tmod

I don't think they'll do this. They try to steer most of the trade through game stores, as they believe game stores carrying the game is essential for growth. That's also why they never offer monetary discounts on their web sales (only exception I'm aware of was the metal clearance sale in 2013 or something), why they have lgs promotion schemes, why they only release stuff well after release date in their own web store and why they don't offer pre releases outside of the GenCon sale... So, it would make things easier, but I don't think it's all that likely...

In a similar vein.... For my M2e cards I sleeved them and put them in an aluminium suitcase meant for Magic cards. I originally bought it for Munchkin cards, and it has colour plastic dividers, so I can keep my cards sorted by faction. The tarot sized cards won't fit, anyone knows about an alternative that will fit? I'm looking at something big enough to keep every card for every faction in one suitcase...

No denomination (by definition), and could be anything. As costs are mentioned in x Guild Scrip (with symbol §, I think), they would not have any denomination... I doubt they'd be elaborate, more like this: Edit: that came out like I was shouting, don't know what happened to the formatting...

Scrip is basically paper money only recognized in the store of the company you work for, ie a voucher that you get instead/in addition to regular wage for the work you do. In Malifaux this means Guild-issued money that is not legal tender anywhere except the Guild's own stores. As the Guild controls pretty much all legal trade in Malifaux, Guild scrip is still pretty much universal. So basically any kind of paper money. On my outcasts (well, Leveticus, I'll probably change things around for different keywords with M3e) I did a wavy pattern setts theme, with the odd stone pulled out, and lots and lots of loose stones. I made a large silicone mould and cast up dozens of rounded cubes, and put them in piles. For the more metallic parts of the crew I added some small clockwork pieces, for the shooty members I added some green stuff shells, for Leveticus himself I added a partly dismembered female corpse (from the Secret Weapon Bodyparts kit), with the undead skin painted like the skin of my waifs. Desolation engine also had some torn-up body parts. But all bases had the half-circle setts stone pattern (made by a rubber press mould I bought somewhere; like the ones Happy Seppuku makes) and the piles of stones. I thought that told a story, bit still looked like they all belonged in the same area of the quarantine zone...

As I understand it you can in fact buy the ltd ed cards, but you'll have to wait until their available from Wargames Vault. I'm eagerly awaiting this myself...

Not tried, and not likely to try it either, I've just heard good things about it online. Could be it's just slightly better than the usual stuff,but it does seem to generate some buzz at least. At any rate I'd prefer it not to release at about the same time as M3e...

Well, Well, technically the first Ten Thunders masters in M1 also included totems, but that's because they were released in plastic during the last 1st ed book. Unless I'm mistaken I got the first edition versions of Huggy, Emberling, Shang and Soul Porter...

Everyone can; it's just highly unreliable when the distributors ordered/got delivered less than the demand. So the store might have ordered 10 and gotten 5, or the distributor might have gotten 100, not 500. Which store gets how much out of those 100 seems to be pretty random. I presume the same goes for restocks. So we should expect back ordered stuff to start showing up more or less randomly until everything is back in stock every where, whenever that might be... Glad you got the book! 🙂

Really sad. Really bad luck GW seems to finally release a decent skirmish fantasy game just when demand outstrips supply for Malifaux...

Man, that sucks! I bought the rulebook and Outcasts, Gremlin and Arcanists faction pack from Element Games at release week. Have since bought Dead Man's Hand and Guild pack from Wayland. At least they've had it in at some point. Hope you get your stuff soon!!

Yeah, that's not really fitting visually... 🙂

I struggle to distinguish the generic from the Wyrd one from the top. The great thing about the M2e era Wyrd bases is the round slot that fits a magnet perfect underneath. I found a magnet that due to the difference in metric/imperial measurements was slightly too thin, which was perfect. Doesn't stick the model so hard to sheet metal that you rip the feet of, but won't come loose by itself. The older style (and generic lipped 30mm bases), with the long slot, looks the same from the top as long as you fill in the slot, but you need different magnets. Never found reasonably priced cube magnets the perfect size for those, but might have another look. I think the Manos base is really sticking out; if I hadn't seen the new style bases I'd assumed it was a case from Mierce or something. Nothing wrong with the look of the new style per se, but doesn't mix well with the old style at all. I've done some more comparing, and noticed that the profile of 30mm bases (old and new style) seems different from the profiles for 40mm and 50mm bases. Might be different versions of those as well that I haven't noticed before (so presumably they have been pretty similar), but I'm excited to see how the new style 30mm looks like next to 40mm and 50mm with Wyrdscapes toppers. Will post pictures whe I get them! 🙂 Yeah, the underside is the big difference. I think the new 30mm profile stand out quite a bit, but the best feature of the previous style was the space for round magnets.

