Rise and grind, let’s gain that ground.

Wait, I used that one before?  Eh, it was two years and one edition ago.

For the unfamiliar, Gaining Grounds is Malifaux’s equivalent of Warzone: Proper Noun, a scenario and matched play rules packet for tournaments and other matched play-style events.  Deployment zones never change, but Gaining Grounds packets come with a set of Strategies and Schemes.

In the past, Gaining Grounds editions have often come with tweaks and updates to the core rules, as well; for example, in Malifaux Third Edition, summoned models being unable to interact with the scenario the turn they’re summoned/at all was originally a Gaining Grounds bit before migrating to the core rules.  This time around, the game’s core rules are releasing alongside Gaining Grounds 2025, so there are no tweaks to be made (or rather, there are and Wyrd just doesn’t know what they are yet – but I am sure a few months in the wild will make that clear).

That means that a review of this packet is just a review of the strategies and schemes.  So let’s get to it!

Strategies

There are four of these once again, as there always are and always will be.  This time around, each Stratagy is worth up to five total points: one point per turn on turns 1-4, plus a fifth point that can be scored once per game.

Plant Explosives

Malifaux’s (possibly) most venerable Strategy returns!  This is by way of being as close to a “baseline” scenario as it gets, with a little of everything: killing, scheming, positioning.  The rules are simple: everyone (who’s not a Peon or Insignificant) shows up with a bomb, possibly one of the those big round ones with the loudly hissing fuse.  This is represented by an Explosive token, which (while technically a token) does not follow any of the normal token rules, i.e. it cannot be removed except as described below.

A model may take the Interact action to remove its Explosive token and place a Strategy Marker (that big hissing bomb, remember) within 1″ of itself.  You cannot place a bomb within 4″ of another friendly bomb, although enemy bombs do not block placement. Similarly, a model in base contact with a Strategy Marker can take the Interact action to pick it up, removing it from the board.  If that model does not already have an Explosive token, it gains one, though if it is already carrying a bomb the explosive token just vanishes into thin air – I guess you defuse one?  When a model with an Explosive token is killed, it makes a neutral Strategy Marker within 1″ of itself.

At the end of each turn, the player with more friendly Strategy Markers completely on the enemy table half scores a point.  If it’s a tie, you both get a point.  Once per game, if you have two friendly Strategy Markers in (not completely within) your opponent’s deployment zone, you also score one bonus point.

A few important notes jump out at once, especially if you are familiar with 3rd edition’s version of the scenario – quite a bit has changed.

• Remember that you are capped at 5 of the same Marker on the field.  Even if you have ten significant models in your crew, you can only have five bombs down at once.  Trying to drop another one will force you to remove one that you already had.
• You only score from friendly Strategy Markers.  You can kill models all day and turn them into neutral bombs, but those bombs aren’t worth anything to you until you pick them up and put them down again.
• Similarly, bombs must be completely on the enemy table half to score.  With that said, it’s worth trying to place yours more than 50mm from the centerline; you do not want your opponent being able to walk up to a bomb you’ve placed, Interact to pick it up, and Interact again to drop it on your side of the board.  Remember that you can drop a bomb within 1″, but to pick it up you have to be touching it.
• There are a very limited number of ways to permanently reduce the number of bombs available: either picking up a bomb when you already have one, or dropping a bomb when you already have 5 down.  There may be situations when you want to do either; the first will deny your opponent points, while the second may help you shift the position of a bomb that is otherwise about to be scooped up by your opponent.  But it is very unlikely, considering crew size, that there will be fewer than 10 bombs available at any given point during the game, so both players will in theory be able to have 5 down.

When playing Plant Explosives, you want to drop “guarded” bombs, that is, bombs that your models can stand on to prevent them being removed.  That won’t stop a model with Don’t Mind Me – and it won’t stop your opponent from, you know, killing you and taking it – but it makes their life more difficult.  In general, you should aim to get bombs down as fast as possible to free you up to fight; MWS all-star Maniacal Cackle recommends building for a crew that can drop and/or pick up a combination of 7 bombs on the first turn, which means you want a lot of models who can walk-walk-interact, plus some out-of-activation movement to shove them around.

Boundary Dispute

Kick the can!  This mission is slightly, but not really, reminiscent of third edition’s Break the Line.  Let’s break it down.

You begin by placing three Strategy Markers in your deployment zone, each at least 6″ apart from the others.  Strategy Markers are friendly to the crew that made them.

Markers can be kicked via the Interact action (which, remember, has a 1″ range normally).  These are some beefy kicks – they place the Marker within 6″ of itself.

