Cautiously interested....And need guidance.

[Seratonin]

So with the the rather odd title out of the way I'm not really sure where to start with Malifaux but before that let me introduce myself a bit. 

Im a second year medical school student who all but left the hobby due to money and time constraints but recently ive gotten some motivation to start up again. Prior to this  I've played Warmahordes back in 2e and Infinity up until last year when I had to move away for university. 

Now to the matter at hand. Recently my fiance has recently been interested in trying out minature wargaming after hearing me talk about it quiet often. After some research we narrowed down to either starting up infinity or malifaux after browsing their catalogs .

Now I come here hoping to learn a bit more of the following.

1)How is faction and crew balance? Are certain factions more op from others? Do lists for certain masters and factions have auto includes? Is the game similar to warmahordes back in 2e where its more about pulling off combos then actual tactics?

2) how well balanced are the boxsets? Which ones would you recommend for a person new to the hobby? We weren't really fans of the two player started because of the static poses but if it's the best option we'll consider it.

3) terrain as i understand it is fundamental to the game like it is in Infinity,  but does it serve any purpose aside from blocking LoS?

4) I'm really interested in playing Luciuis but remember that someone once told me he was the worst master for a newcomer . Why is that?

5) there are no FLGS in our area so are the rules easy enough to pick up without having to be walked through it by someone?

And that's about it. Apologies for the long post and thanks for taking the time to read this!

[Fetid Strumpet]

Welcome! I'll take a stab at assisting.

1) Isn't this question always going to get a biased answer? Every game I've ever played people who play it will play up the balance and downplay the actual imbalances. With that said I think the balance, overall is pretty good. The tournament results that are available to the public that are compiled show a good spread of factions winning regularly, with perhaps a slight bias for Outcasts and Neverborn, though if that is because of the models, or particular players is open for debate. However if you are asking if every single model is balanced against every single model of similar point costs, then the answer is not overall, but it seems to balance out at the macro level very well. This is of course my personal opinion. As far as auto includes... some, though to the extent that happens is variable. As far as combos, while they are certainly important my personal observation is that the more skilled player of two sitting down to play is going to have a very large edge in winning no matter which master they choose to use. So just having a really strong combo isn't going to help you ensure victory if the person opposing you is skilled at the game. Overall that's what I've seen anyway. The more skilled player definitely has a serious edge in winning.

2) Boxed sets are not balanced at all. They are not designed to be. They are the starter boxes for a particular crew, and so they will often contain the most necessary models to play that master, but point costs are almost irrelevant. Kirai for example has a box that contains 14 SS of models (three models within cost 0 SS and can only be summoned), while Reva's contains 26 SS, and Lilith's contains 25 SS. So just boxed set vs boxed set without researching what the costs are and what roles the models within fill won't give very balanced games. The exception being the starter set I believe.

If you are new to the miniatures hobby, and aren't looking to invest a massive amount of money, I suggest masters that overall don't summon new models, or only do so in a limited way, and play a little more straight foreword and less tricky to begin with. Of Course this is just a generalization, as any master can be started by anyone with success. Specific masters I'd suggest would be Reva, Lilith, Seamus, Lady Justice, Perdita, Ophelia, Marcus, Von Schill would be my initial recommendations though of course every person is unique so I wouldn't say at any stage you must play a more straight forward master to do well or enjoy the game.

3) The game hinges on good terrain, and not only to prevent LoS. The tactics involved in negotiating around the terrain, and how you deploy on it, and take advantage of it are major elements of the game. Since the game is objective based, and not kill based (You can lose your entire crew and still win the game, even if the opponent still has models remaining) how the terrain interacts with the amount of action points you must spend to achieve those VP conditions is a major factor in playing the game, or at least that's what I've found.