I don't think it's really out of scale as such. Don't get me wrong, it's massively oversized (I can't even get it into my cabinet when based), but it looks more like a massive creature than an out of scale one. A big part of the size is that it's not compressed height-wise at all. By compressed I mean the tendency by most makers to make big models crouch, bend over, or otherwise pose themselves to be smaller overall, whereas many small miniatures are more upright. We tend to see this mostly in Malitaux with the kneeling giant phenomenon, where any models kneeling or bending over tend to be larger than those standing up. (I don't think the variance usually is as big as some others do; the kneeling M2e Death Marshall's height is well within natural variance for instance, but that's another topic. It's still a fact that most of all Malifaux humans 6 feet or higher have a tendency to kneel at all times...). This mini is designed to be a monster centrepiece, so in addition to being tall it has outstretched wings (nearly doubling the height) and is perched on a rock). Also note that the Carrion Emissary is also bent forward, so it would also be quite a bit taller standing up and stretching its wings upwards. Again, it's not really practical (it wouldn't fit inside buildings either), but looks very nice!

I'm aware. I don't particularly care for the change, but not that big an issue for me. Left if here anyway, sort of like an Easter egg. Maybe I shouldn't, but couldn't resist...

Update: I quickly slapped it together and put it next to an unpainted Carrion Emissary. I know which one I'd prefer to travel with, but OMG is it a beautiful model. I also think it fits reasonably as an Emissary, but there's nothing reasonable with transporting this to a tournament. Especially if proxying isn't cleared with the TO beforehand...

Don't have the cards easily available, so I'll let someone who knows what they're taking about answer those specifics. I don't know if Gaining Grounds 2019 is still available on the website; the current version is meant for M2e. But there will most definitely come a new one in the winter. But I'm sure you'll find it if you google "Gaining Grounds 2019". The document contains some general guidelines that have been basically unchanged since the stone age (hence the expectation about how they will be) as well as a calendar based rotation of objectives and an alternate set of stats and/or schemes that supersede/supplement those in the rulebook. The GG schemes/strats change subtly every year, hence keeping the game fresh. The general guidelines (proxy rules, rules for using only painted miniatures, etc) stay the same, making things predictable. Note that the guidelines in Gaining Grounds are just that, guidelines, and most tournaments seem to be a little more relaxed than gaining grounds (especially with proxies, but sometimes also painting standards and other things)... "(0) Welcome to Malifaux", by the way

You welcome! 🙂 Anything that helps people understand the cogs and wheels in the background will probably help promote a healthier and more constructive and friendly discussion here. At least that's what I tell myself after having committed an atrocious wall of text... Part of the answer to why GenCon is probably just because. Wyrd has long since settled on a release rhythm where the year is centred on GenCon. As Yew mentioned proximity is probably one reason why it became like that. I also suspect sheer size is another. GenCon is THE original gaming convention, first organized by what later became TSR of D&D fame. The con has been around for a long time, and as far as I've understood it's the biggest one out there. I know Wyrd has frequented Nova and Adepticon, so often they close for a day or two during those. But they're not associated with massive pre-releases and a huge presence (two booths) like GenCon, so GenCon involves quite a bit longer downtime....

Most tournaments are single faction, a fra are single Master, but it's all up to the organisers. Most tournaments are mostly based on Gaining Grounds, the official tournament document, but most make adjustments. I'd start with one master with some in-keyword expansions, maybe a versatile model or two (effigies/emissaries seems to be pretty decent across most keywords in most factions). When you're proficient with your first master, buy a second one in the same keyword, and save some money due to already owning some versatile and out of keyword models. Then, when you get to know the game more, consider changing things up with a secondary faction. Myself, I started with two crews in two different factions so I had a crew to lend to others. Things snowballed, and I've got everything released since a little before M2e except Basse... Gotta catch em all! :-) Um, yeah, um, that's right, that's exactly what I meant... :-p There is a tiny, teenie possibility that I might be stuck in M2e mentality, where Shenlong was more of a support master. I might even be possible that I haven't gotten around to playing Shenlong at all since the beta... 🙄

Interested in this as well. A lot of people have used matte varnish as a primer with translucents where they want to add depth with washes, or solid colours on only some parts. Really interested to hear how they work with contrasts though; I imagine one could achieve som amazing effects...

