dancater

Not an unreasonable request given the contents of boxes

Photocopy or print out the cards, either hunt them down on the web (there will be images somewhere, its the web) or use a friend/fellow gamers cards (or you copy and cut them from the book). Alternatively buy a single deck and swap cards you don't want for them or swap out with those cards you already have. Personally I started planning to use a couple of masters from a single faction and now have masters from every faction and most masters in several so I have most of the arsenal decks and get use from them. Sure now you only need those cards and not these cards but 2E is new and you do have (hopefully) multiple years of good gaming in the future. So it really it depends how "cool" you want the cards to look, how much you're willing to spend in money, time and/or effort and how certain you are your Malifaux experience will never expand into the other cards.

You know this got me thinking. I never broke it down in such a fashion but I do believe you are (largely) correct. One of the things I really like about Malifaux and the masters in particular is that the gender representation in fairly even and also unpredictable and outside of the streotypical box in many cases and when it is "the typical schtick" it is done in an interesting and effective manner. This is specifically one of my loves for Collette, yes she and her crew are a collection of clothes obssessed exotic dancers to a degree but her fluff is far more than that and how she plays is simply sublime and really effective. The same I think can be said when Wyrd seems to address particular gaming or 'classic' templates. It is very difficult to pin down the aspects which go into the 'master' I play choice. Looking at the replies above I do notice a trend (which I have) where it seems that the unique aversion factor (especially for certain masters which just don't catch the imagination specifically) and attraction factor (where something about a master just inspires) is really significant. The game and master - crew - fluff - play style matrix in Malifaux is complicated enough that I found several of my favorite masters contradicted each other on what I would consider classic 'reason I play them' aspects.

I have a horribly expanding range of Masters which sadly does not work in conjunction with what appears to be my horribly contracting resource of gaming time . But my best Masters have: Pros: Unusual mechanic, something which is different from the standard smash face technique Crew variety while retaining synergy, I like characterful crews but also value forces which can look different from one clash to the next and aren't made up of 75% auto-include models Cool looking crew with fluff which simply inspires me Cross faction model access, not an essential but difinately something which appeals and the reason I have many dual-faction masters Durability, I vastly prefer the tougher (or hidier) masters who live on a bit then the glass cannon types I tend to be a fan of the counter-culture "against the man" masters Love the fun so the Gremlins generally get an easy ride Cons: Well first the mirror image of the points above... Do not like crews which have a flavour which makes me uncomfortable, this is a weird one, certain masters have dark traits which I'm comfortable with and fit in my idea of monster, zombie, lord of evil world domination. Others I plain don't like, in particular I am uncomfortable around sexual violence and gender violence even if it is only pretend, makes no sense on a logical level but that is just how it is, you kill everyone and I'm fine with it, you target women and I'm out. But honestly I think its about 25% masters I always want to play and love, 50% masters I think are cool and will play at a pinch, 15% masters I might play one day and own as much for their cross synergy with other crews and factions and 10% masters I don't expect I'll ever play and doubtfully own. My favorite Master has always been Collette, I also love Lucius, McMourning, Rasputina and I think Marcus would round out my top five. I will qualify this with the fact that the moment Wong comes out as a crew box he will be competing for my top slot, he's the glowy wonder of Malifaux, between him and Collette it will probably come down to which new 2E plastics I love the look of more.

From the perspective of a long time player of war games I've seen the re-edition up date now maybe 20-25 times across different games, so I do feel your pain. Having said that; 1) I do not want my gaming experience static, I would like it to evolve and improve and that means eventually new rules and refinement. 2) It's a business and given the work which goes into rules development I do not expect it to be free when rules are up dated (there is an argument for the pure rules to be free as a new player hook but that is a separate story). I am happy if the up dated rules are AFFORDABLE and an IMPROVEMENT. Malifaux 2E has achieved both these objectives for me, so I must admit to being more pleased then frustrated, my biggest expenditure in 2E has been new mini's and this I will acknowledge is entirely my own fault as I could have simply bought the arsenal decks but I really loved too many of the new sculpts. If you really wanted to budget, Malifaux is a group gaming experience and it's likely that people in the community near you have the arsenal decks and it is also likely you live near a color printer/copier and that would do the job.

