What's your tactic NOT to buy every faction? ;)

[surly]

There's a ton of various "Which faction is your favourite?" / "How many masters do you have" / etc. -threads around and most of the time the consens is pretty much this: "They're all plain awesome and if I could I'd probably have the complete range!"

 

... since I'm exactly one of these guys I thought I could open this somewhat different thread: what's your reasoning that you not already have bought everything shiny that Wyrd has released?

I mean come on, that stuff is just so cool, it's really hard to stay strong and not turn into shopping frenzy mode every month when the new releases come out ... and since a single modell isn't much worth, why not also take these 2 crew boxes you wanted for a long time? Also know as: my monthly struggle

So what's the carrot on the stick that makes you remain in your faction or keep focusing on your master, instad of buying more and more stuff?

 

I'll give a start

During the 2 years I've played Malifaux so far I more or less had most factions for some parts ... I started with a decent collection of Arcanists had as a second faction I started to collect Neverborn, sold them, got into Gremlins afterwards, sold them, and lastly had a lot of Resser stuff, which I also sold

( Sidenote - most of the time I got my stuff from people who sold their things second hand or I could grab some good deals with older metal minis. A small excuse, but at least I can argue with myself that I didn't waste a ton of money   )

From my Arcanists I almost had the entire faction at some point, only to realize that I had waaay too much stuff around to ever play with. So same procedure, I sold some pieces I never used anyway and right now I have basically only the things I really use on a regular basis left.

So right now I'm struggling not getting into old habbits again, but it's actually working decent I'd say. My main goal right now is to finally get some paint on all my remaining models. Once that should be done I estimate that the new wave goodies will be available which should keep me busy until the next wave ... I hope

 

I assume I'm not the only one who has to fight himself every month not to throw his earnings into Wyrd's shop, so how do you out there deal with this struggle?

 

[Ludvig]

Don't allow yourself to buy anything until every mini you own is painted. That has kept me buying things at a much slower rate.

You can also try the more hardcore "one in - one out" approach where you need to get rid of a model for each new one purchased.

[RobertSirc]

Neverborn, I have them all, some are not assembled but most are, I don't play with unpainted models. And I shame opponents who don't have painted models. I look at them as a collection, I add to them when I learn a new master or a new tactic with a master I play with. But with having them all, I know I still need more, only when it comes to Zoridia. 

[bertmac]

I started playing other factions really enjoyed lilith but don't enjoy playing any master more than my original choice Kaeris.

When I came back to her after a number of months it hit me how much I had missed it and this keeps me centered and focussed.

I purchase things every so often to keep it fresh and am well up for the TT oni master when she comes out other than that Ressers don't really do it for me. Jack daw is a side project due to fluff but not that bothered by other outcasts. Guild Lucius almost gave me depression but now trying him in nb with mounted guards in a non competetive setting and only other master Im bothered with is Lilith from time to time. Gremlins meh.

[Trample]

I give in. I look at this game as having a huge advantage over things like WHFB (back when that existed) in that you can dip into a new faction for not a lot of cash. I always want to try new things and so am jumping around all of the time. 

[Bengt]

Well I had my buy-lots-painting-be-damned phase with GW stuff from the early 90s to the late 90s or early 00s, not really sure exactly when I slowed down. Now days I don't really have any trouble holding off buying stuff faster than I paint. I'm also more interested in painting and building in general and as such I will only buy second hand stuff if it's unassembled. With it has also come an attitude of "sure this new model is cool but not that cool, it'll go on the maybe list".

So I guess my advice is: Get old and weary.

[Dogmantra]

Gremlins are just The Best and so I only need them.

Playing on VASSAL a lot helps too, because it means that I have access to every faction if I ever get the urge to play something non-Gremlin.

[surly]

1 minute ago, Bengt said:

So I guess my advice is: Get old and weary.

I actually thought I already am, but it seems like the inner child is still strong here :/

... which can be both good and bad

[lusciousmccabe]

6 hours ago, Ludvig said:

Don't allow yourself to buy anything until every mini you own is painted. That has kept me buying things at a much slower rate.

I'd recommend this. Not playing with anything unpainted is a great motivator as well.

I've been pretty good between these rules, managed to get through all 2015 without buying a single figure (while making an embarrassingly small dent in my backlog). If you can manage it disliking the aesthetic of nearly all the plastic models is a big help as well. ?

[thebarbalag]

Yeah. Stick to a painting regimen. Don't allow yourself to get a pile of unopened boxes. If you have such a pile, whenever you have an impulse to buy something, instead, deal with something out of your pile, assemble and paint it, or get rid of it (sell it, put it up as prize support, give it to a friend to get them into the game, whatever). Rinse repeat.

