Nosferatu vs Gentlemen's club Lost artifact

In the dead of night the Gentlemen's club decide to search the countryside for a lost artifact - the only thing is - the Nosferatu are doing the same.

For this game I used my recently painted up Nosferatu clan and borrowed my friend Pär some of my more "steam punk'ish" miniatures since I wanted the theme of the group to be centered on the "Hardsuit" miniature. So he ended up using my Malifaux mercenaries which fit this game like a glove but look a tad more "military" than the imo preffered dandy looking gentlemen of the Gentlemen's boxed set (which I'm about to paint up shortly).

In any case, this was a "one off" battle - we both had 150 Shillings to spend on characters and gear.

Lists looked like this:

Gentlemen's Club: 144 Shilling

President in Steam Powered heavy armor
(Steam powered exo skeleton + heavy armor)
Man portable Gatling gun

Vice President
Steam cannon, half plate armor

Membership
Heavy Pistol, knife, half plate armor

Membership
Heavy Pistol, knife, half plate armor

Membership
Hunting rifle, knife, half plate armor


Nosferatu Clan: 144 Shilling

Graf with sword

Consort with sword

Guardian with Heavy pistol, sword

Thrall, hunting rifle, knife

Thrall, hunting rifle, knife

Thrall, heavy pistol, knife

2x Bat Swarm
..................

We generated 3 artifact markers and placed these on the table. The game had a 8 turn limit, the idea for both factions is to get up into base contact and investigate the artifact markers by rolling a D10. On 9-10 the artifact was found and have to be brought off table by a friendly model. It is entirely possible that there is no artifact on the table at all (in which case the factions will live out their violent frustration on each other).

The Nosferatu won the roll off to see what time of day it was - it ended up being night in favor of the vampires.

One thing to remember in this game, firearms ignore armor! Armor is really good once you get into close combat though, but up until then - bullets pierce through with ease!

The hunt for the lost artifact began, the Nosferatu raced out to contest the center token and the token to the right of their deployment zone. The Gentlemen made slower progress, the hulking metal suit was slowing down the President quite a bit. Steam pressure was building up in the steam cannon, something to keep track off should it rise to dangerous and volatile levels.

Using the cover of darkness the Thralls and vampires were safe running about in the open and soon reached and checked both artifact tokens close by - and nothing.

The Gentlemen had a man up on the hill checking the token near their deployment but it too turned out to be a dud. Alerted by the sounds of each other curiosity turned into realization which turned out into a violent shootout once both sides appeared as shadows at the far ends of LoS.

Running towards the hedge and hugging the cover the Gentlemen Vice President thought he was safe until two swarms of blood crazed bats descended upon him and his flailing arms. Shrieks alerted nearby Gentlemen who ran up to help him fend off the blood sucking pests. Rifle shots were exchanged between both sides as the Nosferatu clan members moved closer. The consort was wounded but thanks to her "eternal" trait she avoided death and just remained discombobulated while the Thrall standing next to her took a bullet in the head and bit the dust.

The bat swarms swirled around the Vice President but utterly failed to inflict any wounds - the distraction was great and allowed more Thralls and the Graf to move up to the busy Gentlemen. The Vampire swarms were dispersed in the end, the Vice President steam cooked the last of them by turning the handle of his steam cannon - also hitting the Consort (only striking a flesh wound on the fiend). Now the Gentlemen were in deep trouble as the nearby Guardian, Graf and Consort jumped them and tore them to pieces. Blood splattering everywhere the Gentlemen President fired his Gatling gun to full effect into the enemy mob hitting the Graf several times and causing multiple wounds but to no effect as the Graf too was saved by his "eternal" trait reducing lethal injuries to flesh wounds.

With 3 Gentlemen slain in front of his eyes, it became a bit too much for the President to stomach and he ran away leaving the Gentleman on the hill firing his hunting rifle at the outnumbering Nosferatu moving towards him. The Graf ran up and sliced his neck with his sword to gorge in the blood of the last remaining member of the Gentlemen’s club.

The Nosferatu had not found what they were looking for this night, but at least they went back home with filled stomachs.