Got mine today. However no bonus Bette Noir or Performer despite being over $300- Who do I contact on this...

Hah also mentioned this in the Malifaux forum branch. Pleased to see this award; both reflective of my views and indicative of a game I hope continues to rise in recognition and popularity as the more peeps who play the more games I can get What a throughly pleasent way to make my 100th post.

Big congratulations to Wyrd. Malifaux 2E won the Beasts of War community vote for the best Pulp/Horror/Weird genre game of 2014. It was a long year with ups and downs but this I think reflects that the community of wargamers does appreciate the effort and quality of Malifaux. Here's to a repeat in 2015. Keep up the good work.

People who were in the KickStarter get the Penny Dreadful? I was not aware of that, did I miss something? Is this an add on or at a certain pledge level? I will be very pleased if I do get it as it will be an unexpected and much appreciated bonus, I'm currently waiting for the rest of my pledge to (I think the special edition book and extra limited ed. fate deck as I only got the one on the initial go round and was under the impression the second would arrive later..?).

I perhaps was misunderstood. I agree that basic realism is important, I really value it. However it is in essence a fantasy wargame and the mechanics of the game must give way to realism in places. Do I want a realistic game, yes. Do I want an enjoyable game, more. Pre-measuring and arguning the physics of it strikes me as the perfect example of this, from my days in the military could I approximate the distance to a target, yes. Did I know the distance and variables of atmosphere, conditions, weapon velocity and round weight and charge that would be involved in weapon discharge, no (admitedly I was by no means a sniper, or even frontline combatant, and I could only reliably hit much of anything at less than 500m ). But this is a game and I think pre-measuring reduces measurement manipulation, analysis paralysis and arguments and generally makes the game faster and smoother for a minimal cost. My point was is it absolutely realistic, well no. But this is a game, a fantasy game and played for fun not for some nebulous definition of historical accuracy. I am prepared to sacrifice elements of what I know as reality so I can make things Glowy and turn my enemies into Meat Popsicles Raspy style (it is after all magic, don't question it). Likewise I am prepared to sacrifice the uncertainty of range/speed variables in order to make my game experience more enjoyable which for me this does, although I understand that opinions differ (there are games I don't play or play rarely because I don't 'sit' well with certain design decisions). My point was that arguing about realism in a fantasy game as the unassailable point of rightousness is pretty pointless, not that realism should not enter equations but that how the rules play and the balance between smoothness/realism/imagination/balance/complexity/simplicity and many other factors must be the basis of discussion. To say that "in reality it would be lake this" cannot be an argument in a fantasy game, it is after all a fantasy game, it by simple definition mutates reality in order to create the essence of the game. So I apologise for any misunderstanding Spiral.. my point was in line with yours, that many things go into the game and simply saying that "in reality it would not be this way" is no more (or less) valid than saying "its a fantasy game we can do whatever we want". It's a balance and on this rule I personally am happy to suspend my disbelief in favour of what I consider a more satisfying game experience. But then great minds think alike so I am afraid that only dribbling idiots and single cell organisms can think on a plane equal to myself by that analogy so it might not be a great thing if you do agree with me .

Things to think about. First you can buy by faction (advantage being you get cross synergy, the models of each crew often work well with other crews in the same faction) or by crew (meaning you constantly concentrate on the Master's you like and each crew will play very differently, but to be competitive it's likely to cost more). Now: 1) What faction/crew do you simply love the aesthetic of? I find with the current state of balance you can pick what you like and compete having fun. 2) What play style do you like? If standing back and throwing hails of lead or a storm of magic appeals then cool, if the berserk charge and hideous up close mangling is your go then go with that, summon hordes of mindless zombies (like the effect you get when you switch on reality TV and people stop and watch) or tiny mechanical minions then covered. As a side note most factions will have crews which cover many of the play styles in one form or another. 3) Who are your opponents and what do they play? This gives several consideration points and advantages. You want variety from your opponents or not? Important to know. Could you play some test games with friends crews? This would give great knowledge of certain crew schticks. Are you going to get into this game at the same time as your other friends to in effect create and community, then what are they thinking of playing? I hope you love the game, sites like Pullmyfinger and several Youtube vids are excellent resources. Hopefully you have at least a few good folks in your region to supply a pool of opponents and perhaps a well spring of experience. Good Luck

