And yet another new player with a question....

[Spence]

So I have been interested in Malifaux for several years with the biggest roadblock being my bone deep revulsion for painting.   All those years of endless lines of infantry and micro-armor have crushed any enjoyment derived from the task and have made ground glass in the eyelids sound attractive.

So here I am YEARS later and have decided to bite the bullet and pay to get them painted.  The first wave for me will be the 2E crew boxes and assorted others I already own.

Salvage and Logistics - Leveticus Box Set

Hired Swords - Viktoria Box Set

Closing Time - Brewmaster Box Set

The Thunder - Misaki Box Set

I also have the first edition Lady Justice, Rasputina, Colette and Kirai crew boxes.  I was really disappointed when they changed the Crew box line up, but decided to not offer the “differences” in singles.   But that’s the way things are.

I have the Starter box in order and will be using it as well.

For rulebooks, I have the old 1^st ed material and the 2E core book.

Based on the premise of the Core rulebook only and only the figures listed above, and understanding that I am the only person that can spell Malifaux locally.   Can you recommend some balanced learning scenarios?  Something that I can use to not only firm up my understanding of the rules, but also allow others to become interested and learn the game? 

One thing that makes Malifaux stand out is that you do not need to continually buy thousands of dollars of new miniatures a month just to stay competitive like the army based games out there.    That is what pretty much killed miniature gaming in my area.  If you buy a mini, you want to be able to use it for a while before it is effectively obsolete.   From what I can tell, many of the figures from early 1^st ed are still viable and being used in present 2E.

So here we are.  What line ups do you recommend for completely new players to practice on?

And if they are not quite right, what currently available singles/unit packs do you recommend to round them out. 

[Jernmajoren]

I have recently started playing myself and I found that the starter set is good for teaching people the basics.

Building on that, I would recommend starting by playing using the Henchman Hardcore format, as that allow for relatively fast games while showing game mechanics.

Rules can be found here :https://www.wyrd-games.net/s/Organized-Play-Formats-dlxl.zip

 

 

[Spence]

Thanks.  I'll need to read through those.

 

[iamfanboy]

The Starter Set may as well be called "The Demo Set" because each part of it is carefully formulated to introduce players to Malifaux mechanics. Yes, all the models are Mercenaries so can TECHNICALLY be used with any Faction choice after you buy it, but they're frankly of dubious usefulness as mercs - it's more useful to people giving demos than anyone else. Though Angel Eyes is in almost all of my Neverborn Crews. Just so good at sniping!

There are five scenarios, each one adding on new rules - #1 has just two models in melee for the core mechanic of card number + skill number = result, #2 has two models on each side to introduce movement and charging actions, #3 has Henchmen to introduce Triggers, (0) AP Actions and bonus AP, #4 adds Enforcers with pushes, Conditions, and situational skills, and #5 has full Soulstone use and Upgrades.

Each model is also designed carefully to make sure that new players don't get overloaded. The Minions have no Triggers at all and only two Actions apiece, only one of the Henchmen has (0) Action and the other has the bonus AP from Nimble, and while the Enforcers have a typically Malifaux number of Triggers, they're also introduced last.

The scenarios seem to be designed for people who've NEVER played a wargame before, however. For experienced wargamers, I tend to skip over scenario #1 and go straight to #2, then have #3 with Soulstones (because Henchmen don't feel like Henchmen without that), and then do #5 to introduce the concept of Victory Points and Enforcers. You can generally wrap all that up in an hour.

[Ryin]

If you want to run something a little less demo-y then I would start with a 35 point list. with either the turf war or squatter's rights strategies. (turf war is keep as many models in the center alive as long as possible and gets models engaged fast, while teaching them about strategies. Squatter's rights is about taking interact actions and claiming locations It's a little more spread out and a little less killy but teaches more about strategies. You could even, for purposes of keeping things simple, just do 3 squat markers instead of the usual 5.)

Then, I would pick one more interact-y scheme if you do turf war and one more kill-y scheme if you do squatter's rights. For example, you could do assassinate if you have squatter's rights and do entourage or protect territory (I'm not sure if that's in the m2e corebook, but it's in 1st edition) if you do turf war)

Then, you can ease into a 50 SS game with random strats and a scheme pool after that.

 

But I would definitely start with the starter set first for someone who literally knows nothing about the game. Do everything in there, then jump to a 35 point game so they get the hang of masters and model selection with a limited scheme pool and a strategy, then do that until you're comfortable and then jump into a full 50 ss game!

