Is it safe to start Malifaux

[Gremlin66]

Here's a link .   https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWYRDPLACE/

[Whiskyjumper]

2 hours ago, Gremlin66 said:

Here's a link .   https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWYRDPLACE/

Thank you. I'm not sure why I couldn't find it with Facebook search or Google. 

[Whiskyjumper]

I am confused about something. I was looking through the PullMyFinger guide on gathering supplies for Malifaux. It has a list of 1-6 things that you will need. Number 5 says

Quote

[Optional] 5. Faction Arsenal Deck. Arsenal decks contain the 2E cards for each faction's first wave of models. Optional, but a lot more convenient than flipping through the big book and great for keeping track of individual models.

What is the Arsenal Deck for? Does the crew boxes not come with all the unit cards that you need? Why would I have to flip through a book or buy one of these Faction Arsenal Decks

[Fetid Strumpet]

The crew boxes come with the models in that box, and upgrades specific to those models. The Arsenal decks were created when the changeover from first edition to second edition was occurring. Many of us had metal and resin models, and had no interest in being required to buy all our models all over again to be able to play. The Arsenal decks contain a few things. The first thing they contain is the cards of the models for that faction from that particular wave, for those who had the models already. The other thing the arsenal deck contains is the faction specific general upgrades from that particular wave. So for example the NB have a general upgrade called Fears Given Form. If you wanted that upgrade in card form, and didn't want to photocopy it out of the book, you could get it in the arsenal deck.

The Arsenal decks however are being phased out. They were intended as a bridge for people with collections already to make the transition to M2E. As time has gone on there are less and less of us that that category fits. So you don't need the Arsenal decks if you have the cards already, or have no aversion to using photocopies from the book.

In order for players to get the general upgrades there is a general upgrade deck that has all of them, from every faction inside it, minus the ones coming out in the book released at Gen Con. Those have a new upgrade deck, again with all the general upgrades from book 4 in it.

Is that helpful?

[Whiskyjumper]

56 minutes ago, Fetid Strumpet said:

 

56 minutes ago, Fetid Strumpet said:

Is that helpful?

Very helpful! Thank you very much for that detailed explanation.

[Gremlin66]

Any closer to picking your crew/factions?

[Gremlin66]

Lord know why I didn't think of this before,(shine) you should play Gremlin. Whiskeyjumper.

[Whiskyjumper]

13 hours ago, Gremlin66 said:

Lord know why I didn't think of this before,(shine) you should play Gremlin. Whiskeyjumper.

Hah! The name does sort of fit doesn't it?

To answer your question, not completely. I'm pretty sure that I like Neverborn best, followed by Gremlins but I have been thinking that I will most likely go with the starter set to begin with. It just make the most sense I think. I have had a little financial set back so I still have a little time to deside for sure.

Also I will mostly be playing with my 13 y/o and maybe by 14 y/o. I have started thinking that maybe by boy should go with a faction that is easy to play and I could go with something a little harder just to even things out between us. Any ideas for two factions to pit against each other like that? I don't think he will go for Guild though. 

 

[Wolfpact]

Well, the Ortegas are very simple and easy to pick up,and are the 'less fascist' of the Guild, more contractors. Monster hunters. Were simple to teach a wargame newbie of 16, and he ran with them pretty easily. They're not too awful for assembly, either.

[Omenbringer]

3 hours ago, Whiskyjumper said:

Hah! The name does sort of fit doesn't it?

To answer your question, not completely. I'm pretty sure that I like Neverborn best, followed by Gremlins but I have been thinking that I will most likely go with the starter set to begin with. It just make the most sense I think. I have had a little financial set back so I still have a little time to deside for sure.

Also I will mostly be playing with my 13 y/o and maybe by 14 y/o. I have started thinking that maybe by boy should go with a faction that is easy to play and I could go with something a little harder just to even things out between us. Any ideas for two factions to pit against each other like that? I don't think he will go for Guild though. 

 

Given that you are looking at the starter set and like the Neverborn and Gremlins, I would look at Zoraida as a good next purchase. This is a dual faction Master that can play in a lot of different ways and will allow you to collect/ expand into both factions gradually.

For the teens I might look at Rasputina (Arcanists), Seamus (Ressurrectionists), Lilith (Neverborn so you can share a pool), the Victoria's (Outcasts), Ophelia (Gremlins so you could again potentially share a pool of models), and Misaki (Ten Thunders). All of these are fairly straight forward and largely self contained (read as low cost of entry). These can also be fairly competitive.