I bought these as well as some wyrdscapes base toppers to go with my new Yuoko crew as a test piece. The great thing about the keyword hiring from a basing perspective is that there is less pressure to keep cohesion across the whole faction. Maybe using different options (Wyrdscapes, resins, etc) for some self-contained keywords will let me get by a few years with my supply of old bases? Will report back how the base stickers work/look when I get them...

I think generally the question in other games of how you should kill your opponents is less relevant (ie shooting, tanking, glass cannon, etc). In Malifaux the question is more "should I bother to kill my opponent this game?". Don't get me wrong, killing and fighting is a big part of the game (some sya bigger than in 2e), but only when it achieves one of two goals: Does it score me points? Does it deny points for my opponents? If you fight your opponent's models without concern for these two goals you will almost always loose. The exception is if you have specific plan that involves a lot of killing (ie, kill all enemy models -> scheme later can work under some specific circumstances). In general Malifaux is by far the most sneaky skirmish gave I've ever played, where better questions to ask is whether you like to win by manipulating odds, deny area access, quickly kill specific models, tank damage, outrun enemies, etc. With that out of the way I think it's better to start with one keyword you think is cool, and then expand in faction first. With the new keyword hiring it's easier to stay with one keyword, but you might want to have access to a few different playstyles after a while. In Ten Thunders you get a great deck manipulator and sometimes summoner in Jacob Lynch, a denial/manipulation crew in Yuoko, crew support in Shenlong and a summoner in Asami amongst others, and I think all factions probably have access to more than enough tools to win. It is early days though, and when people get more experience some factions will probably emerge as somewhat stronger than others, but player skill level>faction power level in most cases in Malifaux, and you can usually win with most crews. A good starting point is therefore to get a crew you like the look/playstyle of and learn it well before you branch out. Yeah, maybe that master is slightly sub-optimal in some strats/schemes, but it's probably better to play well a sub-optimal crew that you know well than play poorly with an optimal crew that you don't know how to play well. At least in most cases... 2.

