Looking for advice on a first master and expansions

[Shaggyclown]

Hello everyone, I am just getting into Malifaux after being interested in it for a while. After some research, I settled on Resurrectionists as the faction I want to start out with. After looking at all of the models on the app, I'm not really sure where to start with a master that will be new player friendly.

 

Can anyone give me some suggestions to start out with and maybe a rundown of how to build from scratch?

 

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Any in particular you're interested in?

Molly has a fair bit of depth, but she is what I started with and she is great fun. Her core box + the Archie/crooligan box is plenty to learn her crew.

Seamus, his core box is very weak, but could probably get away with the core box + carrion emissary (though you'll have to do something for the mindless zombies).

McMourning - no 3e core box yet, and it'll make for awkward purchases if you get the 2e one.

Kirai and Von Schtook - probably a bit overwhelming with their options. Maybe do as a second crew unless you love them.

Yan Lo - doesn't have a 3e core box yet, same as McMourning.

Jack Daw- core box plus hanged will probably do you. Bit of a slow crew, so you may struggle on corner deployment.

Reva- weaker crew, and not at all intuitive to play. Would not recommend as a starter. Core box + Lampad/restless spirit box will get you started, but most people would suggest not using lampads, so that may be a bit of a waste.

Overall, Molly is what I started with. She can be a bit tricky, but can handle basically any scenario.

Eternal servitude is a Yan Lo box, but I find the models in it can be good for any crew. If you want some models you can slot in anywhere, snag this box.

[Regelridderen]

I’d go with the models/keyword that makes you want to paint the most - and is available. 

None af the Ressur masters are simple and friendly towards new players. That shtick is for Guild masters, and they suffer for it balance-wise  

Instead get a keyword, accept that you’re going to get your arse handed to you for the first couple of games, until you have a decent understanding of the game and its principles. Face off versus some people interested in teaching you the game, rather than stomping a n00b.  After that, you’ll start winning. 

[Shaggyclown]

Maniacal_cackle,

Thank you for the rundown on the masters.  I like how Molly looks but I can't seem to find anywhere with her box or The Lost in stock.  Do you have any suggestions of online shops that might have her?

Regelridderen,

Thank you for the reply. I like the aesthetics of most of the Ressurectionist Masters, I probably like Seamus, Von Schtook, or Molly the most though. I am noticing that finding them is somewhat difficult, do you have any advice for online shops that have good stock of the products?  As far as getting games against an experienced opponent, I will be getting into the game with my wife and some friends. None of the shops around where I live carry the game or are interested in ordering it for me.  All of the information I have for the game has come from reading the forums, listening to Third Floor Wars, and watching a handful of battle reports on Guerilla Miniature Games YouTube. 

[Graf]

Generally you want to start with a core box, then add the expansion boxes for the specific crew. While there are versatile models and you could take other models of the faction, I think it is better to focus at the beginning or at least limit the amount of models not withing keyword (notable exceptions exist though).

My personal recommendation is choosing a crew which has a third edition core box and 1-2 additional boxes atm or soon available. Those are Molly, Kirai, Seamus, Reva, Jack Daw, von Schtook. Other than this, just take what speaks to you, be it the models, themes or playstiles.

Molly is a great master, with a good crew but her lists can still be tweaked a lot. Not much to add here from my side, she's a good choice.

Seamus excells when he has access to non-crew models. That's why he needs a bit of financial investment to shine. If you are willing to get the necessary models, he's a master you can play for a looong time.

Kirai I actually like as a starter master. While you need the whole crew to fully benefit from her summoning capabilities, I think it's okay to build up her crew step by step. Just don't buy in bulk and instead take the time to regularly play while building up the crew. Otherwise you'll likely be overwhelmed as Maniacal_cackle said.

I've listed Schtook as one of the available masters but that's only partially true. He has his core box and another one, but he misses a core model of his crew: the Valedictorian. I started with him and I can handle his complexity (though I like such stuff...), but unless you're okay with a proxy for Valedictorian, I can't recommend him atm.

Jack Daw is a highly complex crew. Punishing if you know what you do with it, but he has a steep learning curve. On the plus side, he doesn't need many boxes, core box plus two hanged already give you a very playable list.

I have nothing new to add to Reva. While I personally like her style, she's the only Ressers master who has a hard time seeing the board at all. Not suitable for beginners atm in my opinion. 

