Want to start Malifaux - How do I choose a faction/ Master

[Necrosage]

Hi people. So I'd like to start Malifaux (Finally got players in my area). However, since the start of the 2nd ed, there's been a lot of new masters amd crews, all of which are pretty damn cool (seriously, they are ALL cool in my opinion). I was wondering how I could end up choosing my faction and master.

Any tips ?

[Adran]

A good way is to list all the masters/crews you count as cool and look interesting to play, and sort them into factions. then pick the faction that has the most interesting crews.

It should make it a little easier to plan some purchasing. Mind you the risk is you end up like me with almost every master and most of the models for a faction.

Also worth noting is the information we have about M3. You can look at the announcements to se what keywords the current models will be in and what faction they move too. I think there are only 1 or 2 current crew boxes that are questionable buys for the future as a stand alone crew, but most should be fine

[Thedeadclaw]

You could also base your decision on playstyle. For me Arcanists are very unintuitive while for other people they make a lot of sense. (I still love Arcanists, they're just high effort for me.) Look through the actual stat cards and upgrades to see how the masters work and compare that with tactics articles on here and you should have a good idea of what will be easiest for you to learn!

[Gnomezilla]

Judging play style now is harder than it needs to be, though. The M2E wiki pullmyfinger has been mirrored on multiple sites, but not always updated (anticipating the change to M3e). The best we can do is read the master blurbs on the M3e site (the banner at the top of the forum here) and assume that masters which are aggressive with damage will probably still be aggressive with damage come next edition. I don’t expect a Misaki to set the bisento aside and start negotiations, stuff like that.

I still think M2e is worth playing and learning, getting used to cards and learning when you personally want to cheat fate is going to carry over. I am just not sure how support masters (which I love) are going to play. The two new masters with their cards previewed do not look much like existing play styles at all. (Maybe if you concentrate really hard, Youko messes with card draw in a way similar to Jacob Lynch does now. Which will put two deck manipulation masters into Ten Thunders, if you like manipulating the odds as a playstyle.)

 

Is your meta going to care about multiple people playing the same master or not? Are they playing a campaign called Shifting Loyalties (an alternate format that is getting a lot of play in the holiday season and new year)? Ask if the group has a Shifting Loyalties deck already since it can be a shared group item. Don’t be surprised if people are playing smallish games with henchman leaders, and know that the best builds for the campaign are a bit different than usual play. Good news is, all the advice for playing campaigns should still be usable.

[Necrosage]

My meta is pretty loose to be honest.

On anothwr note, after doing some quick research, I narrowed down a bit which masters would interest me to the following :

 

Titania, Mcmourning, Wong, The Brewmaster, Leveticus and Rasputina.

 

So it's one Nerveborn master, one ressurectionist, two Gremlins, one Outcast and one Arcanist.

From what I understand, the most direct offensive ones are Wong and Rasputina.

Mcmourning can cause damage but via shenanigans with the poison condition.

The Brewmaster is more a indirect controller-type master.

Leveticus is just plain immortal-like and has access to some neat looking models (looking at the Desolation Engine).

Titania is capable of hurting and supporting at the same time.

Rasputina is direct damage, but slow, but she can overcome this with models like the Ice Golem, Snow and Storm and the Blessed.

 

Still kinda hard to choose.

[Maxooo]

Hey, i get why you are not sure and hesitating on what master or faction to go for. This ain't easy, especially in the current state with M3E on its way.

So first i agree with Gnomezilla: i guess  the best way so far to have an idea of the future playstyle of a master in M3E is on the website, not much is written and this can change but its better than nothing

And like Adran said you should also give a look to https://www.wyrd-games.net/news/2018/12/12/waldos-weekly-i-am-the-keyword-master

It's important to see what other minis goes with the Master you like because M3E is gonna be way more thematic: so Keywords matter! Have also a look at the Versatile models of the faction they have an " * " next to their names.

 

To be fair i personnaly chooses my masters and faction almost purely on looks and lore So if i like a scuplt and the story of the character i go for it mostly. Because i don't play often and have much fun with the hobby side of things . But it seems like you are planning to play quite of lot so i understand the struggle playstyle and rules wise

So considering it's hard to choose right now based on rules you can either wait for M3E to release or: go for the one Master with the best scuplts to your eyes, and when i say Master i aslo mean other minis with his keyword that aren't in his starting box and also checking versatile models of his faction.