I like it. Reality discussions are completely pointless in a game where flaming demons and walking zombies are central facets. From a game mechanic perspective I find it reduces angst and divisive discussions on "if you are a few mm's short in range xx", you can measure before you declare and it makes the discussion much quicker and less divisive because it is simply less critical, you might not get your action but you loose less. Furthermore I think it prevents (or at least reduces) the habit which you occasionally see of players massaging distances by adding a small amount here or there or the around/over/through terrain which ends up in the model moving more than it should, again you can simply pre-measure and agree before hand and there is no "well now I'm committed and doomed" or "the you moved it and it's finished" or "where did you come from originally were you that deep in the forest terrain or this deep?" It is by no means a cure all to game debates and the occasional 'flexible' distance interpretation but I really think it makes the games more fun and less argumentative. As for realistic, when a knife wielding toddler summons a flesh eating teddy to destroy my steam powered metal spider thing........... meh, who cares. It's a game I want to play to enjoy (and this helps for me), if I wanted something else then I guess I could pull out historical mini's and play one of the detailed and realistic historical based games.

Also I am generally really impressed with the tone and content of the forums, I think this is one of the top two or three forum communities around and it is also frequented by the staff who pay attention and at least try to address the issues which they notice. All good, many positives about Wyrd in general at the moment. Really appreciate the work and spirit of everyone involved designer and gaming peons alike.

I feel I should add to this post. I get a lot of satisfaction and have spent many enjoyable hours playing M2E. My favorite thing about the game is the current state of balance and clarity which I think is excellent. My favorite model in the current range is..... either Izamu, Sidir or Lucius all of which I think really capture an evocative image. I wish I painted, but I hate painting and love playing and reading so what free time I have goes, well on those activities. I really like the Collette story. I've had a bunch of close games which really gets me to my above point on balance and dynamism of the system, I've been tabled and won on schemes, I've had games go to last action of last model in last turn several times, I've played games where one player has had a solid lead and then its tipped the other way. To many good games to mention. There is a little community which makes Sydney its home, I sadly don't get to the regular gaming event nearby as its on a normally inconvenient day but when I have stolen a visit the community has been great, mature and friendly.

The Guild models you've selected and the Ten Thunders angle gives you some options. Lucius is a worthwhile addition; he gives you the Guild Guard and Dashal who really buffs Guild Riflemen. Also an alternative build I've been experimenting with Lucius involves Sidar and Wastrels from the McCabe box with Lucius in a slowing and kill list. So give that some thought as an alternative. With the Viks, then Von Schill is a great bow, you already want the Friekorps Librarian so that would mean that this box has value to support Vik's as the Specialist and Trapper are further icing. Good Luck

I am a little out of touch with the original issue. However the direction of this post..... Completely on board with. I don't care how irrate we get, in the end we a folks who appreciate the game and the effort which goes into every aspect of it. I have the utmost sympathy for anyone facing any personal or family stress and I really hope that everything is going as well as can possibly be expected. My thoughts and best wishes are with you. Be strong, be well and hope. D

I suspect that this would be a hornets nest. Any "official" token set would cover what exactly? Official for generic limited Malifaux, official for a specific faction or crew, official for schemes/strats, would you include certain special certain model tokens not at all/certain ones/ all of them, why? In the end "official" tokens would result in more potential for unhappy consumers I suspect then profit. My guess is that given the shear scope and variety of tokens which can be used and the variety people want (some just use scheme marker generic and some folks I've seen have crew specific markers for many if not all their crews) and how some folks go for incredible quasi-art tokens and others a piece of 30mm circular product I can write on that Wyrd has consciously said we are not going there. So they let 3rd party businesses do whatever tokens they please and let the customers pick and choose everything from numbers, need and look without ever having to contend with the resultant dissatisfaction where people say the official tokens don't cover what is needed or its a waste because the official tokens include lots of useless one they don't want. This is also made all the worse by the expanding nature of the game. I could be wrong but its been a lot of years and while Wyrd has explored things like terrain and fate decks in addition to mini's and rules they have notably not touched the token market at all.

