Thinking of starting Malifaux, Colette left me mesmerized.

[Mirarii]

Pun intended.

I really wish I would have found out about this sooner, Malifaux looks awesome. So far the Arcanists are definitely my number one choice, and Colette seems really cool lore/modelwise. I have a few questions about Arcanists, Colette, and the game itself.

How easy is it to learn the game? Arcanists? Colette?

How much money would I plan on putting into this? Aside from buying less models, the models themselves seem quite a bit less expensive than GW models.

Is the Showgirls box set worth getting?

Would it be easy enough for me to show others such as my brother or friends how to play if I were to get a second army for them to borrow?

What is the play-style like for Arcanists? Colette?

I'm sorta in the middle of nowhere it's kinda hard to find people that play games like this(hence asking about getting a second army). There is a gaming store in town about 15 minutes away from me, but I'm pretty sure they only do cards. Does anyone happen to know if any places in southern Michigan have Malifaux players?

[Nefas]

Im still just starting, but from my research Colette is easy to buy, difficult to play. She has a lot of rules that require a strong understanding of the game, but a very effective army for her only needs her box set, a pack of doves, and the coryphee set.

[Kadeton]

I'm relatively new to the game, and I started with Colette's crew.

The game is mostly easy and quick to learn. There are some rules tangles that can trip you up along the way (getting used to how triggers work took me a few games) but for the most part the rules are well written and clear.

Arcanists as a faction isn't really something you learn per se - each master is quite individual and their playstyles are very different.

Colette takes a little bit of getting used to. Her playstyle involves lots of trickery and movement rather than brute force, and her minions are mostly pretty fragile. However, I found her ability to generate soulstones during the game made her a little more forgiving, and her crew's unbelievable mobility makes getting position-based objectives easy. Stick to the mission and avoid direct confrontation and you should be fine. These boards and the PullMyFinger wiki have plenty of tactical advice for Colette, and in my opinion learning with her gives you a better grasp on the rules than if you learn with one of the more straightforward masters.

I don't know how prices translate (I'm in Australia) but a basic 35ss crew runs to about AU$70 for me. That's enough for a decent-size game, or several options in smaller games. For Colette, you need the box set, a pack of Doves, and a pack of Coryphee.

It's easy enough to get other people into the game (I've been dragging my friends in pretty easily) especially if they're looking for a change from GW games. There's enough variety in the masters that anyone should be able to find something that appeals.

That said, I don't think the Colette crew is very good for teaching games. The Showgirls have so many tricks that the opposing player tends to get frustrated, especially if they're running a melee-heavy crew like the Viktorias. Their abilities are also complex enough that it's not obvious how they work without a bit of research and planning, so you can't just give them to a new player completely cold, either. Personally, for learning games I'd recommend the more straightforward crews like Perdita, the Viktorias, Nicodem, Rasputina and Lilith.

As mentioned, the Arcanists don't really have a single playstyle, and there's not an awful lot of synergy between them for Brawl games - I'd recommend Ramos if you're looking to expand. Colette's crew combines a lot of mobility with a couple of decent melee damage-dealers, spell damage, debuffing, luring, poison and some surprising resilience, and their main advantage is that almost the whole crew can gain the ability to use soulstones. Soulstone management and movement tricks are therefore the main aspects that you have to learn.

Starting with the Showgirls has been fun for me, so I hope it will be for you also.

[Dustcrusher]

Speaking from experience, I don't think Nicodem is all that easy to learn, mostly due to freedom of choice (cue Devo here). Nicodem needs access to a variety of models- he's on the other end of the spectrum from Colette.

PullMyFinger lists Ophelia vs. Von Schill, Lady Justice vs. Seamus, and Perdita vs. Lilith as good starter box demo pairings. If you want to run demos I'd consider one of those pairs first.

Colette's crew is great, inexpensive to go from starter to tournament-ready, and has some of the most gorgeous (both in the "excellent sculpting" and the "pretty girls" sense) sculpts in the entire Wyrd catalog. If you really dig them, get them. You can always paint them now and learn to play them as you get used to how the game works.

[Backno]

I will say get the crew you find the most interesting, no point in wasting time and money on other crews that you don't enjoy. If you can find a group that plays around you see if you can get some games in with some of the crews listed above (Perdita, Lady J, Lilith, etc) so you can learn the rules of the game before you have to throw in the crazy that is Collette's crew.

the nice thing about Collette's crew is that all you need to get started is the Showgirls box and 1 pack of Doves. If you have the money getting the Coryphée box means you have everything you need to play up 35+ points for ~$60 if you look around. There are a few other models you can add down the line, but you want to avoid them till you get a firm grasp of how the crew works.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Backno

[Ozz]

Collette is a great crew to get, i had her as my first master, she has a play style that reminds me of Dark elves or maybe old wood elves if you played fantasy. Eg can not take the hits, but are fast, manuverable.

She has some fun tricks for you, frustrating for your opponent if they forget one of them as you use it:)

It does take a bit more to learn how things work with the crew, but worth learning. imo:)

[Zwergenkrieger]

I started with Pandora who is also viewed as a hard-to-learn master, but I can´t verify this. Not because I think she is easy to learn or easy to master, but because I don´t have any comparison at hand. Pandora is the only master I play so far and I enjoyed every single game with her, being it losses or wins.

I tell you this because I think you should go with whatever you think is "best". Be it best models, best background, best rules set, best...