Scoring is, like Plant Explosives, based on how many friendly Strategy Markers you have completely on the enemy table half.  Whoever has more scores a point (on a tie, both players get a point).  Markers completely in the enemy deployment zone count double, so you can have up to six “points” worth of Strategy Markers.  After scoring, whoever has fewer Strategy victory points (cumulatively, not just for this turn) gets to pick any one of their Strategy Markers and kick it 4″ for free.

On the fourth turn, you double any points you get from this Strategy.  Simple and clean.

This strategy rewards a brawly crew that can push right up the middle with their Strategy Markers and kill anyone who looks at them funny.  Probably the fightiest Strategy in the book, even if it doesn’t look like it.

Recover Evidence

At the start of the game, each player makes one friendly Strategy Marker completely on the enemy table half.  That’s just the start – whenever your crew kills an opposing model (and it must be your crew doing the killing!), you get to make a Strategy marker within 3″ of the unfortunate deceased.  You can target friendly Strategy Markers with the Interact action to pick ’em up and place them on your crew card.

At the end of each turn, whoever has more Strategy Markers on their crew card scores a point.  Once again, on a tie both players score.  Then, both players remove all Strategy Markers from their crew cards.

Once per game, at the end of any friendly activation, a crew can pick a piece of terrain within 6″ of the enemy deployment zone and remove a number of friendly Scheme Markers equal to the turn number from within 1″ of it to score one more VP.  A bit of an odd condition, this – it requires Scheme Markers, not Strategy Markers, and in fact doesn’t really interact with the Strategy at all.

Despite ostensibly encouraging killing, this Strategy really supports avoidant gameplay.  Killing enemy models creates resources for you, but if you get close enough to claim them, you are putting yourself in danger of creating resources for your opponent.  Not great!  Plus, the secondary point requires you to go pretty deep down the board to score.  `

Kidnap crews (that is, crews with a lot of forced movement on enemies) are quite strong here.  Friendly out-of-activation movement is reasonably good, too, since you can go pick up the marker and then pull your own model back out of danger before it gets killed and drops its own marker.

Because it encourages avoidance, this is a Strategy that is likely to lead to games with very high Scheme scoring.  You can try to chase your opponent down, but you’re burning AP to get there while they’re spending their AP scoring schemes, and then you still have to win the fight when you catch them.  Plan to scheme, and find a way to steal a point here and there without exposing yourself to too much danger.

Informants

A multi-marker Strategy somewhat reminiscent of Raid the Vaults and similar Strategies from Third Edition.

At the start of the game, you set up:

• One Strategy Marker on the centerpoint.
• Two Strategy Markers on the centerline, 10″ east and west of the centerpoint, respectively.
• Then each player gets to place one Strategy Marker on the center of one table quarter completely on their side of the board.

Note that, of all the Strategies, this one is the most different depending on whether you have a “straight” or “diagonal” deployment zone.  In the latter case, there is only one legal position for that last Strategy Marker; in the former, there are two.

Players vie for control of these Strategy Markers, which goes to the player with the most non-Peon, Significant, non-summon models within 2″ of the marker.  Note that last clause – while Summoned models’ ability to interact with Strategies generally is quite limited this edition, in this Strategy they do not interact with the Strategy at all.

Scoring is familiar: at the end of each turn, whichever player controls the most Strategy Markers scores a point, with a tie giving a point to each.  Note that you can score by controlling “your own” Marker, that is, the one fully on your side of the board.

Once scoring finishes, whoever has scored fewer Strategy VP (again, overall, not just this game) gets to pick two markers and place them within 3″ of their current location, not touching any models and not within 8″ of any other Strategy Marker.  Like Boundary Dispute, you double the points you get on Turn 4.

This is another pretty fighty Strategy, maybe a bit less so than Boundary Dispute.  But you do have to come into contact with each other.  Crews with good staying power (healing, lots of HP) are strong here, because you really want to have some shooters left when it comes to Turn 4; the double VP lets you catch up massively.  If you give up a point Turns 1 and 2, tie Turn 3, and win Turn 4, you will match your opponent on Strategy Points while also probably having been much more efficient at scheming and killing.  You can afford to give up an early lead here because the comeback mechanic is quite strong.

Schemes

Traditionally there are 13 Schemes in a Gaining Grounds pool (one for each numerical value available) but with the change to how Scheme pools are created and Schemes are picked, we’ve gone to 15.

At the end of your turn, if you scored your Scheme, you must discard it; if you didn’t score it, you may discard it but don’t have to.  Either way, if you pitched your Scheme then you pick your next one from a list of three. Each Scheme has a unique menu of 3 it can branch into.

