Starting a crew for my father and I

[randombystandr]

Coming from a 40k environment full of cheese(although i too have used it at times) i was looking for a more balanced game with beautiful models and stumbled across malifaux. My dad and i read up on some of the rules and he decided to start with lilith. My problem, unfortunately, is that i cant decide between ramos or leveticus, as the ideas of both the mad scientist and the immortal old man appeal to me. Are there any drawbacks to the two, which overall is better(okay, not better, but can be more deadly in the right hands), or even which do you think isnt seen as often? Any help would be appreciated.

[TimH]

I'd say Ramos would be a better starting place.

Leveticus is... odd. His mechanics involving sapping his own life force and repeatedly killing himself. Whilst his ability to come back from the grave is handy and he has a scarily high damage output he is really unforgiving to play. If you mistime or misplace your activations then you are screwed, the opponent will snipe your hollow waif (the means of resurrection) Leveticus will die and its then pretty much game over.

Ramos on the other hand is a comparatively straightforward casting master. The models he use mesh pretty well with the other masters from his faction (if you later decide to expand that way) his avatar form is decent (if you get interested in avatars) and should you ever be drawn back to Leveticus later on then most of the models you already have for Ramos will also be usable by Levvy (Levvy's models on the other hand can't genereally be used by Ramos)

[MudgeBlack]

I would agree wholeheartedly with TimH's summary. I too think Ramos would be a better starting point for your Malifaux journey. Plus Levy can be more expensive dollarwise to start than Ramos.

[SilverBullet]

And the good thing is if you like Leveticus and want to start him later on, most (if not all) of the constructs which Ramos can take can also be taken by Leveticus.

I would also agree that Ramos is generally a better starting point. Just make sure you get that mobile toolkit totem. That is awesome!

[Ozz]

The simple way to say this is:

Ramos = Cheaper, and much easier to learn the rules.

Leveticus = More costly as he has a big selection of models. And he is probably the most complicated master in the game to learn.

But saying that about Leveticus just means you should have an easy time if you decide to expand into any other masters As if you take levi, with his full selection (unlikely you will have that) you can expand into 3 - 5 other masters for not very much extra money

[randombystandr]

Thanks for the input! so after getting the ramos box set, mobile toolkit, and the essentials(fate deck, rules manual, etc.),what exactly should i get, or is that a good point that i can stop and focus on learning the game?

[011121]

probably get a few games under your belt so you know what you like and what you might want. You can also proxy models to try them out before you buy them.

[Ozz]

The Large steampunk arachnids seem to be good for Ramos, his avatar is i am told great and you will definitely want the Electrical creation as he can summon that (but he can only summon 1 at a time)