Is Steam Punk in Malifaux dying/dead?

[Erik1978]

As a Henchman I've lured a lot of people into, what I consider to be, the best table top game ever.

Problem I face now is, a lot LOVE the steam punk aspect, with Seamus "the Ripper", Hoffman, steam engines, gentlemen etc. (as do I), but lately it seems Wyrd has somewhat abandoned that theme? A lot of the newer releases are not very steam punk, like Tanuki, Jorogumo, Emissaries, all sorts of monsters in severeal factions.

When people question the theme now, I can't really explain a lot of the models any more. The odds one out, were Neverborn, which made sense, both for me and new players. 

Now the steam punk theme seems to be disregarded with a lot of models?

Anyone else notice this, or think that little Tanuki Ewoks are very steam punk and that I'm wrong?

I would to be able to see the steam punk in all of them.

[santaclaws01]

The game has never been entirely steampunk. The only factions with heavy steampunk elements are Arcanists and Guild. Ressers weren't out of place because it's a victorian era setting so the models have victorian era clothes which is usually the same era the steampunk settings take place. Outcasts have some steampunk elements, but don't have any 1 theme between all their masters. 10T, neverborn and Gremlins all have barely any to no steampunk in them.

[gribble]

Agreed. Malifaux has never seemed particularly steampunk to me - that always seemed more Warmachine's thing. I'd say Malifaux is more "Victorian Fantasy", which includes some steampunk elements, but a whole lot of other themes too (colonialism, mysticism, spirit mediums, Orientalism, etc).

[solkan]

The thing about Malifaux is that while it has steampunk elements, unlike a lot of steampunk it also:

• Has an anchor for when in history it is supposed to be occurring.
• Has important elements set in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

You don't need to have clockwork junk on something for it to fit in to the setting.  

 

[Erik1978]

I see. Thanks for the info guys. I suppose if you think of it that way, there is no problem. 

I just need to sell that to the hardcore steam punk fans.

Personally I love models like the Jorogumo, allthough they COULD be a tad smaller. Monsters open up a lot of doors and creativity.

[solkan]

 

1 hour ago, Erik1978 said:

Personally I love models like the Jorogumo, allthough they COULD be a tad smaller. Monsters open up a lot of doors and creativity.

Ask anyone who has had to transport those models, they'll probably agree.    

For what it's worth, I've heard people complain about the presence of infantry in Warmachine/Hordes, reasons like "The presence of troops detracts from the giant steam powered robots that I want to use."  I wouldn't want to convince that sort of person to play in spite of their preference.

But if someone is looking for steampunk stuff and is willing to accept "Steampunk heroes vs. the undead" or "steampunk heroes vs. ninjas", and that they'll see ninja vs. undead fights, then Malifaux has something for them.  And the undead player, and the ninja player.  And that's good, right?

 

[WWHSD]

2 hours ago, solkan said:

For what it's worth, I've heard people complain about the presence of infantry in Warmachine/Hordes, reasons like "The presence of troops detracts from the giant steam powered robots that I want to use."  I wouldn't want to convince that sort of person to play in spite of their preference.

I though the complaint was more that a the infantry ended up being the main thing and not just there to support your giant steam robots.

[EnternalVoid]

2 minutes ago, WWHSD said:

I though the complaint was more that a the infantry ended up being the main thing and not just there to support your giant steam robots.

I have heard it both ways, that infantry is to prominent and those that just want nothing but smashy giant robots clashing.  Then again I have heard plenty that are just happy with having several squads of troops backed by two or three jacks.

Personally when ever I have had to describe Malifaux to someone I say it is Part Steampunk, Part Horror, Part Western, and Part Victorian.  I don't think the Steampunk side is falling to the way side, I mean we just got Steamfitters and Freikorp Engineers.  Even got Whiskey gamin coming.  Heck the 10T crime boxes have some sort of rig on them like they are huffing on fumes.  Just that with 7 factions having a wide spreads of themes you are not going to get tons of steampunk, more like droplets with more accumulating with the Arcanist generally.

[Merchant]

steam fitters seem pretty steampunk to me...

[Erik1978]

True about warmachine, which I played back in MK1/MK2. It was called WARMACHINE, giant steam robots fighting etc. but the warjacks were too poor compared to infantry so people used between 0-2 warjacks in an army. A lot thought that was a real shame.

They fixed that up a bit though.

I will sell it as a steam punk, horror, western cool game I suppose. That'll work.

[Gnomezilla]

I sell it as ‘a little bit of every theme that is cool, so you can find your niche’ *opens case with Hoffman’s hiring pool, minus rail golem but plus avatar of amalgamation* ‘and I chose steampunk’.

At this point my opponent tends to chime in and I lose ‘em to whatever theme is on the other side of the table.