As a reminder, you can score 6 points on Schemes during a game – each Scheme has a condition under which it is worth 2 points instead of 1.  Note that you are not limited to getting this double-score twice per game; if you get no Scheme Points at all turn 1 you can still hit the cap by double-scoring all three remaining turns.  Easier said than done, though.

Breakthrough

Our first stop is an old favorite: score one point by removing a friendly Scheme Marker from within (not completely within) your opponent’s Deployment Zone, as long as there is no enemy model within 2″ of that Marker.  Score a second by removing one from the Centerline and one from your Deployment Zone as well.  The twist here (as compared to previous editions) is that you score at the end of an opposing activation, not at the end of the turn.  Note that this means that you can’t accomplish this using the last activation of the turn – if there are no enemies left to activate, you can’t score.

This is a lot easier to score and harder to deny than in previous editions, counterbalanced by the fact that you might have it Turn 1 and have to really sprint to get a marker into position.  The second point is reminiscent of Espionage from third edition, and is not that hard to score (note that there is no denial condition there – doesn’t matter if enemies are within 2″ of the other two markers), but it does telegraph what you’re trying to do pretty hard.

This branches into Assassinate, Public Demonstration, and Frame Job, three very fighty Schemes, so you should be prepared to shift gears to combat.

Frame Job

Secretly choose a friendly model.  If it 1) takes damage 2) from an enemy attack action, 3) that targeted it, 4) while it is on the enemy table half, you score a point.  Score a second point if you remove a friendly Scheme Marker from within 2″ of it at the same time.

There are a lot of conditions on this one, but it is not that hard to fulfill them.  Frequently you will have a high-value target on the enemy table half and they’ll want to punch them.  If your opponent puts you on this Scheme, though, they can just lock you out of it – scoring is entirely up to the opponent.  Don’t sell it too hard.

This branches into Public Demonstration, Harness the Leyline and Scout the Rooftops.  All of those require you to have multiple models available to move into position and potentially Interact, so don’t commit too hard to a brawl.

Assassinate

Secretly choose a unique enemy model with half or more of its maximum health remaining.  (The card helpfully suggests that “You may want to ask about the health of multiple models (even if you do not select this scheme) to fool your opponent.”  Reduce that model to below half health for a point; at the end of the turn, if you’ve killed it, score another point.

Very straightforward, and this edition is highly killy.  Beware of this into Frame Job.  This is a scheme that rewards you for doing what you wanted to do anyways, but your opponent naturally wants to stop you doing it as well.  Also note the unique clause and don’t screw yourself by trying to pick a Minion.

This branches into Scout the Rooftops, Detonate Charges and Runic Binding, three Interact-heavy Schemes, so make sure you’re ready to turn on a dime after killing your target.

Scout the Rooftops

Score this one at the end of a turn by removing two friendly Scheme Markers that fulfill the following conditions:

• They are not within 6″ of your Deployment Zone
• They are at elevation 2 or higher, on two different terrain pieces
• They do not have any enemies at the same elevation as them and within 2″

Score a second point by removing a third marker that fulfills those characteristics, and is completely on the enemy table half.  However, this one can be on the same terrain piece as one of the others.

The first of our “terrain schemes.”  Basically, control the tops of two buildings that are not right up against your Deployment Zone.  You should consider, when choosing deployment zones, what your options for scoring this scheme will be.  If you have lots of Flying or Expert Climbing or Leaping models, it can be very easy; if you have to scale buildings the hard way, it’s a lot tougher.

This branches into Detonate Charges, Grave Robbing, and Leave Your Mark, all of which require you to get close to the enemy, so make sure that you don’t scatter your crew too widely.

Detonate Charges

Another old favorite returns.  At the end of the turn, removing two friendly Scheme Markers from within 2″ of enemy models to score a point.  These can be near the same enemy or two different ones.  One more marker to score 2 points.

This is pretty simple, but it requires you to get close and then spend an AP not killing your target.  Plan ahead and don’t try to score off models that haven’t activated yet (who can just walk away) or models you plan to kill.  If your opponent has a small, elite crew you can take low-value activations to push them into activating their expensive models and leaving them vulnerable.

This branches into Grave Robbing, Runic Binding, and Take the Highground.  You’re leaving enemy models alive to score this, which makes scoring Grave Robbing and Runic Binding easier, but Take the Highground harder – choose wisely.

Ensnare

Detonate Charges’ picky cousin returns.  When an enemy model ends its activation, from two friendly Scheme Markers from within 2″ of a unique enemy model (though not necessarily the one that just activated) to score.  If the enemy unique is engaged by a friendly of lower cost, score a second point.