That way you´ll enjoy the game from the very first beginning!

HTG

[Mirarii]

Any idea on a set (any faction) that would be a moderately even match-up against Colette? Something I could have my brother or friends borrow. I don't mean similar play style, just something that would be pretty balanced.

[Mirarii]

Collette is a great crew to get, i had her as my first master, she has a play style that reminds me of Dark elves or maybe old wood elves if you played fantasy. Eg can not take the hits, but are fast, manuverable.

How about Dark Eldar? Sounds quite a bit like them, that's my favorite 40k army.

[Ebonstar]

Any idea on a set (any faction) that would be a moderately even match-up against Colette? Something I could have my brother or friends borrow. I don't mean similar play style, just something that would be pretty balanced.

For comparative power I think Kirai. Perdita, something pretty quick or killy. like the Viks.

[SoulG]

If you're only looking for an extra box set don't get Kirai.

Perdita and Von Schill are both excellent starting box sets. I've heard good things about Lady J and Lilith as well.

[micahwc]

Liliths box set with 1 package of young nephilim is a good starter for her, though she has some good choices available after that as well.

Warning: this game is addictive and it won't be long until you want to buy more.

I came to Malifaux because it was cheaper than GW and I "only needed one box set to play". I now have all 4 neverborn masters, 2 guild masters, 1 arcanist, and 2 henchmen, plus multiple additonal blisters of models.

[Mirarii]

Warning: this game is addictive and it won't be long until you want to buy more.

I haven't even started but I've already found several masters I'm interested in. Wyrd themselves seem like a really cool company just doing some reading on them, and the community in the forums is a lot more optimistic and friendly than those in some of the 40k forums.

My biggest problem right now is that I just bought my Hordes box set for Circle Orboros. About two hours after I got the email saying the order shipped I was browsing some various online game stores and something about Malifaux caught my eye... If I hadn't just spent $70.00 on Hordes and some more paint I would definitely be buying Colette right away.

I also sorta worry that finding people to play with will be hard. I know my brother is into strategy games and has played a few games of poorhammer with me. I'm pretty much sure that most people in the city I live in haven't even heard of Warhammer, none-the-less Malifaux. Hopefully there are some people who play within an hours drive of here.

Speaking of pseudo-nearby players, would anyone here happen to play in Jackson, MI? It's probably the closest large city being about 45 minutes away.

Edited November 11, 2011 by Mirarii

[Ozz]

I cant really be of much assistance in who there is for you to play in your area.

But the way i got into this game, and Half of my gaming club who now play, is 1 person came in with a variety of painted crews having just found us and offered a lot of intro games, didn't get many games himself for the first month or two, but just let people try the game with extremely nicely painted crews, with choices for what to take for us. and now we have about 15 players in the club with crews 8 months later, i have 6 masters and a Henchman and likely getting another henchman shortly.

So from that my point is, you don't need to find a club ages away that plays, if you can learn the game with your brother or a friend or two, and have two or three crews painted, you can introduce it yourself to a club you can go to that is well located for you:)

(First game was colette vs perdita) and First Master was again colette so i can also recommend her, she is great fun:) Though if you do go for intro games, in my opinion, Lilith and Perdita are the best two crews for that, as they are relatively simple and polar opposites, and, from people using them, simple to use, though still have something to learn later on, and fun to use

[Backno]

Liliths box set with 1 package of young nephilim is a good starter for her, though she has some good choices available after that as well.

Warning: this game is addictive and it won't be long until you want to buy more.

I came to Malifaux because it was cheaper than GW and I "only needed one box set to play". I now have all 4 neverborn masters, 2 guild masters, 1 arcanist, and 2 henchmen, plus multiple additonal blisters of models.

And all of that is STILL cheaper then 2 full units of Clanrats :happypuppet2

For my game stores it seems a bunch of people got into it, then it died. So I am trying to stir those people into playing by doing some games with a friend (first one is tomorrow). Already had 2 people mention to my friend about playing.

Edited November 11, 2011 by Backno

[WookieeGunner]

Two things to add to your shopping list:

1) The Rules Manual. I know you can download the pdf from here but the diagram explanations are more then worth the cost.

2) A Fate Deck. Yes, you can use normal playing cards, but learning is easier if you don't have to rember what suit is what. And the pictures on the cards are very nice so can help draw people over.

[Mirarii]

Two things to add to your shopping list:

1) The Rules Manual. I know you can download the pdf from here but the diagram explanations are more then worth the cost.

2) A Fate Deck. Yes, you can use normal playing cards, but learning is easier if you don't have to rember what suit is what. And the pictures on the cards are very nice so can help draw people over.

Yeah, just bought Colette's box, Coryphee, and some doves along with a few more paints for around $80 with shipping so I'm going to wait a bit before ordering the other stuff. Just kind of waiting till I get a little more cash. Also thinking about a set of Terraclips.

[Ozz]

How about Dark Eldar? Sounds quite a bit like them, that's my favorite 40k army.

I would probably say yes to that, but don't play to much 40k, and have never faced Dark Eldar which is why i didn't add them to my initial list:)

[Kadeton]

How about Dark Eldar? Sounds quite a bit like them, that's my favorite 40k army.

Sort of... the movement aspect is very Dark Eldar-esque, they can run rings around most opponents. There's little to no shooting though. They tend to hit and run - I guess a Baron list with loads of Hellions would be pretty similar.