A few more things about Wyrd and GenCon that might not be obvious: Most small companies send their whole staff (more or less) to GenCon, and after packing up everything, travelling to the Con, rigging (many stands tend to be pretty elaborate, and Wyrd's are usually NOT exceptions. Google "Wyrd GenCon" to see their previous stands), working double days for a pretty long weekend, packing everything and travelling back most employees would have put in several weeks worth of overtime, and many companies are prudent and give the hardworking folks a few days off to recover. Wyrd is not unusual here. What is specific to Wyrd though, is that GenCon is a large proportion of their annual business (probably goes for others as well), and they have a tradition to have available a pretty large number of prereleases available in somewhat limited numbers. They also have two (or more) special releases available only during GenCon (and some other special sales, more on that later): the Nightmare Edition release and the Miss. The Nightmare edition is a limited edition alternate version of a regular Malifaux crew that will not see retail. They tend to be weird and "break the rules" when it comes to appearance. This year the nightmare edition was an alternate pirate themed Molly crew box, last year was my little pony-themed Ulix alternate, and we've previously seen the Dark Carnival (a freakshow/sideshow themed alternate Colette), a nightmare edition Dreamer and massive Lord Chompy bits, the Hanging trees scenery (including to legal proxies as well), Henry Rollins, the Punk Rock themed alternate McCabe, Crazy Cat Lady Hamelin, etc. The nightmare editions tend to be pretty expensive ($70-90 for a crew box), hard to put together, and absolutely breathtakingly awesome (somewhat subjective of course)... The Miss is also an alternate, but usually a genderswapped regular character, and usually you get one free for every $100 you spend during the GenCon sale. This year the Miss was a female alternate Seamus, last year was a he-come (male Shekome), and we've seen lots of different ones (though a female alt of a male model is much more common, and until last year Wyrd sometimes got a little criticism for this). Now, this is all good to know, but why does it cause extra work? Because of the online GenCon sale, that's why! Many companies have special releases available during Cons, but where Wyrd shines is that they have everything available at GenCon also available in the online store for the duration of GenCon (sometimes a few days longer). This means that when they DO get back to the office they have a HUUUGE pile of orders awaiting fulfillment, and usually they take a week or more to get it all out of the door. That's the other side of the reason why GenCon is important to Wyrd; they make a huge volume of online sales! Added together, this means that there is usually a four week period or so from late July where everything takes a little more time around here. It's been getting a lot better too over the years, after M2e was released during GenCon 2013 i waited more than two months before my shipment arrived due to the high volume of orders. The last few years it has gotten a lot quicker. I think one of Wyrd's strong suits is the high level of interaction with the community here on the forums. Almost every year Nathan posts a thread inviting ideas for Nightmare/Miss models, and although the designers at Wyrd tend to have a twisted imagination, I think it's awesome to invite the community to come with ideas that might be realise in hard plastic. They tend to be quick answering questions, they tend to be friendly (though a bit sarcastic at times) and helpful and they tend to be much more up front, open and honest than any other company I've been involved with. The time around GenCon is often an exception to the rules regarding availability, and to be frank though I love high quality customer support, but not a the cost of not shipping out product. They are a business after all, and I love the extra goodies that becomes available during the special sales. The limited editions released during GenCon means that GenCon in Wyrd's case is a global event, where the actual physical Con is only a (relatively) limited part of the whole thing. I mentioned I'd say more on other special sales, so here goes. GenCon is Wyrd's main special sale, and the only sale where they offer pre-releases (otherwise they have a strick policy of making sure LGS get the first batch of new products so they can build local communities. The online store tend to only have availale new releases about a month after general release. That is also why Wyrd never offer discounts in special sales; they don't want to undercut the LGS). But almost every year Wyrd have other special sales. I think they've had a Black Friday/Wyrd's Birthday sale every year since I got involved in late M1.5. Here they don't offer pre-releases, but sometimes release new alternative miniatures, and usually have almost all previously released limited editions available again. Sometimes the GenCon Nightmare release will get a box of further support (Nightmare Colette got alternate coryphee/coryphee duets, Crazy Cat Lady Hamelin got Cat Princesses (rat kings) and Cat catchers), and it seems like there will be a release supporting Molly as well (search on the forum!). Also, many limited editions will be available in coloured plastic, and sometimes translucent plastic for a slight premium (they legally count as painted, you can achieve some amazing things with translucent plastic, but they are a little harder to wirk with and tend to be more brittle), but this is less predictable. Most years Wyrd also have an Easter Sale, where you get the usual alternates, and sometimes special Easter themed alternates (the War Wabbit alternate War Pig is perhaps the most obvious example, but this year saw the Bob Ross gremlin and the Victorias in bunnysuits releases). The great thing about the special sales is that you can get older special releases that you missed, whithout paying hundreds of dollars on eBay...

Give it a few weeks. Wyrd is embroiled in the GenCon stuff at the moment, so they'll probably get to it a little later. Also, Wyrd mostly don't reply to missing inquiries, they tend to just ship replacements. Note that this might have changed though, I filed a claim for the infiltrators missing, and actually got a reply that they were underway...

I get your frustrations, but why do you think so many get annoyed by your statements? See it from the other side: Most, if not all distributors in the world except Alliance (and possibly one or two others) get their stuff on time, except the stuff Wyrd has announced will be delayed. A lot of disappointed (rightly so!) customers who share that one distributor starts posting accusations that Wyrd is somehow screwing everyone over, and that Wyrd hasn't shipped any product. That's a pretty strong statement, and it's easily falsifieable: if other stores using other distributors is getting stock it is simply not true. Maybe the stores lied. Maybe the distributors lied. Maybe nobody lied, but somebody misunderstood something. The statement is in any case unequivocally NOT TRUE. When Wyrd checks their records and finds that the distributor who has claimed nothing's been sent to them had in fact signed for the shipment, I think it's understandable people get frustrated. When you push a narrative that this is somehow a sinister plot by Wyrd I think it's fair to call it a conspiracy theory. But I get your disappointment, and I get that the reason you're angry is that you're disappointed and let down because you wanted to buy the product. I also understand if you're still angry (when you still haven't got your stuff), but I think you should also understand that you get resistance from others, who cannot see evidence of this sinister plot. Some of us, in fact, have seen hard evidence of the opposite: a company that has gone out of it's way to get a proper launch, despite some bad luck (Alliance restructuring their warehouse the same week M3e launched is nothing short of bad luck. For both parties, but it hurts Wyrd more most likely), and a lot of distributors getting their orders wrong due to the game being more successful than anyone anticipated. I have July releases in my hands as we speak, and they are hard proof Wyrd actually got this right. I understand that doesn't help you, but being less antagonistic may at least get you more sympathy and less criticism. I sincerely hope you get your stuff ASAP! 🙂

