Introducing Nephew to Malifaux

[brian291]

Morning All. 

My sister has asked me if Malifaux would be suitable for my nephew, and while I'm all in favour of bringing new blood in, he's only 11 years of age, and I think the finer points of game play might elude him.

He's a smart kid, so I think he'd get the basics after a few games, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Anyone else introduced a young player? If so, how did you go about it? Or do you think that maybe I should just wait a few years?

 

Thanks.

Brian

[Myyrä]

If he can read the rulebooks he's old enough to play. Although I suspect he won't be enjoying the game too much if he doesn't have anyone his own age to play against (that or his opponents will probably have to go easy on him.)

[Furio]

Have you got the 2 player starter box? That would be a great place to start and see how he manages.

[Gnomezilla]

I haven't yet but I have been turning the question over in my mind. The last session of 'Malifaux in the library' was with several other minis games and the layout attracted kids of about that age to drag their parents over to see what was going on. Maybe we should set up the starter set on an empty table, maybe even with models not from the starter set, and do very simplified demo games. We had about three minutes to make a pitch before the parents wanted to move on. Remind me to report back on that next week.

It is not a coincidence that my army is full of mostly not creepy horrible things. It is not just that I adore steampunk robots. I wanted an army that I could play in public without scaring people away. It may be a time to leave the rotten belles, and all the comments that come from fighting them, at home.

Kids that age pick up M:tG and other card games. Hold cards in hand, add, compare totals. The basic mechanics should be teachable. Fewer of them got into minis games because of the cost, but there was at least one at the game shop with secondhand Space Marines* who was playing games against himself to better learn the rules.

 

*from half the guys in the game shop. I was impressed to see all the old gamer guys fall over themselves to welcome a young newcomer, pre-prime a few minis so they were ready to paint, give him painting tips, and never say "that move is stupid" even when he...ok, I don't know 40k well enough to repeat what he was trying to make his units do, but it was stupid.

[Ludvig]

The starter box is good since the models have simple cards and there is a narrative.

I would either try that or try emulating that setup with small crews with a leader and 3-4 models so each side only has three statlines to keep track of. I would also emphasize the story element and put some work into building up a backstory and pre select schemes that tie into that story. I sometimes demo with a single strategy + a pre selected scheme that is different to each crew but known to both players. That makes it easier to build the narrative.

Don't go overboard explaining. Having played board games with unfamiliar (adult) players I've learned that no one likes to listen and no one remembers anything you say until they see it played at the same time. Show flips by making an example where a model attacks another model before the game etc. and then get started as soon as possible.

I think it will be minis and story that hook a new player rather tham mechanics. Only use really cool terrain and thematic crews with good paint jobs.

 

[Munindk]

2 hours ago, Ludvig said:

The starter box is good since the models have simple cards and there is a narrative.

I would either try that or try emulating that setup with small crews with a leader and 3-4 models so each side only has three statlines to keep track of.

I've been considering making a starter set equivilant crew for each faction for demo purposes, but I dont have enough play experience to put balanced crews together. I've been toying with these 2 though:

Outcasts: Maybe Taylor instead of Hannah?
Hannah with Tally Sheet
2 Freikorpsmann
Librarian

Gremlins: There's a extra model here, mainly because Gremlins are so cheap and 2 Slop Haulers or Lightning bugs seems too good.
Francois with a 1SS upgrade
3 Bayou Gremlins
Lenny

 

[Ludvig]

Had something similar pop up recently in the swedish malifaux group. The following have been shamelessly stolen from the clever Erik there. Not sure if balanced but they all come from one master box + one more box so they keep the price down.

 

TT:

Kang, hard worker, recalled training, 2x rail worker, katanaka sniper

Ototo, call the thunder, hidden agenda, 2x torskage, oiran

gremlins

Trixibelle, gun for a lady, 2x bushwhackers, Burt Jebsen

Old major, corn husks, 2x piglets, war pig

mancha Roja, dirty cheater, 2x lightning bugs, Burt Jebsen

Arcanists

firestarter, imbued energies & imbued protection, 2x gunsmiths, fire gamin

myrande, imbued energies, sabertooth, 2x Hoarcat pride

 

My latest demos have been variations of the following:

Barbaros w 2ss worth of upgrades and 1 extra cache, 2x Young Neph, 2x Terror Tot pitted against Samael, a handler and 3 Stalkers. That is enough models to play with double schemes if you choose the pool carefully and it showcases conditions and synergies as well as a potential summon that isn't gamebreakingly good at such low stones. I tried guardsmen before but Dashels buff ruins any chance of showing how cover works and the guardsmen have too low attack stats to put a dent in the nephilim.

You need to finetune any crews and consider the board carefully before you start a game. The above matchup is for example a walk in the park for Samael if you don't have something severe + covergranting in the center. If you overdo it the nephs get too powerful since they can stay hidden with the tots and do markers as well as flying-charge over the terrain with the youngs.

