THE MALIFAUX EXPERIENCE- My first three months...

[Baalbamoth]

Friend of mine works at a game store, we generally play RPGs there (savage worlds, eclipse phase, etc) two nights a week. At the time there were only about four malifaux players (including Mudge from these forums) but my buddy really liked the miniatures and wanted to run an RPG with customized miniatures so he convinced me to convert deadlands into savaged malifaux deadlands, bought one of every plastic box he could get his hands on (about 6 crews) and started painting up a storm.

We were having a lot of fun with the RPGs, so we decided to get into the skirmish game. I bought a Ramos crew (one of the few my buddy didn't own yet) some spiders and got to painting myself. I went to a few wargame nights (again people mostly played 40k and Warmachine) talking to Mudge more, our interest sparked his interest and soon he was planning a mini-tournament, though I still hadn't played the game yet.

The tournie happened and I was surprised to see people had driven for up to 4hrs to get there, the tournie also brought out some malifaux players that apparently had not played in a long while due to a recent general lack of interest by the local gaming community, and even a few younger chaps who had parents or friends who had recently taken an interest. All in all I think there were 11 or 12 players, and Mudge running things.

In all honesty I had a pretty rough time at the tournament. I faced zorada, rasputina, and the ortegas, losing every game. None of my games made it past the third round most ending towards the end of the second due to time limits.

I found the rules very confusing especially the seemingly endless special rules of the chararacters themselves and I had no idea if my opponents were actually following the rules or if I was getting BS'ed. A few times even the seasoned players were drawn into long rules debates about our games.

All in all id say I had fun but Ramos is clearly a late game master, time constraints, throwing myself to the wolves (lol) in a tournament for my first play expirence, severely limited that fun.

I went to another wargame night as was pleased to see after the tournament there were more people bringing their malifaux crews and playing. I played 3/4 of another game against a 10 thunders master (Yan lo ?) before I had to get to my night job. I was starting to get a better feel for the rules, and felt reassured eventually I'd have a full understanding. I suspected ramos wasnt the right master for me, got the obsession bug again and started planning on buying like six other crews.

About two months passed, I mostly finished painting my Ramos crew though with some family problems I really couldent get the time to play two RPGs AND add a wargame night to my schedule.

I went on a short road trip, I wanted to get a mechanical rider and started calling every game store from Santa Cruz to los Angeles looking for it... the message I got back from the store owners was disheartening.

Where there once was maybe 50 game/comic stores that sold minatures games, over the years the number had shrunk to about 6 and other than our store in San Luis Obispo, almost nobody was playing Malifaux on the central coast of California. Store owners told me the game was popular a year or two ago but since then people had stopped playing and were mostly playing Infinity now for a skirmish game, and the stores each only had a few dated crew boxes left. I started wondering if investing a lot of money in the game was really a wise decision.

Met with Mudge again and he reassured me there was a thriving Malifaux community in orange county (far south of LA) and the game was taking off again with the new plastic releases and M2e rules. I bought a few random minis (killjoy, teddy, Lazarus) and started hoping for a plastic Collette showgirls crew to be released.

Another of local gamers decided to become a henchman (sorry, don't know forum name) and yesterday he ran another Malifaux mini-tournament, this time based on story scenarios.

I did a little better this time around, I faced Jacob lynch (very close, losing 0-1, hungering darkness is a bastard, think I likely would have lost by a lot more but time again ended our game in the third round) Von Schill (sp?) (FINALLY WON MY FIRST GAME!!! That immunity to blasts and auras really makes exploding constructs and Lazarus worthless... keep him tied up in melee at all times!) And Tara in a very weird schindig game... (handed my ass to me, but I did get points for distract and LitS, fasted student of metal is fast death for a mostly construct army, got Ramos down to 1 wound by the second round)

So after three months, I'm still pretty confused about rules and still have to take my opponents word that special abilities are being used correctly 99% of the time. I'm having a bit more fun with the game, and were deciding to have mini-malifaux tournaments one day every month.... and I'm back to hoping for plastic showgirls lol...