[Parker Barrows]

Gonna back Omenbringer here. I wouldn't worry about the easiest faction and worry more about the Master. There's a variety of complexities among the Masters of every Faction.

[dancater]

Yeah 

Malifaux is tricky here.  There is no easier faction but there are some easier crew builds.  Faction choice is really about character and mutual support, honestly I think many players have masters they like in multiple (if not all 7) factions and those that just don't grab them.  The reason folks go faction is economics (mostly) and time (a bit) because if you love 1-2 masters in a faction and like a couple of others you can purchase there boxes and some support play a few times with each while intermixing various models and this saves money (each purchase increases your total single faction pool) and time (you learn models strengths/weaknesses within the faction).

With infinite money and time I'd play this master from this faction with this model pool and that master from that faction with that pool.  But alas I (and near everyone else in the world) have neither.

So:

• Be wary of summoner masters to start out, they can be expensive (you need to buy the crew and the summons) and also in lower soul stone teaching style games imbalanced (summoning models as a % of total crew value obviously changes between say a 30SS game and a 50SS game).
• Aim for simple masters, this IMO means less synergy dependent (this is always trickier) and more focused on damage output and/or survivability.  A number of masters are great tricky nuanced scheme-y types but they are harder to grasp.  The advantage of the damage/tank based masters is its easier to grasp what they need/want to do and at least initially I'd play with no or lite schemes/strats as this lets you understand the basic mechanics before throwing in the next layer.

That is exactly what you get from the Starter box models.  They are pretty self contained and generally blunt instrument damage dealers, the Starter missions also progress you through rules to mission complexity and through the simple abilities then on up towards the more complex and some synergy interactions.  Additionally the Starter box models are all mercenaries so you can use them potentially in every other crew into the future (actually you can even run all the Starter box models together in a single crew if you want).  After (or instead of) that....

This reasoning above also lends itself to why I think the 'classic' starter masters include Guild The Ortegas, Arcanist Rasputina, Ressers Seamus, Neverborn Lilth, Gremlins The Kin, Outcasts the Viktoria's and Ten Thunders Misaki.  They are all at least initially simple (but can get much more nuanced later), they all have useful crew boxes and generally make a solid starting place.  

Alternatively pick the crew whose 'theme/look' you like most but this is not without risk.  I'd advice pick a simpler master from the faction with your most favorite crew's (even if you're kinda so so on that particular master) and then move forwards from that, this will give you a good introduction and you can later move forward to your ideal masters with some in faction models already known and available.

 

[Whiskyjumper]

Ok this is probably a stupid question but is there any way to get all of the Malifaux lore without buying all of the rules manuals? I don’t need all of the manuals and can’t afford them all. I love all of the lore that  I have read so far on the Malifaux site but would love to read all of it.

[solkan]

28 minutes ago, Whiskyjumper said:

Ok this is probably a stupid question but is there any way to get all of the Malifaux lore without buying all of the rules manuals? I don’t need all of the manuals and can’t afford them all. I love all of the lore that  I have read so far on the Malifaux site but would love to read all of it.

There's a lot of stuff that you can get for free (the Breachside Broadcast podcast is Wyrd going through and doing all of the 1st edition stories in a radio-like format) and there's the stories in the Chronicles, but there's there bits and pieces of the lore in the various stories in the rulebooks, and more bits and pieces of background material in the Through the Breach books.  And there's stuff on Wyrd's website summarizing things about the various leaders and the factions...

But there's actually more to the lore than just the rules manuals.

Big, important details are going to get repeated and rephrased in various places, so you're not going to miss out on the big stuff.  But, otherwise, to a certain unavoidable extent, they charge money for the books so they can pay people to write the books.

[Whiskyjumper]

14 minutes ago, solkan said:

There's a lot of stuff that you can get for free (the Breachside Broadcast podcast is Wyrd going through and doing all of the 1st edition stories in a radio-like format) and there's the stories in the Chronicles, but there's there bits and pieces of the lore in the various stories in the rulebooks, and more bits and pieces of background material in the Through the Breach books.  And there's stuff on Wyrd's website summarizing things about the various leaders and the factions...

Big, important details are going to get repeated and rephrased in various places, so you're not going to miss out on the big stuff.  But, otherwise, to a certain unavoidable extent, they charge money for the books so they can pay people to write the books.

