Da Big Baws

I had a few questions about Von Schill and the Viktorias. Well let me ask here...

If you would eventually think of getting both boxed sets for Von Schill and the Viktorias, which would you get first?

I lack the RP Book, so what are Von Schill and Freikorps' background / fluff?

What about Lucius's box (aware he is a henchman but nothing more as I only got the original rulebook and the PDF Manual)? What is his background?

I still like C. Hoffman (I have a soft spot for brotherly love), but the apparent incompleteness of his box is a deterrent, as I would be starting with just one box for now. Perdita, The Viktorias, and Razputina are just a tad behind in my interest.

P.S. What base sizes are used for the models in Guild Boxes?

What about the other 2 Masters boxed sets, Marcus and Colette?

@Manic: I heard the same thing by way of a few FOX news addicts, but all of the intelligence information that we're hearing DIRECTLY from the government say that it happened late Sunday evening (i.e. yesterday), Pakistan time.

And there lies the problem: Fox news.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676

Obama's tweet:$$https://twitter.com/barackobama/status/64918866316361728

How good are Razputina and Ramos straight out of their Boxed sets?

Out of the box:

Perdita and her family are one of the best ranged attack crews in the game, but two of the five models are pretty weak in melee. Perdita is very fast, deadly at range and melee, has pretty good defensive capability, and can stand up to quite a bit of punishment. If they are close enough to each other, you can activate all of the models at the same time for an alpha strike that can wreck your opponent to the point of not being able to respond meaningfully.

Sonnia's crew consists of three minions, the Witchling Stalkers, that are pretty good at melee and damage your enemy when they die and a very deadly ranged minion, Samael, that can one shot a lot of things with a 6+ Ca value. Sonnia is pretty squishy and prefers to stay back and blast anything that gets too close. The entire crew gains benefits from facing magic-crews and everyone except for Samael has good defense against magic.

Hoffman's box set is missing a few ingredients for a good crew, I believe. He can be fairly tough to kill with the Guardian by his side, but he doesn't have much to offer in the form of a return punch. Hoffman buffs, activates, and removes weaknesses from constructs. With a few key models that don't come in his box set, like the Peacekeeper and Ryle, he can be very deadly at range or melee and can be very fast.

As far as Hoffman's background goes, he has polio and was a decent scientist Earthside that was always in the shadow of his brother, Ryle, that was both at the pinnacle of human capabilities, mentally and physically. Ryle took Hoffman to Malifaux in search of a cure for Hoffman's polio. They both almost died when they crossed the Breach. Ramos "saved" Ryle by turning him into a cyborg, but Ryle did not retain much of his humanity in the process. Hoffman gained the ability to control and power Constructs after crossing the Breach. He blames the Arcanists for Ryle's fate, but does not realize that Ramos is an Arcanist. He was recruited by the Guild to hunt down man/machine Constructs, and he accepted because it offered him an opportunity to investigate the Arcanists and get his revenge.

Very interesting fluff. I think I like his as much as Razputina's (my favorite) but I think she might be better out of the box.

I'm partway through the rules PDF but still got little grasp the rules. I got a hold of the original rulebook and read into the fluff of most masters in that book. I liked 2 of the 3 Guild Masters (and I really liked Razputina, but she isn't Guild so that is for another topic I guess). Sonnia's background was the most interesting, the whole political schemes, radical views, etc. Perdita and the whole Ortega clan sounded cool too. Didn't like Lady Justice though. But I know nothing of the fourth, Hoffman. Anyone care to fill me in his background?

Also, how do Perdita, Sonnia, Hoffman play in general terms? How good do each play out of their Boxed set (will probably just start with one of the Boxed sets)?

Hello everyone, I am considering starting Malifaux soon. Not a big Malifaux scene here in Puerto Rico but I still find the game appealing.

Well I got a hold of the original book. Reading the background fluff behind some of the masters, I liked Razputina (being December's avatar in Malifaux sounds cool, pun intended) and the Viktorias (Neverborn twin with secret pact? Mysterious...) the most, followed by Perdita and the whole Ortega clan (all basically badass gunmen/women with a nutjob patriarch).

Sonnia Criid was also very interesting (political schemer with progressively radical view looks) but her abilities look very focused at anti magic and I dunno if that is good. Strangely, I didn't like Lady Justice's background. I thought I would.

I though reading would narrow my choices...hehe. But that is a sing of good game design, albeit hurts indecisive players like me.

Now to read some more.

Well my brother just took a look over all Boxed sets and really liked the Dreamer and Lord Chompy Bits. How does he play out of the boxed set?

What base sizes are used (in-case he wants to buy inserts)?

The Viks are pretty easy to expand on, they can cherry pick from just about anything with the "Mercenary" trait. Most of the time you want to just fill in the gaps with the Ronin...very amazing models by the way...

