Firewyrm Posted September 23, 2010 Report Share Posted September 23, 2010 I know that this is the Guild Specific sub-forum, but I just cannot find where I am supposed to post this question, so please move it to where it should go: Me and a bunch of friends have started a playing group to play Malifaux, and are looking into what to buy to start playing. I have been lurking around these forums to see if the starter boxes are playable and balanced, and I am getting contrasting opinions on that subject. To me it seems every starter box set needs at least one blister to balance it out and make the game as fun as possible; so my question is twofold: 1: Is this so? Is the best course for new players such as ourselves to buy one starter each and complement it with a blister of something? 2: If yes, then what would be the best blister for all the different starters? I do not right now know what people will want to play, but most of us are going for what is cool and looks good and appeals to us style-wise at this point, so anything is a possibility. We do however want to play and enjoy the game on equal terms, which is not so easy if one box is just better than another, something we cannot know without the rulebook and understanding of the game. What I wonder is therefore; if we buy the following starters, what SINGLE booster/blister would you say is ideal to make it fun, playable and balanced: Body Thieves Born on the Bayou Som'er Teeth Cult of December Legion of Sorrow Lilith's Brood The Viktorias Order of the Chimera Miners and Steamfitters Union Ortega Gunslingers Spirits of Vengeance The Death Marshals The Desolate and the Soulless The Hag's Puppets The Redchappel Gang The Showgirls The Undertakers Lot The Witch Hunters I want to know of 1-2 blisters that would make these gangs/teams balanced, fun and good to play with. I understand I am asking for a rather long list/small essay on this, but I hope you can help me and my friends out! Thanks in advance /Joakim Andersson, Sweden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Swarm Posted September 23, 2010 Report Share Posted September 23, 2010 The Ortegas and Death Marshals can run right out of the box pretty well. The witch hunters can, too, but I've heard a lot of folks say they would like to add Sonnia's totem (Purifying Flame, I believe). (I run a very nonstandard Sonnia crew, myself.) For any Guild crew, adding a Peacekeeper isn't really necessary, but it's a great addition. The one I'd suggest avoiding until/unless you've got a player who is really good with finessing their crew and/or pulling off a lot of tricks is Som'er Teeth's crew. (This is my first crew, and it took me a bit to figure out tricks and tactics that work for me.) They're really fun to play (especially if the player is willing to get a bit silly playing them), but they are difficult to get the hang of. I haven't tried my full Ophelia crew yet (Born on the Bayou). (I tend to use them in bits and pieces.) I have heard good things about them, though. The Victorias are also fun, and can be very effective. The player will have to think a bit more, though, since while this crew can dish it out with the best of them, they have a bit of trouble absorbing damage. I've also used/faced Zoraida, and while she also requires a bit of a thinking play style, she can also be quite effective. This is one I'd highly recommend getting the totem for. (Voodoo Doll, in this case.) I've faced Seamus a lot (The Redchapel Gang). They're another one that's good for beginners. (Bringing back your dead models makes this crew fairly forgiving to play.) You could run this one without it's signature totem (the Copycat Killer), but I think it'd be a lot better off having it. These are the ones I'm most familiar with/most confortable giving advice on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koali Posted September 23, 2010 Report Share Posted September 23, 2010 You can start playing right out of the Boxes... that works very good... All you need to start the Game is a Rulebook, one of these starterboxes, a carddeck (or Pockerdeck with two different Jokers) and a measuring tape. Abd for shure it can´t hurt to buy an additional Blister. What blister that depends on playing style... But i´ll tell you my personal thoughts about that. But be shure somone second says very different things about that... Body Thieves - Canine Remains Born on the Bayou - any sort of Gremlin Som'er Teeth - More gremlins and Mosquitos Cult of December - December Acolyte Legion of Sorrow - Teddy Lilith's Brood - Young Nephillim The Viktorias - Ronins Order of the Chimera - Silurid Slaves Miners and Steamfitters Union - More Steamnpunk Arachnids Ortega Gunslingers - Executioner or Guild Guards Spirits of Vengeance - More Seshins The Death Marshals - Guild Gards or Witchling Salkers The Desolate and the Soulless - Desolation Engine The Hag's Puppets - Voodo Dool The Redchappel Gang - Copycat killer The Showgirls - Coryphees The Undertakers Lot - Mindless zombies The Witch Hunters - Executioner or Nino I advise you to buy a Rulebook and one of the Boxes and learn how to play this game... then look at the other Models and dicide which one will fit for yourself in the best way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semanticdm Posted September 23, 2010 Report Share Posted September 23, 2010 I can only add my opinion on a couple... For Zoraida (The Hag's Puppets), you definitely need her totem, the Voodoo Doll. Otherwise, her list is pretty powerful as is. For Som'er Teeth (Som'er Teeth), you'll need a few blisters - his box contains only 16 SS worth of models! He makes up for it by being able to summon more gremlins, but that requires more gremlin models. He'll also work better with a couple of mosquito's - which means a couple more blisters. If you play Spirits of Vengeance, you're going to want more Seishin. The rest of the boxes that I've played with / against work pretty well out of the box. These are, Born on the Bayou, The Witch Hunters, Miners and Steamfitters Union, Lilith's Brood, and Cult of December. That's about all I can recommend with my limited experience with several different factions, and decent experience with a couple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilus Posted September 23, 2010 Report Share Posted September 23, 2010 I like the Executioner as the first Death Marshal add. Since he fits thematically and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvatarForm Posted September 24, 2010 Report