[Argentbadger]

Nice story.  It's really interesting to see your experiences.  I think your best option (assuming that you still enjoy the game) is just to play more games and the speed will come with familiarity.

 

Don't forget that you can always ask to see cards at any point if you think that the rules aren't getting played correctly.  Eventually  you will just become familiar with the rules on many of the models.

[Jonasty]

Big thing I always suggest with new players is make sure you know your own crews rules down pat and don't try and start bouncing around between masters/factions until you're comfortable.  Once you've got your own stuff cold, it becomes a lot easier to then track your opponent's abilities and review their cards during play cause you're not also worrying about what your own guys can do.

 

I've played the game for a while now and while I know the general rules pretty much by memory, I'm one of the obsessive collectors and I'm at 17 Masters across all 7 factions.  It's honestly just as hard sometimes to play the game for me cause I like to jump around and then end up forgetting what half my crap can do.  It's usually why I focus on one crew or faction if I know I'm heading into a tournament or just want to stop my losing streak.

 

It sounds like you're already seeing this given your getting closer in your match results so I would just say stick with it.  The overall community is super cool.  You don't get the same vibe from most Malifaux players as you might with other game systems.

[knghtpiper]

Plus it never hurts to start small, get to know the rules and tricks of your minions, enforcers, and henchmen in smaller games and then go to master led scraps.

[asrian]

As a new player I agree with the above of learning one crew and more games helps (though I'm current painting my 3rd crew and about to play my 5th master on Vassal trying to test out other Neverborn masters). I notice I do better with the first two masters I use +Jakob Lynch and Pandora ) as I have a better understanding of their rules.

If you want more game practice you can always try Vassal games. they are nice for testing/learning and the community is pretty helpful when you get a game. Plus, it's nice to play different people who might play crews you don't normally see or try combos you wouldn't normally think of.

Best of luck to you and keep at it.

[Baalbamoth]

The issue is more with the fact that all the games I am playing have time limits, opponents get miffed if I take too long or start asking to have rules read, instead they call over henchmen or other seasoned players quickly recount the actions (which I have trouble following) and have them tell me "yep its legal" without me understanding why or why not an action is acceptable.

The other issue is in games that often don't make it past the third round (hasn't happened in 7 games), Ramos is simply a poor choice in masters. Summoning is still getting off the ground, no wall of objective dropping spiders by 3rd etc... think I just need a master that can nail down some fast VP and defend.

[asrian]

Well, as I'm a slow player (due to still learning myself) I'll gladly play you in a vassal game some time as I like taking my time and figuring things out.

As for Ramos, I honestly have no idea what to tell you other than to point you toward the Arcanist Faction forum and the Pullmyfinger wiki, as I don't play him or Arcanists in general, but I'm sure if you read over what they have posted, and ask for suggestions/advice they will be more than happy to help you out. 

[Swiglitz]

It sounds like you need to find a more relaxed group of players to learn the game with. Ideally, people with about the same experience as you so you can discover the rules together at about the same pace.

 

My friends and I have done more or less the same thing as you, but none of us had played 1.5E and we all came to Malifaux from an RPG/Warhammer/Hordes background. We found that playing a couple of games each with just the models in the box and no scheme pool was a tremendous help in figuring out the core rules. Once we'd got a handle on the basics we upped our game sizes to 35ss and introduced the scheme pool. A few weeks worth of games at that level and we felt confident enough to move up to 50ss and start to look at other masters within our chosen factions.

 

When you're learning any new game it pays to take it slowly for the first few games otherwise frustration can easily spoil it for you. As much as you can find yourself a couple of opponents who aren't interested in 'winning at all costs' or who are at your skill level and take more time with your games. Grab some terrain and maybe play a couple of games away from the local store, somewhere devoid of time pressure or 'expert' opponents who are more interested in winning than teaching. Or ask around on the Vassal forum and play a couple of games there.