Lots of conditions here, too.  Your opponent always gets an activation after you drop the markers but before you score.  If you try to score on a model that hasn’t activated yet, they’ll just activate it and walk away, so don’t do that.  If they have out-of-activation movement available, they might use that to rescue the sap you’ve set up for Ensnare, so be aware of what options your opponent has in that regard and set up your scoring to prevent them from making use of them.  The second point isn’t that hard to score because often the model setting up Ensnare can then just walk or charge into engagement with the target.

This branches into Reshape the Land, Search the Area, and Frame Job.  The first two of these are good choices if your opponent’s crew is whittled down and doesn’t have a lot of killing power left, while the latter is a better choice early, when the fight is still ongoing.

Make It Look Like An Accident

Simple as it gets: you score a point when an enemy model takes falling damage.  If you then either kill that model or reduce it to below half health, score a second point at end of turn.

This scheme is very binary.  Do you have push/pull tricks?  Is there lots of elevation 2 or higher terrain on the battlefield (there should be, this is Malifaux)?  Does your opponent not have one of the crews that is largely immune to falling damage, like Brood?  Pick this and push someone to their doom.  If you don’t have the ability to knock people around, though, don’t bother.

This branches into Ensnare, Reshape the Land, and Breakthrough, three marker schemes.  Which one you pick depends on 1) how fast you are and 2) how many models the enemy has left to Ensnare.

Harness the Leyline

Another end-of-turn “have two friendly Scheme Markers in the right place” Scheme.  In this case, “the right place” is “on the centerline, not within 6″ of each other or 2″ of enemy models.”  Three markers instead for 2 points.

This is a “control the centerline” Scheme, which is a tall order because the Centerline is huge and denying this is so easy.  If you’ve done a good job sweeping your enemy off the board this is free points, often two of them.  If the game is still contested it’ll be a struggle, unless the Strategy or your opponent’s Schemes have dragged them way across the board.

This branches into Assassinate, Scout the Rooftops and Grave Robbing.  Two of those Schemes require killing, but often there will be not much left to kill when you score this – then again, Scout the Rooftops depends heavily on where the buildings are, so if they’re far from the Centerline it may be hard to transition into.

Search the Area

Just like Harness, this requires you to remove properly placed friendly Scheme Markers, though this time the cost of admission is three instead of two.  In this case, they must all be within 1″ of the same piece of terrain which is completely on the enemy table half (though note the the Markers, themselves, do not have to be on that half), and not within 2″ of enemies.  You score this at the end of an activation, rather than the turn, making it a bit harder to deny.  Get a second point by having one friendly Scheme Marker next to that terrain at end of turn (no denial condition here).

Often you can go super deep and find a piece of terrain they aren’t anywhere near, making it very difficult for them to use that one activation to deny you.  That said, three Scheme Markers is a lot – it’s much harder than two.  Most crews will require you to dedicate multiple activations to this.  If you can pull it off, though, this is one of the easiest second-point conditions there is.

This branches into Breakthrough, Frame Job and Harness the Leyline.  Both of the former benefit from you already being on the enemy table half; the last one doesn’t as much, but it is asking you to do something very similar to Search the Area, so if you’ve taken enough enemy material off the board you can probably score both this and Harness pretty easily.

Take the Highground

Similarly to Scout the Rooftops, this one is asking you to “control” two or more Ht 2 or greater terrain pieces at the end of the turn.  In this case, “control” is actually a defined term in the Scheme: you “control” a terrain piece if you have the most friendly models standing on it, not counting models within 6″ of your Deployment Zone.  A third terrain piece gets you a second point.

Unlike Scout, the enemy can’t just stand on the roof and deny you; I mean, they sort of can, but if you put two models on the roof then they have to commit more heavily.  You also don’t need to burn AP to Interact.  The tradeoff is you can’t drop a Scheme Marker and move on, you have to stay on the building.  Still, it’s probably easier to score than Scout overall, if only because it’s less conditional and harder to deny; that said, it’s harder to get the second point, since you have to control three different buildings rather than being able to double up on one.

This branches into Make It Look Like An Accident, Ensnare, and Search the Area.  At least you’ll both already be standing on the roof for Accident.  If you’ve taken over buildings on the enemy table half you can use them for Search as well; Ensnare is there in case neither of the conditions for the two other Schemes can be easily met.