 

[solkan]

24 minutes ago, Spence said:

So I have been interested in Malifaux for several years with the biggest roadblock being my bone deep revulsion for painting.   All those years of endless lines of infantry and micro-armor have crushed any enjoyment derived from the task and have made ground glass in the eyelids sound attractive.

 

So here I am YEARS later and have decided to bite the bullet and pay to get them painted.  The first wave for me will be the 2E crew boxes and assorted others I already own.

 

Salvage and Logistics - Leveticus Box Set

Hired Swords - Viktoria Box Set

Closing Time - Brewmaster Box Set

The Thunder - Misaki Box Set

 

I also have the first edition Lady Justice, Rasputina, Colette and Kirai crew boxes.

  I was really disappointed when they changed the Crew box line up, but decided to not offer the “differences” in singles.   But that’s the way things are.

Do you have the 2nd edition cards for your 1st edition models yet?

24 minutes ago, Spence said:

And if they are not quite right, what currently available singles/unit packs do you recommend to round them out. 

Reorganizing your boxes by faction and trying to break out the models useable by other masters, you've got:

• Outcasts
  • Salvage and Logistics (Leveticus)
    • Rusty Alice and Abominations
  • Hired Swords (Viktorias)
    • Three *Ronin, *Student of Conflict, *Taelor
  • The Thunder (Misaki)
    • *Torakage (But only as mercenaries)
• Ten Thunders
  • Closing Time (Brewmaster)
    • All of the figures in the box are Gremlin Tri-chi models, so not useable by anyone but Brewmaster
  • The Thunder (Misaki)
    • Ototo and the 3 *Torakage
• Gremlins
  • Brewmaster
• Arcanists
  • Rasputina (without totem)
    • 3 Ice gamin, 1 ice golem
  • Colette (without totem)
    • Cassandra, two mannequins and two performers
• Guild
  • Lady Justice (without totem)
    • The Judge, three Death Marshals
• Resurrectionists
  • Kirai (without Lost Lovers, only one Seishin)
    • Datsu Ba

 

Shopping notes:

1.  The Kirai boxed set is going to be difficult to use because you've got hardly any Ressurectionist models.  Technically you could field Datsu Ba with Leveticus's Pariah of Bone, but you'd still want to pick up a box of Gaki because of her summoning trigger.

2.  Pick up a Desolation Engine for Leveticus, Rusty Alyce and the Abominations to use.

3.  For Arcanists, the simplest thing to do would be to buy the Ramos boxed set.  Because everyone loves Howard Langston, and it's lots of good constructs for Leveticus to use through the Pariah of Iron upgrade.  If you get the Ramos boxed set, you're going to want to magnetize the arachnid swarms.  (Commercial set to do that: http://www.customeeple.com/product/malifaux-ramos-archanids-base-gadget/)

4.  For Guild, the Lady Justice boxed set plus the four guild models in the Two Player Starter set is probably decent enough.

So my shopping list to get these models together would be:

• Desolation Engine (for Outcasts), optional
• Ramos Boxed set

That would give you Outcast crews, Arcanist crews, and Guild crews.

For Kirai, I think your shopping list would start with:

• Gaki box
• The new Kirai boxed set
• A few boxes of spirits to summon

which doesn't lend itself to a short list. 

[-Loki-]

On 10/04/2017 at 5:41 AM, iamfanboy said:

The Starter Set may as well be called "The Demo Set" because each part of it is carefully formulated to introduce players to Malifaux mechanics. Yes, all the models are Mercenaries so can TECHNICALLY be used with any Faction choice after you buy it, but they're frankly of dubious usefulness as mercs - it's more useful to people giving demos than anyone else. Though Angel Eyes is in almost all of my Neverborn Crews. Just so good at sniping!

I can't speak for the Guild models (though I've heard Grimwell is popular) but the Neverborn models all add something at least Nephilim are lacking. Angel Eyes is a solid ranged henchman for her cost. Blood Wretches are a nice alternate to Terror Tots, face beaty rather than lightning fast. While the model is awful the Scion of Black Blood has powerful if expensive condition removal, a heal, a pseudo Obey and another ranged attack.

[Spence]

Thanks all,

I will be taking the advice on board over the next few weeks.  I tend to collect a lot of games stuff so rounding out this list will not hurt me and will give me a playable selection.

Thanks again.