Note: I do not follow this advice and do not care to. It is fully my intention to own every Malifaux model. My form of discipline has taken to being forcing myself to work through each faction, crew box by crew box until done with all Masters, then cleaning up the small boxes before moving on to another faction. 

[Dirial]

I don't get the question. If you don't want to buy stuff, just don't do it.

[LunarSol]

I'm really bad for the most part and have a solid collection of unpainted and unplayed stuff.  That said, this is a particularly dangerous game, because it easily pushes you into owning parts of other factions.  There's no completion besides total completion.  The biggest danger by far is 10 Thunders, who luckily have enough faction exclusive models now that I can keep them at bay for a bit.  Personally, I also I have a bit of Outcast risk, as early on I bought into the Merc side of things, but I'm not fond of the resser half.

Something to keep in mind; the game currently has 39 masters, soon to be 46.  Own them all and you're pushing a different master every week to play them all in a year.  Personally, I like to rotate a lot, but I still think sticking to a top 10 is the only realistic way to get play out of everything.  Sure its possible to make a top 10 out of all 7 factions, but personally I have 3-5 favorites in each, which is what keeps me in a 2.5 faction kind of budget.

[Parker Barrows]

Considering that I play every faction but Guild (next year will be the year of the Guild), I am the wrong person to ask.

[Durza]

I just went and got everything,  if i own it all it means i don't need to buy more.

[Adran]

My Tactic was to only buy what I wanted to buy. 

Its working very well. I only own 51 masters. 

[zeeblee]

I just stick with the factions I find the most interesting/fun and then within that stick with aesthetic preferences.  I have too many other hobbies and not enough funds to buy absolutely everything (which especially counts for the things I don't like the looks of).

[Dumb Luck]

Simple. Every time I think of playing Lucius, I look at his card and cry.

[Chriscdoa]

I don't. I own a chunk of every faction. I thought that was the point.

One reason I like malifaux is that having lots of models is more feasible than other games. But generally I use my models with friends. It's like a really expensive expandable boardgame.

[Wolfpact]

I have very limited funds, and thankfully outside my core groups (I'm Neverborn, and intend to get some Outcasts for variety as I like a good few of them plus Merc support) my interest in the other factions is much more limited - 1-2 Masters each, if that.

[Peasant]

I'm allowing myself to collect the whole Resser faction to scratch the collector and competitive itches. 

Any masters I have outside of Ressers are self contained (Dreamer with nightmares, Freikorps). Getting crews that are self contained stops me from expanding in to the other factions. Sure I could run Dreamer with non-nightmares, but he's playable with just the nightmares and that's enough for me; Von Schill also works fine with just Freikorps. Next on this list is Marcus will only beasts, thus stopping me from buying in to arcanists.

It also helps that I'm not in to the Asian themes of 10 thunders, this prevents me from branching in to every other faction.

 

[-Loki-]

I don't have one. My tactic to not buying every master is that some just don't appeal to me. I really, really enjoy the Neverborn faction, and they have the most masters that have appealed to me, 5. I don't have 2 of them yet, as I've been focussing on getting everything I want for the other 3. Next up is Gremlins, which have 3 masters that appeal to me. I'll end up with 4 just because I want the rest of the box, so that master will likely just get painted eventually and sit in the display cabinet.

However, the rest of the factions have at least one master I like, and will likely end up with them. So far I'm only missing Ressers, and only have Ten Thunders from a dual master.

I was going to stick to only Neverborn and collect the whole faction, but Collidi just didn't appeal to me, and neither does Lucius. Then I started reading the fluff and let my interest wander across the factions and I found many masters that I liked regardless of faction.

[Emberlost]

My strategy for not buying tons of Malifaux is woefully simple: My wife said I'm not allowed to buy any more Malifaux until I have other people to play with, and guys playing with models I've loaned  them Does Not Count.

[Rathnard]

I avoid buying every faction by making sure I paint most of what I have before getting something else...

...it's not working*. 

 

Slightly more seriously, I've generally tried to stick with only buying models for the Faction I'm playing. For the last year that's been 10-Thunders. I recently finished everything from that range though, so I'm now working on whatever assembled models I still have lying around. As of Gencon though, all bets are off. I'll probably grab a whole bunch of what ever's new and pretty, although with the rate I generally paint stuff I'm not too fussed about adding to my collection.

 

*(this is from March of last year BTW...there's almost 100 extra models I've painted since then)

[Myyrä]

I limit my purchases by already owning almost everything Wyrd has put out. That way I only have to buy the new releases!

[Hunt.er]

Pretty easy: I hate Undeads and Green Slime, so two Factions are almost complete eliminated and some models in various factions also. Rest is a mixture of sculpture depending and cross using, also limited by money to buy, space to storage and time to play.^^