So.... First I have had success playing strictly in theme with many crews, in particular Raspy, Ramos, Collette, Marcus & Mei Feng (so yes I play Arcanists mostly) also the Viks. Additionally I have experimented with other 'theme' crew lists and generally find that I prefer theme models for what they bring power wise as much as fluff reasoning. Secondly I find that it is often an advantage to stick to the theme, it provides more often than not great synergies and also in a game which can overwhelm with options, moving parts, interactions and possibilities it stabilises my crew selections and allows me to choose from a more manageable 'always good' model pool. Thirdly it's cool and fluffy and no one can really complain you're cheesifying the list. However, yes it does narrow the options somewhat, makes it a little tougher to manage against certain types of attack or tactics (most particularly things like condition spam lists and horror lists) where that crew schtick is vulnerable or normally has limited counters available. It also means that you are less likely to ambush your opponent with the novel Raspy takes Metal Gamin and the Firestarter list or Marcus with Archnid's because spiders are beasts even when they are metal... or at least they should be. Finally it means you don't have the option of really taking certain powerful models which in particular crews bring the pain but have no strict fluff based link cf Collette and the Mechanical Rider or Howard/Miss Step and the Viks and the Friekorp Librarian. So in summary I personally believe it is fun and satisfying to play in theme , that it is generally powerful, provides synergy and is at least 85% of the time competative , however yes it limits options and means you could be at a disadvantage against certain combinations/lists/strat combos . I think for competative fun I'd nearly always do it. For a soul crushing doomeggedon Malifaux master tourny player of renown recognition award (now with blood splatter and spangles ) yeah maybe you want to open your options completely.

Well The postage bugbear. So everyone knows, I've mentioned this before on other posts, I understand the pain, I really understand the pain. I'm primarily a mature age student, I have not much money coming in, I live in Australia which if you look at postage prices seems to be located somewhere extra-orbital to the northen hemisphere because the only adequate explanation for prices would seem to be fuel costs for escaping a gravity well. I have repeatedly been burned by postage cost in numerous ways: 1) Being forced to pay up to 25+% extra on orders (from many companies and locations) to post them 2) Not getting stuff I want because (1) simply priced it out of my range (real painful on limited addition items or funnily enough small items with insane postage, a memorable $1.50 purchase + $6.00 postage...) 3) Increasingly certain companies simply do not post to Australia at all and regardless of my resources or desire I can't get an order So yep sucks. But fundamentally it is NOT Wyrd's fault, I do not blame them, not at all, not in any way. They charge the postage that the dispatcher demands (I understand there may be some slippage) it is not a Wyrd bonus money move. From a business point of view it would likely be counter-productive to not charge postage on orders >$xxx value, these self same orders are likely to have proportionaly elevated postage in the end unless its no postage on orders <xx kgs and <xx m2 volume then it would probably eat the profit of the entire event. Do certain companies and retailers offer free postage, yes, but they have very different budget demands and business models. I do not expect Wyrd to provide me an effective significant (20-25% or more) discount for online store ordered products in order that they shoulder the increasingly insane postage prices. I am not a Wyrd apologist here, I do wish and expect many things from them but on this aspect I cannot blame Wyrd for shipping price expenses they cannot control. So in summary I reserve the right to complain on the forum about ridiculous postage costs, because they are and it infuriates me but this is the complaining of someone that it sucks when something beyond all the parties directly involved can control causes problems. But I will not blame Wyrd for these costs. Addendum, I will blame Wyrd in this way... Move to Australia you bums, come on we have great weather, plenty of space, I'll work for the company. This would solve my problem, especially in you moved the entire operation factory and all, we'll train Koala's as cheap production line workers....

Well man.... I think there is a firm consensus with Jack Daw pretty solid at one, Levi, Tara and Collodi also strongly featured. But the problem is you want a Master who is tough to play and with a concept which inspires..... You seem to not be keen on Guild or Neverborn, nor fired up on Jack Daw, Levi or Tara. Collette is to common in your local scene so she is out as well. Now McCabe is interesting and I use his box in my Lucius varient so you get cross over if you change your mind on the Governers Lieutenant (I go Sidar, Wastrels, Mr Tannen, Doppleganger and Pathfinders), not a bad choice. But to be honest you mentioned Yan Lo, he is (from what I've seen never played him) a Master with an odd schtick, as a TT/Rezzer you could experiment with a wide model pool (but no idea how that would go outside of his "normal" crew). He seems to have support/face smash options and an interesting flavor which you at least have considered. This barring Shen Long who is unavailable. One final note have you looked at Gremlins, they are crazy wack jobs all and unpredictability leads to insanity but also they are a love 'em/loath 'em faction so..... And (again own but not played yet) the Mad Doctor McMourning, I am not sure how 'hard' he is but again a dual faction model pool and the mega poison schtick means he's got plenty of choice and at least an unusual mechanic. So, I think you've seen the main community input and certainly mine. Seems your balance of hard/inspire is probably Yan Lo for the period until Shen Long is released. Still read through the book, maybe one of the Masters mentioned here will suddenly grab you (its happened to me several times). Luck.