The Viktorias are sisters, and game wise they have that twin-like instinct ingrained in their mechanics. They can share positive buffs between them, companion each other, etc...

The dual sword Vik hits like a truck and she can hit almost anything she wants with her very high combat stat. I would say she can easily go on par with Lilith, they both have similar, but not the same, combat styles.

The cards are just cosmetic and you can just buy them to show your faction's colors...or maybe you just like the colors...it's all the same.

As for card covers, what my LGS has done, we go to OfficeMax, Kinkos, or another office supply place and laminate them. That way we can use dry-erase markers to mark Wounds lost and stuff like that.

Nice idea on lamination but I dunno if our local (Puerto Rico) OfficeMax laminate though .

Wow yeah, this one is really nice, with the edited in pictures and extra explanation , as well as the camera work. Definitely sharing this one...

Edit: I really like how it actually shows them working through it, stumbling and all.

Here is the full unedited demo vid, over an hour long:

[ame]

I'm really a BTP Fan, but i think this Demo Video is a lot better

Interesting demo. Made my interest in the Vicktorias even higher still. Since it seems to been a very un-synergistic Crew, is it easy to expand?

Would her box fairly match Lilith's?

Right now I'm liking Perdita, Lady Justice, Sonnia Criid, Vickroria, and Rasputina the most, but still liking others (funny, many are from the Guild faction, hehe). Maybe I should try to get a hold off the older 2 rulebooks and read up some fluff. That should narrow my choices.

Other noobie questions:

-Any difference between the different colored Fate Decks or is it just cosmestic?

-Are there any sleeves available that fit the opened Stat cards?

Sorry for hogging so much the topic for my personal questions.

Thanks for the insight.

Despite some boxes having a Henchman (I know very little of what that means yet but I know it means henchmen can only field a limited pool of models), wouldn't just upgrading with a synergistic Master box (i.e. Ophelia with Som'er box) and using the pair be a good way to go forwards?

Also, How many SS do the boxes normally have? I've read most can be used in the 25 range.

Some of the box sets are not complete...ie...you will need to buy more than just the box to start playing that master (leader guy)

These are some sets that work really well straight from the box

Lady J

Perdita Ortega

Sonnia Criid

Nicodem, the Undertaker

Seamus, the Mad Hatter

Rasputina

Lilith

Ophelia (Henchman though...)

The Viktorias

Von Schill (also a henchman)

Most people I've known like to demo Perdita vs. Lilith box for box and that works very well because they are both straightforward murder machines.

I talked it over with my brother and he is considering starting with me and getting a box perhaps in a month. Model wise, he is liking the Lilith box the most. He is a guy that goes by looks firstsvand foremost. Ironically, it is in your list.

I'm liking quite a few. Raputina as I like the frost theme, Lady Justice for the Law enforcement theme, the Viktorias mostly on looks, Sonnia Crid on looks too, Perdita for gunslinging themes, and Ramos & Hoffman for the Machines/robot themes. Again, ironically most are on your list?

How do each of those tend to play and how fair / evenly matched are they to someone using Lilith's boxed set?

EDIT: I also like Ophelia a bit too.

Just pick up the rules manual and two boxes, if the manual is too much you can use the pdf of it on the sidebar, it has all the basic rules but the other stuff is 'censored'. You can also pick up the card decks, trust me buying it is alot simpler than using a normal deck.

Are all Boxed sets balanced in points (or whatever unit is used to make lists, excuse noobiness, for I know nothing) and in power? Any noteworthy too weak or too strong Boxed set(s)?

Not necessarily.

Too many crews to choose from can lead to a sort of analysis paralysis when getting into the game; there's so much to look through to find what they would like the best, they just give up and move on to another game. After all, they're not invested in it. Also they don't know if there is any "codex creep" going on (i.e. newer models are simply better than old ones). And, whether it's a problem with the game or not, with enough models out there SOME will just be crap (by sheer weight of numbers) and who wants to risk picking that crew up? Or if you do, who wants to keep playing?

Also, knowing your opponent's crew is key. And with so many crews out there, you could easily find yourself learning a new one every game. So after your first five or six games are spent reading stat cards, who wants to keep playing? Again, keeping in mind the person isn't very invested.

I'm not criticizing wyrd at all, simply speaking to the nature of mini games in general. The larger the model selection (particularly in a game where the abilities of models vary widely) the more difficult the game is to get into.

It's a problem I have no solution for.

Hello. I am a possible future player and I think that is going to be a problem. To start out with, I see there are way to many Boxed sets and picking one will require research and much thought. Unlike other Skirmish games, like Warmachine or Anima Tactics, which have 4 or less each, the starting point via Boxed sets is a large pool for this game.

In all honesty, I don't have an idea to which box I would start with if wanted to start playing Malifaux.

Saw this and was interested enough to look up the forums and join. May play this if I can get my brother interested.

What is the easiest and cheapestvway to get two players to start Malifaux?