Learning to think about the game.

[cromlyn]

Im a beginner two games under my belt. One was sandeep "wall of gamin" vs a five strong Tony gang. The second was sandeep "small tough elite" vs brewmaster and pandora threeway.

 

Obviously the games played very differently.

So i am wondering what rules of thumb people use.

Do you choose schemes based on vp available, then buy models for that scheme at five soulstones per vp probable?

Do you budget x cards per scheme or y cards to caster, rest for criticals? Wall of gamin i had so many low value activations i could afford to keep all cards for Sandeep, but with a small tough force every activation was precious and sandeep starved for cards.

Do you split forces along beat down and area control? Im starting to think of summoning as a movement trick, not a resource one, dropping a tough metal gamin on an objective is better then dropping a fast wind gamin that will not survive.

But it feels like area control/ denial is not critical in malifaux compared to potential move and reach of actions.

 

Do you put any consideration into guessing/ preventing /frustrating opponents schemes? Or is the complexity distraction and focus on scoring more important?

 

[Adran]

Each game has 20 victory points available. (10 for you and 10 for your opponent).

I choose schemes based on my thoughts that I can achieve it. I like to try and build my list to be able to do at least 3 of the available schemes because then I can make a choice after I have seen what I am facing.

On a turn by turn basis I have no formal rule of thumb about what I need my hand for, but if there are critical actions I expect to happen in the turn I will try to assign them the cards if I can. During the turn I may use the cards for something else, but only if I expect that it more important than the original use.

Area control and denial can be important in some games. Likewise beatdown is important in some games, but not others.

I form my plan of how I expect to score my points when I build my crew. I look at my opponents crew and try and decide how I think they are going to score their points, and then consider what I can afford to send to prevent them, without restricting my scoring too much. Obviously its a lot harder to deny points you don't know they are trying to score.

That said I would start learning the game focussing on your points. Denyign the opponents points can require a lot of understanding of how their crew works which can take a long time to accumulate.  

 

[Corn]

I like to think of myself as a pretty good player.  I can play well at any level, but I don't pretend to be top tier talent.

1) You should choose your schemes based on what you think you can score.   Obviously you win games based on scoring more points than your opponent, the closer you can get to scoring full points for the game the more difficult it is for your opponent to win.   In terms of list building, Malifaux rewards you for having a strong selection of options to chose from.  Since you declare faction (so you know your opponents faction), look at stratagem and schemes (build list), look at your opponents list (choose schemes).  Similar to Adran, I typically try to build a list that can do well on the Stratagem first, with some reference to the scheme pool second.  Then, once I see my opponents list I'll grab the schemes I think I can score most easily from the pool.

2) I don't ever really budget cards- except in certain cases where I will hold onto a middling card of a proper suit that I may need for a non contested trigger at some point (in M2E things like Hoffman's machine puppet trigger, or a low tome for dispel magic if I am using Stalkers).   The most important thing you can do is score points.  It doesn't matter if we are talking about using a 13 of rams on a Guild Guard, if that Guild Guard is going to score you a victory point if he survives your opponent's activation he is worth that 13.  

3) Don't worry too much about beat down and area control and balancing them.  What is more important will depend on the stratagem and schemes.  Sometimes you need damage, sometimes you need speed.  Sometimes you need to hold down a table quarter.  Do what the situation calls for and build your crew to achieve the stratagem.  

4) Foiling Plans is an important part of Malifaux, its something you should keep in mind.   It is easier to try to foil the stratagem, since you know in advance what that will be, its also generally true that it is harder to score schemes and stratagems if you are dead.  So killing your opponent's models generally helps put a lot of pressure on their ability to score points.   My rule of thumb is to prioritize scoring points for myself, and when possible try to foil my opponents plans.  When I was starting out, or playing after a hiatus, I focus 100% of my energy on scoring points alone. You should always do everything in your power to score as close to 10 points as possible.   If you can get 10 points, the best your opponent can do is draw.