[Squirrelich]

6 hours ago, Ludvig said:

I think it will be minis and story that hook a new player rather tham mechanics.

 

*shrug, depends on the player. The Fate deck mechanics and it's ability to mitigate the "one small streak of good luck and the game is over" that I had come to associate low model count games is the reason I'm here. 

[Ludvig]

54 minutes ago, 7thSquirrel said:

*shrug, depends on the player. The Fate deck mechanics and it's ability to mitigate the "one small streak of good luck and the game is over" that I had come to associate low model count games is the reason I'm here. 

Are you in your early teens with zero previous experience of other miniature games or are you already hooked on the concept of miniature games? My comment was referring to the topic of "first encounter" type players.

[brian291]

Thanks for all the Replies, Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you!

On 5/9/2016 at 1:38 PM, Furio said:

Have you got the 2 player starter box? That would be a great place to start and see how he manages.

Unfortunately I've not got the Starter box. I do have 90% ish of the TT faction and Lilith / Dreamer and a fair whack of Neverborn Models..... I'm a bit lax on my Painting though, so most of them are only just base coated. 

 

On 5/10/2016 at 7:06 AM, Ludvig said:

The starter box is good since the models have simple cards and there is a narrative.

I would either try that or try emulating that setup with small crews with a leader and 3-4 models so each side only has three statlines to keep track of. I would also emphasize the story element and put some work into building up a backstory and pre select schemes that tie into that story. I sometimes demo with a single strategy + a pre selected scheme that is different to each crew but known to both players. That makes it easier to build the narrative.

Don't go overboard explaining. Having played board games with unfamiliar (adult) players I've learned that no one likes to listen and no one remembers anything you say until they see it played at the same time. Show flips by making an example where a model attacks another model before the game etc. and then get started as soon as possible.

I think it will be minis and story that hook a new player rather tham mechanics. Only use really cool terrain and thematic crews with good paint jobs.

 

This'll probably be the direction I go, But he'll have to wait a few weeks while I paint up, and either Buy or use my LGS terrain.

I might see if an experienced player / local henchman would like to play him, and i'll sit at his side explaining how it all works, and then backing off after a tun or two.

 

 

[Ludvig]

That is part of what henchmen are there to do so it sounds legit.

It might be more of a bonding experience between the two of you to play each other. Depending on how extrovert the nephew is it might also feel more safe to do it yourself.

[Doctor Dave]

On 5/9/2016 at 5:51 PM, Gnomezilla said:

Kids that age pick up M:tG and other card games. Hold cards in hand, add, compare totals. The basic mechanics should be teachable. Fewer of them got into minis games because of the cost, but there was at least one at the game shop with secondhand Space Marines* who was playing games against himself to better learn the rules.

 

At 11 I was playing 2nd Edition AD&D pretty much continuously, Warhammer, Painting Old Grenadier figures (badly, with enamel paints), and not long after that I started playing Space Marine (old GW epic).  I also played a number of other RPG's, and was starting to move into Battletech.  I think that its a little patronising to say that people will have to go easy on him, once he has learned the rules, which at 11 he will probably pick up quicker than we as adults can (brain plasticity and all that)

[SpiralngCadavr]

Personally, I think Malifaux is probably too complex before around 15 unless they're already well-versed in board/miniature games. While a kid might pick up concepts faster, the objective structure is something I expect would be very difficult.

[Myyrä]

1 hour ago, Doctor Dave said:

At 11 I was playing 2nd Edition AD&D pretty much continuously, Warhammer, Painting Old Grenadier figures (badly, with enamel paints), and not long after that I started playing Space Marine (old GW epic).  I also played a number of other RPG's, and was starting to move into Battletech.  I think that its a little patronising to say that people will have to go easy on him, once he has learned the rules, which at 11 he will probably pick up quicker than we as adults can (brain plasticity and all that)

I have no doubt an 11-year-old can learn the rules, but no chess master peaks in their early teens. I'd say it's pretty safe to say that an average 20 something Malifaux player has a pretty huge advantage against an average 11 years old player.

[Gnomezilla]

Report: no one dropped in to look at miniatures games today, let alone any kids. Nobody was seated near the windows this time, which may have contributed to the lack of traffic. Better signs are needed.

On 5/10/2016 at 5:17 AM, 7thSquirrel said:

*shrug, depends on the player. The Fate deck mechanics and it's ability to mitigate the "one small streak of good luck and the game is over" that I had come to associate low model count games is the reason I'm here. 

On 5/10/2016 at 6:14 AM, Ludvig said:

Are you in your early teens with zero previous experience of other miniature games or are you already hooked on the concept of miniature games? My comment was referring to the topic of "first encounter" type players.

I was drawn in by the mechanics, and this is my first miniatures game, but I am certainly an outlier.