Guild Newbie looking for Advice

[kingonthebell]

Hi everyone,

 

I just thought I should introduce myself to the community.  I had been eyeing Malifaux for quite some time, but couldn't reconcile the playing cards-based system with my preference for dice-based games till late.  So I recently took the dive and got myself the new Lady Justice core box, and the Wake the Dead box along with a random Guild Steward a friend handed to me.

 

Any recommendations on how Lady Justice and her crew is typically run? And perhaps how I should build my crew for games as well?

 

I also ended up getting some Ten Thunders stuff, but that's a story for a different part of the forums.

[Adran]

Hello and welcome. I moved this thread to the Guild section of the forums where you will probably get more help. 

You can view the deck of cards as a D13 if it helps. (Its a bit more complicated than that, and the fate hand allows you some control over the actions you consider vital, but the cards are just another random number generator). 

Whilst you learn to play the game I would recommend sticking with a fairly fixed list, containing multiples of models where possible, as this allows you to minimise the  amount you have to learn all at once. 

Are you learning with friends that are also new, or are you learning with an established group? If you are both new, then you may well do better playing smaller games to start with, just using the crew boxes until you have the basics of the game sorted. (most crew boxes can play around 20-30 ss games easily). If you are joining an established group, you may have to start playing 50 ss games as that's what your opponents are most likely to want to play. (And is the level the game is designed for)

Lady Justice is largely a killing machine. She ideally wants to hit people with her sword, and to have not charged into combat to get the positive flip to damage from her great sword. Fortunately she has Leap which can get her into combat without charging.  

[Angelshard]

Welcome to the guild! 

If you haven't done it download the malifaux crew builder app. It's free and it's a great tool. 

Personally I would recommend using what you have right now for the first three or four games at least. The first step is learning the rules well enough to understand what models can do and realise that, unlike most other miniatures games, focusing on killing every enemy will likely lose you the game. Strats and schemes is the important thing. 

Then, once you're pretty confident with your understanding of the core rules and what your models can and cannot do, you can start looking at other models in the faction to shore up your weaknesses and maybe a second master. 

Or you could do like me and buy everything, because you're a plastic addict. 

Hope this helps 

[Vessien]

Welcome! And hopefuly see you in the real power forum - aka Ten Thunders - ^^

I agree whith what has been said, try several games and get a grasp of the game before changing too many things.

I cannot help very much with crew selection, other than Lone Marshall is great, since my experience with LJ is only one game against her. 

What I'd recommend to you, is giving Henchman Hardcore a shot (the rules are in Gaining Grounds). I think it is a great way to learn the basic rules quickly. There are no masters and only 4 minis for faction, so they don't have the depth of normal games, but you can finish them in an hour.

After that, you can go for games with masters and more SS, maybe proxying a couple of things, until you feel comfortable with 50. 

And in the meantime, I am sure you will get plenty of good suggestions from other folks in the forums 😃

[Regelridderen]

Welcome to a world of wallet-hurt.

As Vessien says, play a handful of Henchman Hardcore at first. It teaches you to think in the ways of Malifaux, and it’s also very kill-focused like your dice games

After that, choose a keyword, and play that and only those models for your first 10-20 games. Its easy to grab at shiny new OOK stuff, but only by playing your models will you learn how to use them.

After this you’re tournament ready - nah I’m kidding you’re tournament ready once your models are painted up, go kick some butt and have fun

[Antipodean]

Great choice, Lady J was my first purchase when I started in M2E. I find Malifaux is harder to 'solve' in terms of what to take. Everything is at least useful, the differences between models aren't too pronounced that anything is not worth it at all. Try what you like is the best general advice, and the crew desired will vary depending on schemes and strategies

However, the Steward is a solid choice in almost any Guild list. A single Domador fits well into most outings, debuffs and heals always welcome alongside sometimes unlocking the anti undead abilities in the keyboard (or at least threatening to). I really like the Judge in certain match ups, card draw, variety of murder, tanky. He (mine still is) is quite pricey though so have a plan for him.

Sadly, at the moment the lesser taken models are the Death Marshalls and Death Marshall Recruiters. I haven't had too much success with either, though the former are at least cheap minion models to bring that don't shine in any one area, but can do a variety of things to an average level. Malifaux does tend to favour specialists a bit more though, at least in my experience. I would run 1-2 Death Marshalls for a while though as they are very cool and you may find value out of them where others have not.

Lady Justice herself is a little odd in that she doesn't synergise super well with her crew. Try to avoid overextending her early as even a Master will go down with enough enemy attention. I like to position her mid field T1/2 and pounce T2/3. Lead Lined Coat is a popular upgrade for her as she will eventually be in the thick of it. While she is a murder machine don't be afraid to use her to achieve Schemes and Strategies when the opportunity arises. She is super mobile with 3 AP and a bonus leap. She can get backfield quickly for Breakthrough for example, while still returning for some murder.

After a few games I would recommend the Six Feet Under box. The Lone Marshall has to be one of the best models in Guild, and in her keyword. I use him and  the Exorcists a lot also as terrifying seems to be everywhere.

[kingonthebell]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice everyone. I really appreciate it.

I had originally picked up Lady J just simply because I enjoyed the look of the miniatures in her crew, but having tried her out this weekend during a simple master-on-master game with another newbie friend, I think I quite like her! I do understand that she's more of a beat-stick than an "objective grabber" (not sure if it's a term employed in Malifaux), but I do like her all the same.  She does seem a tad slow though 😅

 

Thanks for the purchase advice! I recently received an old metal Steward from somebody who quit the game a while back, and will be looking to get the Lone Marshal box soon once I've painted up my core box (already painted Lady J and her totem).

 

Once again, thank you!

[Maniacal_cackle]

3 minutes ago, kingonthebell said:

She does seem a tad slow though 😅

 

With leap, she should be super fast (you just have to cheat a mask or ram and stone for the other suit).

So for example if someone is 19" away, you can walk, walk, leap + sudden strike trigger (attack), then attack again. Both attacks will have your + flip to damage since you didn't charge.

Or your maximum range, leap + 2 walks + charge = hit something 24" away.

[Yore Huckleberry]

One reality of Lady Justice is that she can score quite a few points because of her high AP count and the leap (which can leave engagement without disengaging, key to the interact action for many points). Ideally, you want her to hit things with a greatsword on pos-flips 3-7 times, but this is an 8-point game, and if she can leap to a symbol and pick it up without getting focus-fired down with her DF-5 and Hard to Wound defenses (and, yknow, the Lead Lined Coat you put on her, right?), that's 12.5% of your possible points out of 2 of her AP, and it's not at all uncommon for that to be the best use of her in a round. I think a common newer mistake is to commit her to attacking constantly without referring to the question of where your points come from.

She's also a figure that benefits from defensive focus if you have high masks or a stone. Her DF 5 isn't great, but if you can force the opponent to cheat first, or guarantee a counterpunch, saving your 13-Masks or Red Joker to stop an opposing beater AP and hit back instead can be a much better use than an attack, even with the quick reflexes trigger.

[Filox]

If you want to start with LJ you will need:
- Domadors
- Jury
- Pale Rider
- Emissary & Effigy
- Lone Marshal

Those are the core models you will mostly uses in your games as LJ. Emissary, Pale Rider & Lone Marshal also play a lot outside her keyword so you will be able too fill them in your next keywords.

[kingonthebell]

Thanks for the additional tips! I went on ahead and got myself the box containing the Lone Marshal earlier today.

 

You know, just in case we're stuck with another lockdown again...