Best 3 keywords to start with

[Fool of a Took]

Hi I'm a new player and I am looking to pick up 3 to 4 keywords to start out with. Does anyone have any suggestions on which 3 to 4 would be good to start with to cover most pools?

[Maniacal_cackle]

We're quite fortunate to have most of the crews be viable in some form.

I think that Von Schtook, Kirai, and Yan Lo are probably the most powerful according to most people (although I don't play any of them myself). However, I'm not sure they'd be the best combination to get together.

Are you looking to be super competitive, or just play some games and have fun? Unless you're super competitive, anything in Ressers is viable. Perhaps pick one that you like and we can suggest a few to go with it?

[Fool of a Took]

I'm just getting into the game and am playing with my husband at home for fun. I really like Kirai from what I have read and how the models look. Molly seems pretty interesting as well and I love her fluff.

 

All of the masters seem interesting but I don't want to try to get all of them at once so I'm trying to get an idea of a relatively balanced group of masters to start with that will be fun.

[Maniacal_cackle]

3 minutes ago, Fool of a Took said:

I'm just getting into the game and am playing with my husband at home for fun. I really like Kirai from what I have read and how the models look. Molly seems pretty interesting as well and I love her fluff.

 

All of the masters seem interesting but I don't want to try to get all of them at once so I'm trying to get an idea of a relatively balanced group of masters to start with that will be fun.

Honestly, I played just Molly for my first year or so and I'd say that she by herself is flexible enough to meet pretty much any challenge. If you throw in Kirai, you will likely find yourself set for 20+ games at least learning those crews (which could easily be 6 months of time outside the game).

So I'd start with those two crews and see how you go! If you feel like you're lacking somewhere, can always pick up another crew. I'd probably buy...

• Molly's Core Box + The Lost (archie & crooligans)
• All of Kirai's boxes (although you could skip Jaakuna + Drowned and still be pretty solid, or Gaki + Shikome)

If you feel the Molly crew needs a power boost, Dead Rider + Eternal Servitude box are really helpful models.

[HomelessOne]

And if you're playing casually, it's totally cool to just proxy some of the models to test them out. Kirai's got a large model pool and a chunk of her power comes from summoning, but you could do something as simple as use bases with names scribbled on masking tape.

If you really want a third, you could add McMourning to Molly and Kirai. He's a personal favorite; his gameplay is weird, fun, and really different from the girls.

[Fool of a Took]

2 minutes ago, HomelessOne said:

And if you're playing casually, it's totally cool to just proxy some of the models to test them out. Kirai's got a large model pool and a chunk of her power comes from summoning, but you could do something as simple as use bases with names scribbled on masking tape.

If you really want a third, you could add McMourning to Molly and Kirai. He's a personal favorite; his gameplay is weird, fun, and really different from theirs.

I had been considering McMourning or Seamus as a third. Are they both good options with Molly and Kirai or is McMourning just a better option for fun games?

[Maniacal_cackle]

5 minutes ago, Fool of a Took said:

I had been considering McMourning or Seamus as a third. Are they both good options with Molly and Kirai or is McMourning just a better option for fun games?

I think either is a pretty good third option, but McMourning feels the most different to me. Seamus has a fair bit of overlap with Molly, and a few situations where he is different. McMourning is just quite different overall IMO.

[Regelridderen]

As always, just go with the crew that makes you want to paint the most. 
 

Get the full keyword, paint it up play some games, and once you see the rules in action, you’ll know what you want next. 

[NoahScape]

My first love is Seamus, and he's super fun with a lot of viability in certain pools. Molly isn't there for me, I've never liked her play style much. Yan Lo is super flexible and fun, but he's about to fall out of the nerf tree and there are a lot of branches under him on the way down. 

Reva is super fun, but you need a lot of models from different crews to make her good. 

Whenever someone new comes into the game I always suggest the first thing you do is pick the crew you're most interested in. What peaked your interest to get into the game? Seamus the serial killer who is crazy and funny in the fluff and is based off Jack the Ripper, or Kirai who was in love with a man who's father didn't want him slumping with and was killed only to return due to the power of vengeance.

If you're interested in the crew and the history behind them, you'll become more interested in the game, then you'll love it.  

[Graf]

I very much recommend only looking for one, at most two, crews for quite a while.

Starting with the crew, which "speaks" to you is always a good way to start the game and we don't have any crews which are totally unusable. At most it might be more or less difficult.

If you have experience with other tabletop games, or related games, you might want to look for the playstiles you prefer and which crews offers those.

Especially for casual games I quite like the Kirai and Molly combo, as their backgrounds are quite interwoven in Malifaux's story. 

[Fool of a Took]

Thanks for all of the advice. I think I will probably start with Molly and Kirai and go from there after playing several games with each of them.

[Regelridderen]

5 hours ago, Fool of a Took said:

Thanks for all of the advice. I think I will probably start with Molly and Kirai and go from there after playing several games with each of them.

Sounds like a great idea - and don’t worry, you’ll get there. 
 

I’ve just put in the order for my 11th crew across 4 factions 🥳