New to Malifaux - Help choosing my faction

[Tspot]

Hey everyone,

So I think I want to start Malifaux but Im wondering about which faction to choose. Should I just go with what I like the look of? Or are there some major playstyle differences that might factor in my decision.

I like the look of the Resurectionists and the Red Lapel Box. Is that a good first time caster? I want a faction that I dont need a ton of models. Im hoping this game will be less of a cash sink as my Warmachine addiction is.

Cheer, T

[bigstupidfighter]

Well there are a few threads out there about what various faction play like, I'm sure someone will link you one but in the meantime-

Ressurrectionists as a whole tend to need a highish model count because they are summoners. Seamus is probably the least demanding his way as he can only summon Belles. Aside from his boxset, you'll probably want Canine Remains as they can be killed and their corpses used to make Belles, plus they're just damn useful in general. The Copycat Killer is a must because it's just too awesome.

The upside to ressers being summoners is that they get great use of each other's models. Since McMourning can summon big smashy models, it's nice to have somthing lik Belles on hand for him to start with. Nicodem and Mortimer can both summon Belles, in fact for Mortimer Belles are one of the best options.

So in summary, Ressers need a highish model count, but Seamus needs the least of anyone, and adding more Masters to your collection is as easy as picking up their box set because they get so much use out of one another's models.

So yes, Seamus is probably a pretty good choice of first master.

[AvatarForm]

Neverborn!

:dreamer:zoraida:pandora:lilith:nekima

Great models; fun playstyles; good times reading hours of errata.:elefant:

[Sandwich]

Seamus is not specfically a caster.

He is a direct support / midline combatant.

With the models intended for his crew, he has the greatest synergy of the three Masters, of the models not intended for his crew, he's got absolutely no synergy.

He does not work well with nearly any units outside of his specific crew, though there are obviously exceptions to this rule.

His crew is durable and Seamus is excellent at fully healing himself in a single activation from 1 Wd to 12. The counter to this is the incredibly low damage output your crew will have.

Seamus is not as direct as other masters, if you want to play him, you'll need to work around most situations in order to win.

Obviously the master you eventually choose will depend on your preferred playstyle; so... What is your preferred playstyle?

There is a link to a relatively useful tactica in my Signature, use it if you please.

Be warned it is very, very tl;dr, so if you intend to read it, clear up some time for it.

Edited September 24, 2010 by Sandwich

[Seventeen]

Neverborn!

:dreamer:zoraida:pandora:lilith:nekima

Great models; fun playstyles; good times reading hours of errata.:elefant:

Great reply! Made my day!!!

[Rathnard]

Ultimately, you should go with whichever faction/Master you like the look of. Painting models that you already think look fugly is not fun.

Other than that, here's a rundown of the book 1 masters/factions that I've posted a few times before.

GUILD: Tends to favour shooting and negating your opponents benefits/buffs. Each Master specialises in fighting a certain faction, although it doesn't mean the suck at fighting anything else. They're also relatively easy to learn how to use.

Lady Justice: Anti-Resurrectionist, the close combat specialist.

Perdita: Anti-Neverborn, the shooting specialist. Considered one of the easist Masters to use well.

Sonnia Crid: Anti-Arcanist, tends to be a "jack of all trades", with abilities in close combat, ranged magic and even some summoning.

RESURRECTIONISTS: The Necromancers - tend to favour summoning and buffing their own units. For the most part they're slow but very resiliant.

McMourning, aka Dr Frankenstein: The close combat summoner. Some would argue that he's a better summoner that Nicodem - he won't raise hordes of models but he'll piece together a flesh construct very quickly. As aluded, he's also pretty capable of killing things up close.

Nicodem: The stereotypical necromancer. Can raise hordes of undead easily and has some ranged offensive spells. Very reliant on his minions to stay alive - you won't see this guy running around on his own.

Seamus: The nut with a gun. Hard to kill, barely capable of summoning, very tame in close combat but downright terrifying at range. His usual approach is to lure enemy models out of cover with his belles, and then blow them away with his (big) pistol. He's also got some great buffs for terrifying, so he's better at making things run away than most other masters.

ARCANISTS: Tend to be fragile spell casters with some fearsome magical output.

Rasputina: The ice mage. Slow, but is very good at providing cover in the form of ice pillars and killing things with ice magic. Her usual minions tend to be very resiliant and allow her cast spells through the minions, which keeps her pretty safe (think arc nodes in warmachine).