Wow thank you! I just looked up Breachside Broadcast and it sounds awesome. I think that it alone will keep me busy for a while. I will then check out the Chronicles, whatever they are . I completely understand why they charge for this stuff though. They clearly put out a good product and, as far as I can tell, have backed it up with a pretty awesome story. Wyrd seems to really care about Malifaux and obviously want their customers to love it too. They seem to be a really cool company. I can't wait until I can actually get started with the game. 

[solkan]

4 minutes ago, Whiskyjumper said:

Wow thank you! I just looked up Breachside Broadcast and it sounds awesome. I think that it alone will keep me busy for a while. I will then check out the Chronicles, whatever they are . I completely understand why they charge for this stuff though. They clearly put out a good product and, as far as I can tell, have backed it up with a pretty awesome story. Wyrd seems to really care about Malifaux and obviously want their customers to love it too. They seem to be a really cool company. I can't wait until I can actually get started with the game. 

Chronicles is Wyrd's magazine, currently published monthly through Drive Thru RPG, always available for free:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5162/Wyrd-Miniatures/subcategory/23027_23030/Wyrd-Chronicles

One or two stories, and various articles, along with the various promotions and such, in each issue. 

[Whiskyjumper]

Thank you @solkan. I'll check those out too. 

[-Loki-]

Chronicles is great. I'd pay to subscribe to a physical format. It's only every second month, but has a Malifaux scenario, a Through the Breach short one shot, a few fluff stories, a hobby article (these vary between terrain making and model painting) and more. It's a great e-zine.

[Absolution Black]

It's never safe to start Malifaux. Your wallet will not thank you for it.

[Whiskyjumper]

6 hours ago, Absolution Black said:

It's never safe to start Malifaux. Your wallet will not thank you for it.

Man don’t I know it. As a gamer on a very tight budget, I KNOW that Malifaux is not a good choice for me. But there is something about Malifaux that really appeals to me. I haven’t even bought my first box yet and I already want them all. My wallet and I will have to come to some sort of understanding.  

[Viagrus]

As far as terrain is concerned there's always paper craft. Those are (usually) PDFs containing images of buildings that you print, glue to something sturdy (foam core being the most common), and put together. They're cheap, light weight, easy to put together (mostly), and look darn good.

There are many producers of this type of terrain. I'm on mobile and I can't paste links but I'll list some makers/key words for a Google search.

Fat Dragon Terrain Sets

Dave's Games

Stones Edges 

And simply papercraft

 

[Whiskyjumper]

11 hours ago, Viagrus said:

As far as terrain is concerned there's always paper craft. Those are (usually) PDFs containing images of buildings that you print, glue to something sturdy (foam core being the most common), and put together. They're cheap, light weight, easy to put together (mostly), and look darn good.

There are many producers of this type of terrain. I'm on mobile and I can't paste links but I'll list some makers/key words for a Google search.

Fat Dragon Terrain Sets

Dave's Games

Stones Edges 

And simply papercraft

 

Thank you. I will check these out. I have seen some of the Fat Dragon stuff and it does seem like a fairly inexpensive way to get some terrain. 

[Omenbringer]

There is also World Works Games, which were partners in Wyrd's now defunct Terraclips line.

Aside from that you can always make up some of the more natural pieces easily and fairly inexpensively. There have been a lot of really good recommendations and tutorials written on here.

[Gabbi]

On 8/14/2016 at 7:19 AM, Viagrus said:

As far as terrain is concerned there's always paper craft.

I second this. While at close inspection it is obviously inferior to resin and plastic terrain, once on the table it looks great.

All the terrain in the following pic, except the trees, the gallows in the upper-right corner, and the big tree-tower in the low-left corner, is paper terrain. A few element came printed and cut, the majority is home printed from PDFs.

More pics: https://gabbigames.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/malifaux-neverborn-vs-outcasts-50ss/

Also, if you're on tight money, you can buy one PDF and print it multiple times. Some of them offer also variations in textures and detail via layers (for example Dave Graffam ones) so you can print several without having two looking exactly the same. There also some free ones, try looking on WargameVault for start.

 

[Whiskyjumper]

On 8/15/2016 at 11:03 AM, Omenbringer said:

There is also World Works Games, which were partners in Wyrd's now defunct Terraclips line.

Aside from that you can always make up some of the more natural pieces easily and fairly inexpensively. There have been a lot of really good recommendations and tutorials written on here.

Thanks. I did some searching for tutorials and have not found any yet. But I'll keep looking.