extraction as the Strategy. The Scheme Pool was Convict Labor, Exhaust Their Forces, Show of Force, Frame for Murder, and Public Demonstration. Chris used nearly the same list as before, dropping the Ice Golem for the Arcane Emissary. For my list, I took the following:

• Zoraida: Animal Shape, Hex Bag
• Bad Juju: Eternal Fiend, Hexed Among You
• Barbaros: Fears Given Form, Nephilim Gladiatus
• Teddy: Retribution's Eye
• 2 Waldgeist

I opted for Show of Force and Frame for Murder on Teddy. Meanwhile Chris took Frame for Murder on a Ice Gamin and I believe Convict Labor. Chris had me deploy first. I put Zoraida on the right, with Bad Juju and Teddy in the middle right, and Barbaros on the Left. Finally the two Waldgeist deployed just past the midline behind two buildings.  Chris put his Blessed of December on my right, with Raspy and her harder hitters on the left and the Wendigo and a Gamin to the right of center.

Turn 1 The Waldgeists made trees and clogged up the middle, Snow Storm moved up toward one gap between buildings, pulling the Arcane Emmissary with him, who Barbaros then charged. He did some minor damage, and then got hit back pretty hard. On the right Zoraida summoned a puppet who hemmed one of the Blessed of December and started ticking away. Bad Juju and Teddy moved up.

Turn 2 I got the initiative and Teddy pushed himself into the Emissary, dropped his upgrade, and flurried to take him down. Everyone else smacked each other around for some minor damage on both sides. One Waldgeist tied down the Wendigo from long range, basically paralyzing him. The turn ended with me getting a point for Extraction and I also got a point from Show of Force.

Turn 3 Snow storm and Raspy combined to kill Teddy, getting me 3 point for Framed for Murder. Meanwhile, Bad Juju smashed an Ice Gamin and gave Chris 3 points for Framed for Murder.  Zoraida's newest puppet dealt more damage to the Blessed and Zoraida set them both on fire, which killed both of them at the end of the turn. At the end of the turn we each got a point for Extraction, and I also got another point for Show of Force, having Barbaros and Bad Juju in the center.

Turn 4, Barbaros threw himself at Raspy to tie her up for the turn and dealt some damage before predictably dying, but ate most of Raspy's AP. Bad Juju took down Wendigo and Zoraida summoned another puppet which hemmed the second Blessed of December, was lit on fire, and then rolled around in some cacti, killing both of them at the end of the turn. The turn ended with me maxing Show of Force, though neither of us scored Extraction.

On turn 5, Raspy and Snowstorm took down Bad Juju, but also killed a Waldgeist, bringing Bad Juju back thanks to Eternal Fiend. Bad Juju then smashed Rasputina for some damage while the remaining Walgeist took down the last Ice Gamin. We didn't bother flipping for the game to continue as the outcome was decided since Chris couldn't get any points from his second Scheme.

While it was frustrating for Chris, I'm sure, I had a blast with the Voodoo doll; the visual of it trotting over to a cactus and giving it a hug just killed me. The Waldgeist were also really good with Hexed Among You, which allowed them to clog up the middle of the board and pretty effectively stopped Chris from advancing too far. I was fairly unimpressed with Barbaros, and his Fears Given Form honestly made it tough, as I had to run him away from my forces to avoid dealing damage to my own crew. Future games I would probably replace him with some more Swampfiend minis to allow Bad Juju to start buried and pop up thanks to a sacrificial Boar or Gator