Then when M3E rules arrive, cross your finger that you like the playstyle, and if not : at least you didnt go too crazy with your wallet : just one master box and a couple models to go with and you had fun painting minis you like the best and are still free to go all in on another master or faction in M3E

So, my advice : go with you heart 😛 pick the one box that makes you feel the more exited about the game, enjoy painting your favorite scuplt and start playing some M2E with your friends. ( but keep some money for M3E 😛 )

 

 

 

 

[theamazingmrg]

13 hours ago, Necrosage said:

My meta is pretty loose to be honest.

On anothwr note, after doing some quick research, I narrowed down a bit which masters would interest me to the following :

 

Titania, Mcmourning, Wong, The Brewmaster, Leveticus and Rasputina.

 

So it's one Nerveborn master, one ressurectionist, two Gremlins, one Outcast and one Arcanist.

From what I understand, the most direct offensive ones are Wong and Rasputina.

Mcmourning can cause damage but via shenanigans with the poison condition.

The Brewmaster is more a indirect controller-type master.

Leveticus is just plain immortal-like and has access to some neat looking models (looking at the Desolation Engine).

Titania is capable of hurting and supporting at the same time.

Rasputina is direct damage, but slow, but she can overcome this with models like the Ice Golem, Snow and Storm and the Blessed.

 

Still kinda hard to choose.

Looking at your list, my advice would be to go for one of the Gremlin Masters.  Gettig both of those gives you a pool of Gremlins to learn M2E with, allowing you to play 50ss games, even if the models aren't necessarily the most synergistic at this stage.  It would also give you two Masters that use the same pool of minis to start with, and would let you get an idea of which you like best and would like to buy more for.

[Gnomezilla]

There’s one easy answer: Rasputina was one of the demo crews at GenCon so we can find photos and know her rules already.  However she also had a new, resculpted box there so you need to pick whether you like her current stance or the new one pictured on the card.

The best blind choice is what he just said, going with the two gremmies. Wong is still going to nuke stuff, for sure, and Brewmaster just looks awesome even if his playstyle is a question mark right now.

I don’t know anything about how Titania will play next edition either. Her box can be hard to find because it’s gorgeous too.

McMourning might be easier to buy second-hand if you want to expand your options cheaply: dedicated Guildies might be willing to sell or trade now that he is unmasked as a filthy dirty obvious Resser. (I already traded mine to someone who bought an alt-McMourning and alt-Rafkin but needed the other models in theme.) Theoretically there should also be a Leveticus player or two who is selling because they bought him to go with his old [Resser-based] [or Arcanist-Guild based] hiring pool and want to stay in the old faction, but I haven’t found one yet. (And I was going to buy effigies off of a former Collodi player but nope, the keyword lists have gone live and he got to keep them, I’m going to have to buy retail.) McMourning has to run off of poison, that’s his thing. Not really sure how Leveticus will change with being restricted to a hiring pool. Sure, Ashes and Dust does the whole immortality thing but what about the rest? *looks sideways at her avatar photo* Why’s my little mechromancer still bound to him??!?!!

[TheJoyInGaming]

5 hours ago, Gnomezilla said:

Why’s my little mechromancer still bound to him??!?!!

Poor choice of company?

[Gnomezilla]

1 hour ago, TheJoyInGaming said:

Poor choice of company?

Must be why I’m still here with you.

I know, little mechromancer is too spoiled to run away and survive on her own on the streets, one of the many reasons Alyce holds her in contempt. But Marlena is extra wounds for the master, that happens to have AP and a neato model of her own. That’s traditionally mechanically gone against the Leveticus ‘I don’t care if I die’ playstyle. How is it going to work come third edition?

[TheJoyInGaming]

1 hour ago, Gnomezilla said:

Must be why I’m still here with you.

I know, little mechromancer is too spoiled to run away and survive on her own on the streets, one of the many reasons Alyce holds her in contempt. But Marlena is extra wounds for the master, that happens to have AP and a neato model of her own. That’s traditionally mechanically gone against the Leveticus ‘I don’t care if I die’ playstyle. How is it going to work come third edition?

Ouch. Good thing Ressers are Hard to Wound...

Maybe she develops relationships with the waifs and begins their paths to mechromancer...hood...ness?