Lopsided battles

[jugglingfool]

Having never played the game but being very interested in getting and pushing this game to my friends and others at the game shop, are there any lopsided battles?

I ask because the Guild seems to have specialized units to kill one of the other factions. My example would be the Ortega Gunslingers and any one of the neverborn boxs. I like the look of the gunslingers so I want them to be one of my box set purchases. Then I also like the look of the Neverborn. But I don't want to buy them if the gunslingers are going to eat them alive. I like the idea of themed sets to play against each other, but want them to be ballanced.

I am OK with the idea that one of the factions is harder to play and responds well to good gameplay. In fact I think I want a game that you win or lose basd more on game play than army selection. 40K seems to be more about army selection and list building than gameplay. Gameplay is certainly part of it, but it is not the biggest part in determining victory. For example my buddy plays demons and I play space marines. Even if he makes errors in play his army is just hands down designed from the ground up to stomp my army. So even with game play errors and me playing as falwlessly as I can, all I can get is a draw. I consider that a victory for me but playing to tie just isn't fun.

So before I put in my order and wait patiently for a restock, are there any ballance issues I should be warry of for my first pruchase. I want my two armies to be cool looking, Naturally, but I also want wach game to be a nailbiter on who will win. Not look across the table and feel/ know the beating is coming.

Another thread does say that for demos you should stack the game in the new players favor, but I thought it would be better to have two well balanced armies and have them choose the one they think is the coolest. Let's face it we all have different ideas about which army is the most aestheticly pleasing. I think we all agree that they all have their merits but there is always that one army that captures the imagination and makes you say, YES!!!

[capcap]

Having played 40k and knowing what your speaking of there are some things you should try when playing Malifaux. Don't judge your army/minis till you have played them a good 30 games. At that time you will know the stats and feel of the minis. Like many games there are 4 types of armies: Control, Shooting, Magic and Melee. These are not only army types but are also playstyles that you may or may not like. If you like space marines I would suggest one of the more tough armies that have abilities like hard to kill and armor. Like all skirmish games, some games can feel lopsided but alot of times that is just temporary and will pass once you learn your army and your opponents. And like any Mini game some lists are just harder to play than others.

[nilus]

From my experience there are no real lopsided battles. The Guild specialization does help in a battle but its give them an edge at best. Its not like Neverborn hunters always beat Neverborn.

There are some armies that are much more straight forward an easier to play, especially for demos. Lady Justice, Lilith, Seamus and a few others are not better then other armies, but there play style tends to be pretty straightforward and clear.

[hannibal]

One thing I've noticed is that this game can be lopsided, but being a skirmish game things can swing back your way. I too have played 40K and I always say the game is fine if you stop at turn 4. Because the game's pretty much decided by then and those last 2 turns are just crunching the numbers. In 40K if you lose half your army and he still has most of his, it's basically over.

In Malifaux, I've noticed this isn't the case. For example, I played my Viktorias vs Pandora. By the end of a turn, it was just Pandora in melee with both my Viktorias and I had Taelor and Hans to back them up. A string of wiffed Wp duels and some spells by Pandora later, and both Viktorias were dead, leaving her to face off Taelor and Hans, who were both having to close some distance while pandora cast her spells. Luckily the game ended, but had it gone on, the winner would've been the player with A model left.

Just last night, I lost my Steamborg Executioner in one fell swoop. I promptly killed the chick who popped my Steamborg but I was facing down a three headed sabretooth tiger and a pi$$ed off giant rattler with only a (weak in combat) master and my remaining melee dude (who is good, but there are limits . . .). A good combo of spells and judicious use of multiple activations later and we had a crispy kitty and a rattlesnake halfway to being bayou sashimi.

So yeah you can have big swings, but I think the thing is simply not give up because you might have swings the other way. The upside of being whupped: you can splurge your control cards on those last two models, cause what do you have to save them for? :guns:

[Kealios]

The good point about those games last night that I got my butt whooped in is a) you have time to play another game (woot!) and what goes around, comes around. You have 5 to 7 guys on the table. Even if your Crew folds from a few bad exchanges, come back next time and it might be different.

With little room for error, and a lot riding on Fate and how much it likes your deck, there will be swings to both extremes, but there is always next game...

[Magno]

I too have played 40K and I always say the game is fine if you stop at turn 4. Because the game's pretty much decided by then and those last 2 turns are just crunching the numbers.

Very true. Not very often I've had thrilling and suspenseful games of 40k beyond round 3 or 4. That's simply a flaw in unit based games especially I Go You Go format. Whenever you allow one person to act with impunity for multiple chosen activations and altering each activation's action based on your previous activation, it becomes easy to maximise the strengths of your army and exploit the weaknesses of the opposing army.

There are some imbalances in the game, but they aren't insurmountable nor are they autopilot and they don't occur all the time.

A combination of the location, the army match-up, the strategies and the possible events at the location can make for some lopsidedness, but this is a pretty small price to pay for a set-up that makes for very refreshing gameplay.

Example:

Playing in the Quarantine Zone and the Event "Alone in the Dark" occurs (Models who fail a morale duel are killed).

Now if you're playing against Seamus or Pandora, two Master's that can force a lot of morale checks and at unfavorable circumstances, then you're in for a tough fight if you're not Undead. But the probability of that set-up is less than 0.5 percent.

I've played with Seamus about 20 games against Lilith, Lady Justice, and Rasputina about 4 times each. So far I've gone 50/50 and mostly to gameplay.

The best thing I've liked thus far is that the games are always pretty close, go down to round 5-6 almost everytime and are always suspenseful at 25 soulstones.