So my buddies and I got our models we ordered at the local store, spent an evening assembling them and decided to test out the rules.
We opened up the little rules manual and went through processes in a step by step fashion. Whenever we needed to know what a term meant or how to resolve something, we were able to look it up very, very quickly.
At the end of the night, we had only two rules questions and I checked the forum here. Our "it probably works like this" turned out to be the right answer for both questions we had.
As someone new to Malifaux, I now consider the rules manual to be the new standard when it comes to how to get miniature rules publication right.
So a big thank you to Wyrd for the least painful introduction to a new rules system I've ever had. We even felt like we actually played the game rather than just muddled through learning the rules.