MissE

Ooh, good call, sir. Sonia would be a fun model to have around too, so no sense in not picking up the set.

Check out Boneshaker and Dreadnought, both by Cherie Priest. She identifies as a steampunk author, but there are a lot of zombie/weird west influences in her writing as well. Boneshaker has more of a zombie, sci-fi feel to it, and Dreadnought has a lot of western influences, since it's a steampunked retelling of the Civil War. I highly recommend both.

As you'll see, I'm also pretty new, but wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I'm inclined to agree with most of the previous comments on the rulebooks. But since you say cash is a consideration, maybe consider picking up the first one, just so you do have stories and background to show off? Like you, I like to play the "good guys" so backstory is important to me. For terrain, the last game I played, we used a ton. We did two forests and a sort of small arena-type thing in the middle, done up with four walls set in a square. For smaller pieces, we had 7 or 8 walls, columns, piles of crumbled stones, etc. It made the game more exciting, and (I think) a little more forgiving on me as a new player, knowing I could hide for a little bit while I figured out what I was doing Lady J is a blast. Period. When I demoed the game, though, I used So'mer Teeth, the gremlins, and some pigs, which I think appeals to a third sort of player, so might be fun to pick those guys up as a third army. Colette is tricky, Lady J is straight-forward...and the gremlins are ridiculous. Enjoy, and let us know how it goes!

Thanks, guys! You've given me a lot to think about, and in putting my next model order together, it looks like I'm going to be picking up Austrigners, Samael, and a couple of the Witchling Stalkers. It's not that I'm completely opposed to picking up the Ortegas as individuals, but I'm definitely into the storyline and fluff. I'd hate to split up the family I'll be back with a report on how our next game goes.

@Big I hadn't even thought about the Austringers. I'll consult the book and check 'em out. I was definitely using the SS to keep Lady J alive, using them for mostly healing flips. I had used 6 by the time Tina took her down. @Pipe, It's true, that a win is a win. I just felt like it was a more dumb luck, wandering in to the win as opposed to something calculated and well-thought out on my part. So maybe it's a combination of being new to gaming, and not having played a lot skirmishes yet. I'm almost to the idea where I can accept that I'm not going to be in a situation where all my dudes are alive and all his are dead

The boyfriend and I recently started playing (me with Lady, him with Tina) and after a fun countertop game the other night, I'm realizing that I need a little strategy help. We played a 25 ss game, where my list was: Lady J Judge Scales of Justice Death Marshall x3 Which left me with an 8 SS pool. Awesome. I realized almost off the bat that the Scales were basically worthless. I couldn't figure out how to comfortably incorporate it into the game, and it died pretty quickly anyway. Because it seems like these two masters and their crews are on opposite ends of the melee/casting scale, the onus was on me to move in and make the kill, and hope that I could stay alive long enough to take her down. By the time Lady J was in charging range, she had nine wounds, and I was burning my SS cache. Is popping soulstones like candy an acceptable defense? Or should I not have been in that position? Once I charged, I managed to take Tina down, but then died a very undignified death to a tiny ice monster...sigh. So. I got an ugly win, and I guess what I'm looking for here is a suggestion on a good small support crew with the Lady at the helm who is going to be survivable and damaging to a casting-based team. Presumably, I need to pick up at least one of the Ortega boys and let one of the Death Marshalls go, to sort of shore up my ranged offensive situation. Or does the problem go deeper than that...is there even a viable way to run a melee machine against a wily caster type? Or should I invest in an Ortega boxed set and bring out the guns, leaving my Lady on the sidelines? Help, advice, assistance is appreciated, and hopefully this is the right place to put this sort of question. Thanks all!

@Doctor *curtsy* What a fine top hat!

Thanks for the welcome, all. Munkey, I checked out the painting blog, and I'm loving your Guild look. It's nice to see the models done in something other than browns and blacks, which is most of what I saw this weekend.

Hey Er1k, Yeah, I picked up Lady J because I'm a melee gal, and her crew seems to be one of the more straight-forward options for beginners. The only store I know of that will definitely carry Malifaux miniatures is The Compleat Strategist. If you're coming for touristy reasons, this place is really easy to get too, since it's close to the Empire State building. They do keep sort of strange hours, so be sure to google them and make sure they're going to be open when you plan to swing by. Thursday is usually best, 'cause they're open late.

I'm in NYC, and I see that the Strat is running a tourney this weekend, but I'm definitely not up for any kind of competitive playing at this point, since I've played a total of one demo game Maybe I could go peek in on a couple games or try see if there's some kind of non-competitive aspect to the gathering?

Hey all, So I tagged along with the boyfriend (who is an Warmachine player) to TempleCon this weekend, and while I was waiting for him to finish a 100 point game, I wandered over to watch a guy demoing a game of Malifaux. I asked if I could watch, and he told me I could play if I wanted to. So I took control of So'mer, a couple goblins, and some pigs, set up to fight Rasputina and her ice monsters...and fell in love. I promptly bought my own crew (Lady J) and sweet-talked the boyfriend into assembling them (I know that's probably cheating, but I figure I'll be more likely to play with a good looking crew, and he's infinitely more experienced at this assembling and painting thing than I am). Just wanted to pop on here and say hello, and that I'll probably be a frequent visitor in the next couple weeks, asking questions and seeking advice. From what I've seen, you all seem to be pretty helpful, so I'm looking forward to getting into gaming!