4) This is a bit of community wisdom here. I mean by that it is the basic general opinion, but doesn't mean that it is correct. If you are speaking of Lucius, the Masked Secretary to the former Governor General then the biggest issues with him is that his rules as somewhat anti-synergistic, and similar to other masters that don't have his downsides. He's very minion focused, which leads to a larger collection than a master that can use more elite models. And mastering some of the oddities of his rules can be slightly annoying. As a note he just got a pretty good boost with some of the models introduced in the most recent book, so his actual place on the perceived tier list is in flux until more experience with the new models is harnessed. While I occasionally play Neverborn, he is the one Neverborn master I don't own, as he wasn't a dual faction master last edition, and all my Neverborn were acquired at that time.

5) The rules are available as a free download from Drivethru RPG. The product is called the rules manual. The basic operating system on the game is pretty simple. It's the card game WAR with modifiers. Playing a general game is pretty easy, but like any system with numerous special and unique rules the interactions between them can pop out the occasional debate on how that interaction plays. I think the starter set does a VERY good job of assisting with scenarios which introduce concepts and rules a bit at a time as you go through the series. If you are adamant about not wanting to get the set because you don't like the sculpts, which I can respect as they were also designed that way to make them easier to put together for beginning modelers, you might be able to find a community member who would send you their set of the rules if they are done with the introductory scenarios.

 

As a final personal note, of course as I'm the kind of person who will post frequently on this game's forums, my opinion is obviously biased, but I think you would do very well to pick up Malifaux as a game for both you and your friend. The game overall is pretty easy to learn, and you have the option to cut out some of the rules complexity to start by not using upgrades. If you don't play dedicated summoners the game can be very economical if you just want one crew or two to play against each other. The game is very objective based, and so at least to me the mental cinema never gets dull because it, at least to me, always feels like there is a reason for your crew to be working on what it is trying to achieve. And the sculpts overall on the models are very well done.

I hope some of that was helpful, and if you have any other questions please feel free to ask. The community can be very helpful. If you are on Facebook you can also checkout a Facebook group called A Wyrd Place.

[CougDyver]

Just to add to #5.  Rules are available as a download if you're more inclined to wade into it, but I've also had great success with the starter set.  It doesn't bring into play every little complexity of the game, but in terms of an introduction to the game it's a great place to start (note, it's not full crews, only 8 models total, 4 for guild and 4 for neverborn, and no actual masters).

[AverageBoss]

I will 2nd checking out the 2 player starter set.

Comes with 2 fate decks, two tape measures, and 8 models (split into 2 4 man crews). Half are Guild, half are Neverborn, but all have the Mercenary characteristic, which will allow you to use them in whatever faction you decided on (provided you like the game enough to go that far). The set also has a series of missions that will gradually introduce you to various game mechanics.

[Gnomezilla]

Lucius' box has several models that are buffers and debuffers, yet none which are great at actually doing damage, let alone damage for their soulstone cost. It wouldn't be a great stand-alone first box no matter what the master was like. Guild as a whole doesn't lack for models which put forth damage, but extra cost at the outset can be avoided. Also, if you stick with Guild, I wouldn't get McMourning as the first box either: all of those models are excellent but Guild cannot hire two of them, so you'll need extra boxes to make a full-strength crew. McMourning plus the starter box works rather well (in fact you can make the joke that the starter box is McMourning's Guild crew box vs. Lucius' Neverborn crew box).

Terrain is crazy important. Get some patches you can lay flat on the table for severe terrain, and learn how push actions get you through that without costing excess walk. Get 1" and 2" high items for soft and hard cover, and learn how the negative flips that cover burdens the shooter with will keep you alive against shooting.

Last but not least, check whether either of you is an arachnophobe -before- considering Ramos or any item from his crew box.

This was my first minis game, and I jumped in with a complicated master (Hoffman). The learning curve was steep but manageable. If nothing will make you happier than ordering minions to hop to it, you have other more important places to be today, just try and guide your play partner to a less powerful box as well. And maybe supplement Lucius with a box or wardens or riflemen.

[Seratonin]

Thank you so much for the info guys especially Fetid strumpet for giving such a detailed response. 

 

I'll go over the info with her and go from there but I think it's safe to say ill put infinity on the backburner for now and go for the starter and off from there

[Butch]

5) there's a a good introduction on you tube by Guerrilla Miniature Games. Playing all the missions from the starter set wich I found very helpful.