Surly I see the angle you are flying on, I suspect a problem you will encounter is many (if not all) of the tricky Masters are tough to initially learn and then become much easier once you gain experience and that again most Masters have a fellow "the models which work well" limitation. Marcus I can advice on, he does have a huge pool of models but I don't think it will fulfil your needs. Marcus himself is pretty much a beatstick/support model depnding on options. His pool of models while extensive is channeled to variations on melee mayhem, not many spell tricks or shooting or other tricks which really flip things up. Have you considered Lucius, I did not suggest him initially but he can be a little tricksie and he also has some interesting options as a dual Master who relies on supporting his crew, in this way he is similar to Yan Lo. However I think he can really make some interesting and yet effective lists which play in totally different styles. Also I'll repeat Collette, I mentioned her before and couple of others also did, you did not state if she interested you. It is a pretty "learn the style, play the style" similar to the Vik's but its tricky, kinda left field and fun.

I'd put some coin on... Jack Daw I've heard it tough to really get him going and its an unusual mechanic. Collette is I think the toughest of the Arcanist (my favored faction) but she is not that tough once you wrap your head around her schtick. I think it is worth mentioning that every Master can be tough. Also that their is a wide margin between... (1) Tough to learn, by which I mean that the "method" is initially tricky either because of an unusual mechanic (unique to the way the Master works) or because the Master needs many moving parts and models to work together to maximise and you must refine the mix and activation order or because it is a Master where fragility or slowness means that poor positioning will quickly see you so far behind you can't recover. (2) Tough to be superb, where "getting" the Master is one thing but really making the machine sing is really hard. I think this is the result of either a combination of the factors above working together or that the initial learning is simple but the power play is nuanced. Thus I place Jack Daw as my first really tough one as he has I think several factors going on; an unusual mechaninc, several members of the crew work with key interactions and it is a group which can be overwhelmed quickly if you mess it up. Its funny because I find the Vik's tricky, they have an obvious mechanic (ginsu of doom!) but are notoriously fragile (the glass ginsu) and require careful activation and coordination of models to really get that speed and smash working. If you get the Vik missile up well its messy in a good way, if you fail its still messy.... either way its fast with not much room for error.

It is a small bonus skill on a 5SS model so massive utility is not I suppose to be expected. First the ability to place markers 3" away and not BtB is very useful. Second it may be possible to place markers in such a fashion as to not clearly demonstrate what exactly the marker is for (thus disguising undeclared schemes) or in such a way as to score different schems/strats depending on which is removed forcing opponents to make decisions and granting a small amount of flexibility if done early in a turn. Third model interactions (that I can think of): Molemen can move using scheme markers Cojo gain benefits from scheme markers Collette and her crew love any scheme markers Willie can gain some benefit Soulstone Miner can move to scheme markers on an attack trigger Large Arachnid can use scheme markers Fourth certain spells and abilities (eg Ice Pillers) allow placement at 1" away from other models and markers (regardless of friendly/unfriendly) so potentially placing extra temporary markers could restrict these types of spells and attacks and the placements of certain things. As I said it is an action on a 5SS model so it pretty situational but there seems to be a few options.

This is a useful piece of contribution. My question is mainly directed to Wyrd, is there plans and a schedule for a formal Errata and rules clarification? Can we expect a Wyrd download or should we simply expect to rely on houserules and folks like KJR?

If you can find the Alt-metal version of Rasputina it is in my opinion gorgeous, might hurt a bit on e-bay but I use her all the time as my Raspy and reckon its well worth the investment if you can find her.