 

Both McMourning and Yan Lo are missing their M3E core boxes, so unless you want to buy unnecessary doubles of some of their models or buy 2nd hand, I can't recommend those. But if you do, McMourning has the benefit of a very self-sufficient crew with a nice array of capabilities. Yan Lo has a unique playstile, because he starts games weaker than most but grows to be a wreaking ball during late game. 

 

So... Think the feedback through and use it to decide for yourself what sounds good to you.

 

€: The release date for the Molly core box is this month, so you'll have to wait a little bit for it. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Two sites I use:

Miniature market

https://www.miniaturemarket.com/table-top-miniatures/malifaux.html#/?_=1&filter.product_tag=null&page=1&filter.category_hierarchy=Table Top Miniatures%2FMalifaux%2FResurrectionists

Discount games

https://www.discountgamesinc.com/catalog/category/view/s/resurrectionists/id/1141/

Unfortunately looks like the Lost is sold out on both sites. Wyrd was running out of stock even before the covid crisis, so models may be tricky to come by ATM.

May find stuff on EBay, or Facebook groups. And can order directly from Wyrd!

[Shlowmoe]

The valedictorian (and the students as well) for Vom Schook come in the University of Transmortis box set which is no longer produced. It's possible to find it on eBay, Facebook groups or Bartertown (I found mine on the latter)

[Adran]

3 hours ago, Shlowmoe said:

The valedictorian (and the students as well) for Vom Schook come in the University of Transmortis box set which is no longer produced. It's possible to find it on eBay, Facebook groups or Bartertown (I found mine on the latter)

This is true, but there will be a M3 release(s) at some point which will allow you to get the valedictorian and multiples of the students. Exactly how isn't known, so it might be 1 box with everything or multiple boxes containing different things. 

[Shaggyclown]

Graf,

Thank you for the rundown of the masters.  That description of Kirai makes her feel less overwhelming if I were to go that direction.

Maniacal_cackle,

Thank you for the online store recommendations, I will look into them.

Schlowmoe,

Sounds like that would be a difficult set to find. Thank you for the suggestions of places to look for it.

Adran,

Thank you for mentioning that the models would be made for M3E.  Does Wyrd have a release schedule for upcoming models?

[Graf]

4 hours ago, Shaggyclown said:

Thank you for mentioning that the models would be made for M3E.  Does Wyrd have a release schedule for upcoming models?

Here you go: upcoming releases 🙂👍

 

Delays are common everywhere atm, so naturally for Wyrd as well. Looking what is available atm, assuming you want to start asap, can be a deciding factor as well.

[Adran]

My personal opinion is that no master is easy to master, but none are impossible to learn with. From years of watching people learn Malifaux I'm pretty sure you can learn with any of the masters, and what what is easy for you to understand and pick up won't be the same as for someone else, so just because person A found it easy to learn with A, doesn't always mean you will.  So models you like is a good start, and if you know what sort of play style you like that can help, but there isn't a wrong choice.

My recommendation of what to buy will depend a little on your local area and circumstances. If you are a group of new players, then just starting with a core box and learning from that is fine. If you are joining an established group you will probably want to get up to at least 50 ss fairly quickly, which would normally be the core box and at least 1 extra box. (And if you have picked a summoner then you probably want at least 2 extra boxes as you are likely to summon stuff in).

My advice on learning is that the first things you want to learn is how the game plays. Once you start to get an idea of that, you want to start learning how your models play, experiment with what their capabilities are, where they are weak and so forth. At this time you should hopefully start getting an idea of what sort of play style you like. For example,  do you like a hard hitting force that groups together and survives, or a group of fast moving models that die once caught, but complete all the points before that happens. Once you start knowing these things, you can look for how to start customising your collection. Commonly this would be from other keyword models and the factions versatile models, but you might be confident enough to try going out of keyword to find a model you think really fits the way you play.

 Wyrd has the upcoming page (Thanks Graf) which is normally correct for the next 1-3 months, but isn't always updated. As a general rule the wyrd release schedule is release the rules at Gencon, and then the models are released over the next 12 months. Because this is  a new edition and there are a lot more models to be released than normal its possible that it will take more than 1 year to release all the models (I don't really know how much there is to release vs just a re-package from last edition). And that's before the Covid issues even apply so we don't know at the moment how much of a delay there is on new releases. There might be a long wait for some models that aren't on the upcoming release so its risky to pick a master that "needs" an unreleased box.