I'm sorry the game is suffering in your area. That is real, and a pain, and not good for anyone here. I'm also sorry you got told to look for another game. I think we all want to keep every player. If not, then at least we ALL should want to keep every player. Even though I'm not affected by this Alliance debacle I'm sorry it happened, let me make that clear. I also agree that Wyrd makes what is probably the best skirmish game around. They are a small (but apparently growing fast) player in a small niche, so they can not afford to screw up like the bigger companies can. On all this we can agree (I think). 🙂 I do think the criticism you and a few others have been very vocal about is very conspiratorial however for a few reasons: 1. Wyrd has been communicating very clearly and openly for a long time. Most, if not all, hiccups on their end have been announced in advance, and before people have raised complaints. This make them pretty reliable. 2. Most of the world got their product in time (with exceptions for late July releases, books and Euripides and Rasputina for GenCon. These delays where all announced in advance), but most got less than what the demand turned out to be. 3. Given how this industry works (as attested by several figures, including the owner of Wyrd, but also others like the podcast somebody linked to) it is a pretty common occurrence for very popular releases that distributors order to little, and a shortage is the result. This has also happened with Malifaux earlier, as many old-timers can attest. This is not something Wyrd can control. Note that as late as in June GW got screwed on a similar situation with the launch of Contrast paints, where demand vastly outstripped supply. 4. Wyrd has been checking up and reported back about situations arising from this release, including reporting about a warehouse rebuild that Alliance did (and did seemingly not seem relevant to inform their customers). Wyrd, like the game stores, deal directly with fans/customers, and thus have every incentive to shoot straight, and not lie. 5. Distributors have every incentive to lie about delays caused by them, as long as they believe they can get away with it. 6. I don't doubt that you trust you game store, but what they tell you is only as good as their source. I have no doubt they've received no communication from Wyrd, but neither would they. They are not Wyrd customers, they are Alliance customers, and would get their updates from their distributors. IE, if Alliance lied to your store, they can be perfectly honest and what they tell you could still be a lie. Not saying anyone lied mind, I don't know what you've been told. We've already had at least one report that a game store called Alliance, and Alliance claimed they didn't get anything from Wyrd, and Wyrd stating the had evidence that Alliance had already signed for the shipment they claimed they didn't have. Then again, I assume most distributors handle quite a large volume of shipments every week, so it's understandable if something gets lost for a few days once in a while. Just a shame when Wyrd gets the short end of the stick for someone else's mistake. 7. Claiming that Wyrd has planned for a June release, then failed to deliver what they promised due to holding back for GenCon is logically absurd. M3e is their flagship product, and they could have set the release date anytime they wanted. If they wanted to release the game September they could've sold whatever they wanted as pre-release during GenCon without holding back anything, and then released whatever was left during September. Or October for that matter. 8. It's not like Wyrd is unprepared for what the GenCon sale is like. Malifaux has been around for a decade, Wyrd itself a few years longer, and GenCon has been their most important sales venue for a very long time. It seems absurd that Wyrd forgot to order extra stuff for GenCon, and then chose to sabotage the launch of their main product line in order to cover it up. 9. This all assumes that Wyrd want to screw over their fans, which is itself is more than a little conspiratorial. 10. The far more simple (Occam's Razor anyone) and logical explanation is that Wyrd did in fact NOT lie, but has suffered some setbacks out of their hands that they have been upfront about. In addition at least one distributor worldwide (maybe more, I don't know) has had further issues after the goods left Wyrd's warehouse. Maybe a shipment got lost or delayed in shipping, misplaced at the distributor, sold to the wrong store/individual by mistake (like the guy who found the Yuoko box he preordered opened for a paint night). Maybe no one even willingly lied, maybe a distributor didn't get what they thought they ordered when they thought they'd get it, and just assumed Wyrd had screwed up. Heck, maybe Wyrd did in fact send some goods to the wrong distributor due to a mix up and haven't discovered; bad stuff happens after all. All in all I think conspiracy theory is well founded. Conspiracy theories tend to put the blame for specific problems on perceived powerful people, who secretly and maliciously make life hard for regular joes. I think at least some of the statements here qualify as that... All that said and done I hope nobody tries to chase you away (and I hope you won't let anyone tell you what to play or not to play!), and I hope you get your stuff and get your community going. You all deserve to play M3e, and the game deserves to to be played! 🙂