Marcus: The Beast Master. Not alot of direct damage spells, but makes up for it by buffing the beasts he usually runs with, which are mostly fast and hard-hitting. He's by far the most capable Arcanist Master in combat, and his crew strategy tends to revolve around coordinating a single strike with most of your crew. He's one of the harder masters to use well.

Ramos: The Summoner. He has some direct damage abilities but for the most part he specialises in creating mechanical spiders that can then run up and kill/detonate vs. enemy models. Armour makes him and his spiders relatively resiliant, and while the spiders can traverse most terrain, their raw movement speed tends to be average.

NEVERBORN: All about speed, hard-to-hit models and deception. All three masters play very differently.

Lilith: A straight-up beater. She runs up to the enemy under cover of a summonable forest (much like Rasputina's ice pillars), and then pile-drives an enormous sword into their faces. Her usual minions are all very fast and designed purely for combat, although they can also 'grow' into bigger minions as you kill opposing models. She's an easy Master to figure out.

Pandora: VERY unique in her playstyle. Everything she does revolves around the willpower (Wp) stat. Basically, she's a hit-and-run caster that gradually drains away models wounds through Wp duels until they run away or die. Enemy models need to pass a Wp duel to target her, which can make her very difficult to kill. Her crew supports this Wp=damage/protection approach and in the right circumstances with the right crew, Pandora can move vast distances and deal obsene amounts of damage in a single turn. One big negative is that certain crews/abilities (eg. Perdita) that can neutralise her Wp abilities will give her a very tough time. A hard master to use right, but once you figure her out she's one of the strongest in the game.

Zoraida: A sort of support master. She's very fast and difficult to hunt down, but by herself she's not going to do alot. What she can do is support her minions in their own damage-dealing capabilities as well as mess with your opponents deck and hand. Her usual minions tend to be ambushers, either with a very long charge range (silurid) or the ability to appear anywhere it wants (Bad Juju). That said, she's got no obvious synergy with either so she's free to pick whatever other minions she wants.

OUTCASTS: Not really defined by anything aside from the fact that they don't fit into the other factions, and their ability (usually) to make use of most suits in the deck. Each Master pretty much has their own way of playing.

The Viktorias: The Mercenary master, is actually two Masters in one. They can deal out alot of damage up close, but individually they're somewhat brittle. Aside from the Viks/Ronin, there's not alot of synergy between the models in her crew, but they're all quite capable of doing their own thing. On the negative, the Viks minions are quite expensive so you won't have a large crew.

So'mer Teeth Jones: The horde Master. Think goblins crossed with hillbillies, with plenty of pigs, and you have So'mers crew. They're potentially very destructive, doing alot of damage to both themselves and their opponents. As a result everything is cheap and easy to kill, although this does give them some issues when facing certain crews that have hard to hit models (Pandora, Lilith, Perdita etc). As such they're not an easy crew to use.

Levictus: A caster that summons minions, buffs minions, does obscene damage at range and up close, and kills himself every turn to do it. Seriously, many of Levi's abilities deal damage to himself, and when he dies he's summoned back at the end of the turn so long as his "life insurance" (summonable minions called hollow waifs) is still alive. His choice of minions is huge, since he can pick almost any undead or construct from any faction. This is a very complicated master to use and NOT recommended for beginners. You should really only try him once you fully understand the rules and feel like a challenge.

[huntroll]

Hey everyone,

So I think I want to start Malifaux but Im wondering about which faction to choose. Should I just go with what I like the look of? Or are there some major playstyle differences that might factor in my decision.

I like the look of the Resurectionists and the Red Lapel Box. Is that a good first time caster? I want a faction that I dont need a ton of models. Im hoping this game will be less of a cash sink as my Warmachine addiction is.

Cheer, T

I started with Seamus and he is a great master and the cheapest of the three Resser masters from the first book (I'm not really interested in Kirai so I can't say too much about her), so I strongly recommend him. His crew only needs a Totem (either the Copycat or the Grave Spirit) and some Minions (Punk Zombies and/or the Gunslinger for damage and Canine Remains for the number) to function very well.

[simhenk]

Im hoping this game will be less of a cash sink as my Warmachine addiction is.

That's what we all thought when er started this game :thumb:

But all kidding aside, the best thing is choosing a faction/master you like on looks, and have a good time painting the crew. Every crew is good to play, but you may need to get a few additional models to expand.

I also like the look of Shamus and his Belles and I played them at a demo. They are great, but I opted for a different master because I didn't want to play more zombies at the time.

But then, when you start reading the rules of the other miniatures, then you go: Ooooh, this is cool, Oooh, this will play nice, Oooooooh, that could be a great combo. And before you know it, you will have an additional crew and models.