 

Malifaux really is a fantastic game and Ramos is an awesome master to play as, I think you just need to maybe scale back the ambition in your games and expand at a more measured pace, tournaments aren't always the best place to see the fun side of a game.

 

I hope you stick with it.

[mythicFOX]

To echo some of the things others have said the tournament environment isn't best suited to learning the game.  Best to get some games played in a less time sensitive environment to get really comfortable with the game.  

 

When you're more comfortable with the rules tournaments are a great way to challenge yourself.

[jonahmaul]

It sounds like you need to find a more relaxed group of players to learn the game with. Ideally, people with about the same experience as you so you can discover the rules together at about the same pace.

This!  I started playing Malifaux 1.5 a while back because I'd always been pretty interested in it and I liked the fluff and miniatures a lot (these are important considerations for me) but I was playing with guys who knew the game inside out and not only was I getting beaten all the time (which doesn't bother me generally, I play to have fun, winning/losing is secondary) but in some games I felt I was a spectator as I had absolutely no idea what was going on.  I was playing at a gaming club where I used to live and the guys I was playing against were all really nice guys and I'd played other games with them too which I'd enjoyed.  But there was so much going on in Malifaux that I decided to give up as I just wasn't enjoying it.  With M2E I got interested again because of the new miniatures (which are gorgeous) but best of all a load of my friends from my home town (which I'd moved back to) decided they wanted to get involved with the game too so I now play pretty regularly with people who have more or less the same experience as me.  I'd advise trying to find other players who are also starting out (or take up the Vassal offer) so you can get a proper feeling for your crew.  Maybe Ramos just isn't for you (check out this thread for some advice that might help) and you want to try out some other Masters/options but playing with people who are also not as experienced and also take time to play might help improve your experience (although from your description it sounds like extended playing time might be an issue because of other commitments).

[Baalbamoth]

well... I'm going to encourage the guys to play a hardcore format day with no time limits to help the other newer players (a lot of the guys and a couple gals from my RPG night are interested but a bit overwhelmed) get the hang of things... that should work out well for everybody. 

[Carcosa]

My advice, and this does not just apply to Malifaux is to play as many different games as you possibly can. If you are at the LFGS and the Euro-gamers are looking for another player, pull up a seat and play that game. The RPG group is down a player, pull up a seat and play, when the TTGW players need another player, jump in. Even the CCG players, just jump in and play a game. Not only will you get to meet new people you will get something far more (relatively) important and that is a greater understanding of general game mechanics.

 

For example:

 

Many Eurogames rely on far more long term planning of your moves rather than just going for the short term gain, so they teach you a modicum of patience and foresight on how your actions will not just impact on your game directly, but how it will effect others and their decisions.

The RPG aspect can help teach "odds and outcomes" and an appreciation of the "fluff" that in many ways makes a game interesting, or non interesting to a person.

Other TTWG teach an appreciation of table dynamics in a non linear "square/Hex based" game, and threat assessment decisions.

CCG's can teach you the art of statistics and how to "predict" how certain matchups or crews will behave.

In short, play lots of games, not only is it fun, you will find that by simply exposing yourself to new games and systems will give you a greater understanding of just WHAT makes any particular game tick.

 

I have seen a few posts saying the most "important element in Malifaux is luck and the fate deck", and I cannot disagree more strongly. Barring a few schemes such as assassinate, there are very few that even require you to flip a card. Dropping scheme markers? no cards. Being in range of your schemes as required, no cards. Even when you are doing things that require the flipping of cards, it is far more important to stack the odds in your favour, which is a function of strategy rather than card flips. Having said that, sure, luck can play a part, but the more you minimise that, the better off you will be.

Knowing the win conditions of any game and playing to them will be far more useful than any kind of luck.