Odd player games

[Slapdrone]

As a henchman with a small player base, I keep running into an odd number of players showing up for the Saturday Malifaux I run at the local game shop.  The couple of three player options from the original M2E strat and scheme deck have been tried and vetoed because they take to long and aren't really the Malifaux we all know and love.  Any suggestions? 

[Bengt]

The Raethford scenarion on page 97 of Crossroads is 2 vs 1 and kinda similar to normal Malifaux I guess. It does require someone to have a bunch of Frozen Heart models though.

There is a scenario on page 106 of Ripple of Fate for a varying number of players. It's nothing like regular Malifaux but it didn't take that long when we tried it with three players.

[Butch]

Have you tried two against one?

[MudgeBlack]

As much as it sucks sometimes, I often bow out if there are an odd number of players so that my players can get in games.  I then just float, watch and BS.  I also use this time to answer questions from players and observers alike and often recruit for a demo.

[bstorz]

Most players are a little odd.

Often one person will either bow out to model or paint.  Depending on level of experience of the other players, they will often assist with rules or any questions.

 

[DarkSpade]

I've never played Malifuax(yet).  I lurk in the forums more for Through the Breach.  However, there's a scenario I've found works very well for 3 player games in most miniature games.

As your playing, track something.  For most games, we've tracked a point total based on surviving units' costs and the costs of units killed(player with the kill shot gets the points).  Keep track throughout the entire game and keep the score public.   Soon as any one player's units are all wiped out, the game is over(usually finish the turn) and you get a final tally for the winner.   For a more tactical game, you track control of objectives instead.

Here's why this works.  In most free for all games, two players inevitably gang up on the 3rd.  Usually the one who shows weakness first.  That will likely still happen at first, but one of those two players will now be winning.  Since the winner is determined once one player is wiped out, it's now in the 2nd place player's interest to turn on the first place player rather than keep beating on the losing player.  This gives the losing player a chance to turn things around.  Any alliances will change every turn.

[LordZombie]

I had that problem with my community also and we got tried of the rare few three player encounters, so I made some multi player rules. Check them out if you like. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hHHvOqedI8iUqdnnccTViamgQfnDwFFtTCO9Lmz7Zi4