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Is this a good recommendation for my FLGS owner as a 'toe dip'?


iamfanboy

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Regardless of how quickly my Henchman application goes through (or gets rejected), I'm the only one who can hench at my local store, and the owner asked me for advice about what to buy. Gotta strike while the iron is hot.

So far, he's has been lucky despite being mostly a game store - most of the games he's bought have sold well, with very few 'dead ones' cluttering up his space. He's willing to dip his toe into Malifaux, and I want to recommend a reasonable starting point to purchase. I'm going with the following criteria:

1) Pitching around $300 (for him) at first

2) Easy to put together for people relatively new to model kits (and considering the high skill level required of Malifaux, i do anticipate this to be a stickler)

3) Representative of the Malifaux range; one of the things I'm using as a sell point is the variety of minis available. "You don't like the ninja goblins? Or the winged evolving demons? Well, what about these hardbitten Guild guardsmen just trying to survive all the horrors around them and protect people as best they can?"

4) Fairly straightforward crews for people new to Malifaux and wargaming in general.

5) Few to no Gremlins. I love them but the models are way too skill-intensive for my fumblefingered friends. :P

Retail prices are a little under twice of what a store pays, so I'm basing my suggestions on that.

RULEBOOKS: Malifaux 2e, Shifting Loyalties, 2 Mini Rulebooks, 6 decks

Crossroads looks more update than new rules, so I was going to recommend he skip that; 2e has some story stuff but does have all the rules; the mini rulebooks are solid (the only thing that might stop me is saying, "They're also available for free online!); and the decks are necessary.

GUILD: Lady Justice Guild's Judgment, Sonnia Torch & the Blade, Brutal Effigy

LJ and Sonnia seem the simplest to build, though Hoffman doesn't look too far behind and blends well with the Ramos box. Effigy seems simple and does good things on the tabletop.

ARCANISTS: Ramos M&SU, Mei Feng Rail Crew

I'd suggest Troubleshooters, but I already own it and it's part of my demo kit; I'd rather go a step beyond what he has. Tooth & Claw is also a possibility, because there are beasts in the other boxes...

RESURRECTIONISTS: Seamus Shadows of Redchapel, McMourning Body of Evidence

Seamus is iconic, McMourning has the ever-helpful Nurses.

NEVERBORN: Lilith Mother of Monsters, Lynch Dark Debts

Lilith & Lynch are both relatively uncomplicated (from a casual glance) and look very good. Heck, I may be buying Lilith from him myself.

OUTCASTS: Von Schill Hired Guns, Tara Herald of Obliteration, Johann

The Viks just look... hard... to put together. Tara is kind of a freebie, I know someone who already wants to buy it, and Johann - I may suggest he buy several, as he's so useful of a model.

TEN THUNDERS: Misaki The Thunder, Shen Long Temple of the Dawn

While a couple of pieces look somewhat hard in both of those kits, they're very iconic and different looking from the other factions.

GREMLINS (maybe): So'mer Bayou Boss, Ulix Hog Wild

So'mer is as hard as any other Gremlin kit, but he's a solid start and I can help out; Ulix seems about the easiest to use and understand, and McTavish just looks like fun.

 

Do these look reasonable? Any other suggestions as to kits that might be easier than the above suggestions? If he wants to go further, I'll add a unit box and a character for each faction as well.

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Good luck.

Misaki box is a pain to assemble. I wouldn't let that stop you but expect cursing. Shenlong box varies from easy to middle of the road-Malifaux fare. Samurai were what drew me into the game. Just recently my local LGS owner/Henchman borrowed mine because another prospective Malifaux player got his jollies on by those Samurai. They're not fun to assemble though. Up to you if cool factor weighs more than ease of assembly. Yamaziko is easy to assemble, thematically tied to Misaki and useful on the table as well.

On the "easy to assemble mercenary models" side there's Big Jake and Gracie. Gracie in particular has that goofy Malifaux charm to top her off. Jake is a good utility piece that just so happens to be easy to assemble and paint.

Wyrd themselves recommend this (Brewmaster has character I'll give them that):

https://www.wyrd-games.net/retailers

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Mini rulebooks are free as PDFs now through DrivethruRPG, so they might not sell. I'd add a couple of the 2 player starter boxes to their initial order, since that was designed with the intention of easing players in with scenarios that progressively add rules, decently balanced opposing crews and models that are easy to assemble.

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I already have the two player starter and am perfectly willing to run through it with people - I don't really regard it as a "two player starter" as much as a "Demo kit with bonuses for Neverborn/Guild players" and I'll actually recommend against him getting it unless he wants his own to teach prospective new players.

Thanks for the link, nikodemus! I'll also link him to that as well.

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Yeah for arcanist would probably look at the rasputina or Marcus box over the railworkers box. Just more style IMO.

 

For gremlins Ophelia might be better than Somer. Easier to put together and play. Brewmaster has more style (and ready to put together) but I find he is hard to play. Maybe drop Ulix for slop haulers, Burt and Gracie

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