15 point master led game

[Somnicide]

So I am messing around with something for new players and was wondering what you guys would think about a 15 point game led by a master but disallow use of soulstones. This is really for an introductory game focused more on the basic mechanics and learning the abilities of the cards than anything else.

 

Thoughts?

[The Godlyness]

Henchman led would be better suited. Soul stones are an integral part of the game should definitely include them when teaching.

[Somnicide]

I considered henchmen but not every starter box includes a henchman, unfortunately. I also agree on soulstone usage, but for a first game, there are already so many other "new" factors. Hmmm I will think about it though.

[Bengt]

To teach the absolute basics you could pick any models from each crew box and have them do a scheme. Or just punch it up. It wouldn't be a "game" but would demonstrate most of the mechanics.

[Sybaris]

I started really small when teaching the game...actually using a minion to show the mechanics, then adding a few to get into "tactical" choices. Then a henchman, introducing soulstones...Masters came in later on because they can be complex with their mumbo jumbo synnergies that has ramification into crew-selection  .

 

That said, when a "long time wargamer" tested it with me, i skipped the first steps and made a game with a henchman.

 

It depends on the person you're teaching, too. That being said, at  around 15ss,  a couple of minions + an enforcer could make a simple crew to give an intro of the game.

[HalcyonSeraph]

A 15 point game will be wildly unbalanced. If you're concerned about teaching new players, I would suggest taking two models and running through a small combat bewteen them, outside of the context of a full game. Don't worry about initiative or anything, just have them go through a couple activation of back and forth to teach how a control hand and cheating and duels work. Once that is understood then set up a 30ss game normally and walk through the initial game setup and deployment and schemes and such. If you are concerned that would be too much all at once, maybe a 25ss henchman-led game. 

[MasterDisaster]

Best way to learn is just straight out of the starter box in my opinion. They are all around 30ss give or take with one or two exceptions (Lynch comes to mind) but they are also fairly balanced. 

[edonil]

At Gencon last year, I demo'd one minion against one minion. Usually it was a death marshal versus an ice gamin. Placed them about 10" apart, and I let them have first turn with whichever they liked. Got them covered on the basic rules that way, and then I could go on to explain how Masters altered the game. If there wasn't anyone waiting for a demo, I'd give it another go with a starter box minus the upgrades. If there was and they had a friend, I'd get them setup on a game at another table next to me and run another minion vs minion demo. It worked pretty well.

 

And I can blame Utterkhaos for this method, he taught it to me.

[J_D]

When I demo games, I normally go starter crew vs. starter crew. I leave out the soulstone and schemes, and just play move around the board and kill each other. I find this works well because 1) people can focus on using cards and how stats/abilities/actions work and 2) for long time wargaming players it helps them get used to taking turns activating single models, as opposed to entire crews at a time.

[deValmont]

This is the way that myself and a friend learned to play, we found it a really nice smooth method for escalating the games and learning the rules without ever feeling overwhelmed:
 

http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/100138-learning-system-for-new-players/

 

I would recommend against a 15SS Master game, for a start any summoning Master will will without question, and it removes a lot of balance from the game that starts to level up at around 40-45 stones.

[MasterDisaster]

When I demo games, I normally go starter crew vs. starter crew. I leave out the soulstone and schemes, and just play move around the board and kill each other. I find this works well because 1) people can focus on using cards and how stats/abilities/actions work and 2) for long time wargaming players it helps them get used to taking turns activating single models, as opposed to entire crews at a time.

 

This sounds like a good way to do it but I always include a strategy and a simple scheme such as cursed object or breakthrough. This is mainly because a lot of people I demo come from Warhammer or Warmahordes backgrounds where they are used to just deleting each others armies or crews so I try to get them to break that mentality because it wont help them in Malifaux. Instead I put the focus on resource management, objectives and the basics of the turn and activation order, movement, interacting and combat. I often find the toughest part of it is getting their heads around the card flipping mechanic as well. 

[Jimbobovalsocks]

I recently started playing Malifaux and personally, I didn't find 'starter' games useful at all. I think it's much better to just play a 'proper' game of Malifaux rather than a stripped down pseudo-game! That's just my opinion as a recent beginner though. I suppose I'm quite an impatient person when it comes to learning and I like to jump right in rather than start with baby-steps and I'm sure others are different. Anyway, to answer your question just put a few models on the table and go through the basics of how duels and flips work if your beginner wants to do that.

[HalcyonSeraph]

I recently started playing Malifaux and personally, I didn't find 'starter' games useful at all. I think it's much better to just play a 'proper' game of Malifaux rather than a stripped down pseudo-game! That's just my opinion as a recent beginner though. I suppose I'm quite an impatient person when it comes to learning and I like to jump right in rather than start with baby-steps and I'm sure others are different. Anyway, to answer your question just put a few models on the table and go through the basics of how duels and flips work if your beginner wants to do that.

 

It is important to take cues from the person you are teaching and adjust. A lot of new players, particularly ones for whom Malifaux is their first skirmish game or even first minis game, would be completely blank-stare lost if you just started right out with deployment and scheme pool flips and initiative and activations before they even know what the cards do or what any of these numbers mean.

[Uktena]

Best way to learn is just straight out of the starter box in my opinion. They are all around 30ss give or take with one or two exceptions (Lynch comes to mind) but they are also fairly balanced.

Right out the boxes! There's been a lot of talk about skipping Masters in demos recently. I think that's a horrible idea. People point to a master's complexity relative to minions, but without upgrades they aren't much different than most henchmen save better overall. Plus masters are a HUGE DRAW! If I'm trying to interest someone in a great tv show,I don't skip the best scenes. Any player who will last with malifaux for any amount of time is going to be smart enough to deal with a crew box. Very young kids, maybe not so much, but don't underestimate them! Full crew box, no upgrades, 4 soulstones each. A great learning game every time. Have faith in Wyrds design.

 

edit!:  That said, when you actually play games and start counting Soulstone costs, I recommend Henchmen led crews over Masters.