Grave Robbing

Death Beds is back!  Secretly choose a non-Scheme marker and score when you kill an enemy model within 2″ of that type of Marker and a friendly Scheme Marker.  Once you’ve revealed it, your models gain the ability to Interact to pick up Remains Markers and put them on your Crew Card.  If you do this twice, you get a second point.

Some crews make lots of Markers and can score this easily.  Other crews don’t, and can’t.  Whether you like this Scheme depends on which one you’re playing.  The Remains Marker gameplay is interesting; some crews rely on those, and while you can always Slam them, being able to get value for doing so incentives you to take an action you might otherwise skip.

This branches into Runic Binding, Leave Your Mark and Make It Look Like an Accident.  Three very different Schemes; you already know when to take Accident, but broadly, Runic Binding is for when opponents are occupying the center area of the table and Leave Your Mark is for when they aren’t.

Runic Binding

Third Edition players are having trauma flashbacks.  Your goal here is to make a little Bermuda Triangle of three Scheme Markers, each within 14″ of at least one other one (but not necessarily both).  At the end of an enemy activation, draw a triangle between them.  If there is at least one enemy in the Triangle of Doom, you score a point.  If there are at least 15 Soulstones’ worth of enemy models in there, score two points.

Look.  This is funny.  We all like trigonometry here.  But it’s super AP intensive (both in dropping the markers and getting where you need to be to drop them in the first place), it’s impossible to do without telegraphing, your opponent has a chance to deny, and depending on the opponent’s crew build and the lateness of the turn scoring a second point may require three enemy models in the Own Zone, which is damn near impossible if they’re paying attention.  Sometimes your models will already be really scattered so you can drop the Schemes for this without issue, but that’s often an issue in and of itself.

This branches into Leave Your Mark, Take the Highground, and Ensnare.  The first of those requires you to collapse on the center; the second might be the best bet, since you’re already spread out from making those triangles, and you can probably find three buildings to climb on.

Reshape the Land

Secretly choose a Marker type.  You are looking to drop four friendly Markers of the chosen type on the enemy table half.  If the Markers are Scheme, you lose them after scoring.  Five Markers instead for two points.

Lots of crews make Markers as part of their gameplay loop; just do so on the opposing side.  Note that 5 is your cap, and opponents can remove your Markers with Slam, so be careful.  The upside to Scheme Markers is that you can stand on them to prevent your opponent lifting them with Interact; the downside is that you lose them when you’re done scoring.  Choose wisely.

This branches into Search the Area, Breakthrough, and Public Demonstration.  The first two require you to be messing about on the enemy table half, which you have to do to score this; the third one is an easier-to-score backup if your opponent is sticking close to you.

Public Demonstration

Secretly choose a unique enemy model.  At the end of the turn, you score this if you are engaging your new friend with two or more friendly minions.  If you have a Scheme Marker within 1″ of them, score a second point.

This Scheme is heavily dependent on crew build.  Sometimes you won’t have enough minions to reliably score it.  Sometimes your opponent’s uniques are scary beatsticks that you can’t afford to park next to.  You don’t have to build your crew to be able to score this (i.e. with 3+ durable mobile minions) but you should be aware when you haven’t done so.  Summons are a good way to score this, since summons are commonly Minions and there is no anti-summon clause.

This branches into Harness the Leyline, Assassinate, and Detonate Charges.  If you’re going to leave your Public Demonstration friend alive, pick Detonate Charges; if you’re going to kill them, pick Assassinate.

Leave Your Mark

Another returning (sort of) Scheme, this one asks you to have more friendly Scheme Markers within 1″ of the centerpoint than enemy ones, gain a VP.  If you exceed the enemy total by 2 or more, then you score a second point.

This one is also very telegraphed, but if your opponent isn’t in position to deny it, it’s not that much more difficult to get two points than one.  Just look at the board state – that will tell you if this is in the cards for you or not.  If the center is highly contested, maybe don’t, unless you have some Don’t Mind Me models to put you over the top.

This one branches into Take the Highground, Reshape the Land, and Make It Look Like an Accident.  Look at the terrain layout on your table: if there are buildings to easily move onto from the center, probably Highground is best, or Reshape if there is a nearby piece of terrain on the enemy table half.

Ground Status: Gained

Whew!  That’s a lot to get through.  These are early assessments, and some of them may be wrong, but hopefully this list gives you an idea of what Schemes your crews are particularly good at and which ones to avoid – as well as which Strategies pair best with your Keywords.  Remember Malifaux is a game designed to be played with multiple Keywords, so if a particular Keyword doesn’t match well with a particular Strategy, feel free to pick another.

Check out the rest of our Malifaux Fourth Edition content, and remember: bad things happen!

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