Share Posted September 24, 2010 You can start playing right out of the Boxes... that works very good... All you need to start the Game is a Rulebook, one of these starterboxes, a carddeck (or Pockerdeck with two different Jokers) and a measuring tape. Abd for shure it can´t hurt to buy an additional Blister. What blister that depends on playing style... But i´ll tell you my personal thoughts about that. But be shure somone second says very different things about that... Body Thieves - Canine Remains Born on the Bayou - any sort of Gremlin Som'er Teeth - More gremlins and Mosquitos Cult of December - December Acolyte Legion of Sorrow - Teddy Lilith's Brood - Young Nephillim The Viktorias - Ronins Order of the Chimera - Silurid Slaves Miners and Steamfitters Union - More Steamnpunk Arachnids Ortega Gunslingers - Executioner or Guild Guards Spirits of Vengeance - More Seshins The Death Marshals - Guild Gards or Witchling Salkers The Desolate and the Soulless - Desolation Engine The Hag's Puppets - Voodo Dool The Redchappel Gang - Copycat killer The Showgirls - Coryphees The Undertakers Lot - Mindless zombies The Witch Hunters - Executioner or Nino I advise you to buy a Rulebook and one of the Boxes and learn how to play this game... then look at the other Models and dicide which one will fit for yourself in the best way... +1 to most of this, but also get the totems fro each master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xango Posted September 24, 2010 Report Share Posted September 24, 2010 Hi fire, i can only speak about the crews i have played with and against, with just the totem they are really balanced, i am talking about... Zoraida, Pandora, Lady justice, Marcus and Rasputina, the only box that i have that would recommend a extra blister besides the totem is Ramos (buy extra spyders) hope this help, oh and also, do not worry to match exactly the number of SS of 2 crews, if you are playing a 30SS game and a crew have 24ss and the other 29ss there is no advantage in low difference, sometimes is better to have bigger ss pool than another mini. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werecat Posted September 24, 2010 Report Share Posted September 24, 2010 I agree that almost every master wants their totem. +++ on the body snatchers box needing canine remains. That's one of the worst crews right out of the box(neck and neck with the gremlins box) but two blisters of canine remains fixes that quite nicely. For the record, I think all the ressurectionist boxes could use a handful of canine remains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatsicle Posted September 24, 2010 Report Share Posted September 24, 2010 I won't quote it again because it's been done a bunch, but right on Koali. The only point I differ on is The Order of the Chimera set needing slurids; while admittedly I am not very familiar with Slurids, Molemen seemed to make a great addition as well... Back to Firewyrm! First and foremost, welcome to the forums. I have this weird psychic feeling you're going to love the game. 1)The boxes do do (heehee) better with a blister accompanying them, but I think it's more of a scale of game effect than unbalancing of the starter boxes.. from what I've seen the game really shines at 30SS, which is the box + blister level. (Which is not to say it's not fun at larger levels, but a skirmish game at the skirmish level just works!) As part two.. I would see it's absolutely a wise choice to pick the models that you like the look of to play. If you can't stand the sight of your own models it's pretty hard to play the game, but if every time you look at them you go 'Aw, *&@^( yeah!' ... My personal view is that each of the starter boxes are pretty close to equilibrium with the exception of the swarm armies (Ramos and Somer really thrive with more small guys), though a few do have higher learning curves. 'The Viktorias' are, for example, pretty straight forwards while 'The Desolate and the Soulless' takes a bit of head scratching and contemplation. 2)Koali's list is pretty perfect. Of course, the best way to tell is to get the rulebook before buying a single starter box - it has all the models' stats in them so, once you get the hang of the surprisingly easy rules, you can look and see exactly what you feel would best help... or what would be the most fun to play, which is really what it comes down to in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firewyrm Posted September 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Thanks for all the helpfull answers compadres, I feel like I really have a better insight into all of this now, and feel that my group can get into the game knowing what we are doing (at least somewhat). I do have one question though; what is a Totem? I cannot find anything about it on the forums or on the webpage, am I just bad at looking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Swarm Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 (edited) A Totem is a type of model that has to be connected to a master. If you look in the rulebook, you'll see some for each faction. (The word 'Totem' will appear in the short list of characteristics/etc. at the top of the models listing.) Some are specific to certain Masters, and can only be taken with their listed master, while other can be taken with any appropriate master. They Generally have abilities that complement the master they are connected to, but they leave play if their connected master does. One example is the Copycat Killer, which is a Resurrectionist Totem specific to Seamus. For most of them, you can only have one connected to a given master, but there are a couple of exceptions (like Som'er Teeth Jones' Mosquitoes). Edited September 28, 2010 by Gremlin Swarm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werecat Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Right-o Examples: Nicodem can have two vultures (his unique totem), the grave spirit (generic totem), or the Necrotic machine (another generic totem found in rising powers) McMourning can also take the grave spirit and Necrotic Machine, but has the Zombie Chihuahua as his unique totem. Seamus is the same with the Copycat killer. All is detailed wonderfully in the rulebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishtank Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 ot: where in Sweden? I'm a newbie in Uppsala. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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