New games... so... overwhelming!

[Xander Crews]

Ok so thanks for reading this and (hopefully) thanks for helping. Im a fairlily big time Magic player and ive noticed a lot of Magic players have been taking in interest in this game and after looking through it I want to aswell. However the game is CONFUSING as heck to figure out what to start with and how.

Now I see the starter boxes which would be a good place to start (obviously) so do they all have around the same amount of power? If we bought a few and just played with only them to learn would it most likely be fair? I understand some will have better matchups against others I just want to make sure some arent leagues better.

Secondly whats the difference between henchman and masters? Is there any downside to picking a crew with a henchman as the leader?

Also is there any place I can see a list of moves or powers they all have? Also how do I know whos allowed to be part of what crew? I saw people posting about that but nothing on the site tells you who can be paired with who.

Also what is the Ten Thunders group? I see them listed in here and people talking about them but they arent on the main site.

Ummmm I think thats it.

[Dracomax]

Some Starter boxes are worse than others for learning. Nicodem's starter box is okay, for instance, but to really learn him you are going to want to purchase many more models. Sonnia, Lady J, or Perdita, you can play just fine with the starter box, and Marcus is going to be all but useless if you just get his starter.

Henchmen have different hiring rules--I'd recommend not getting a henchman set to start, just because of the extra rules you have to learn, but basically, Henchmen have a cost, as they can be hired as masters. they also have a reserve--this functions like a cache, but a little different, in that rather than being a cache, it gets added onto the SS total for the game. So that in a 35 stone game, a henchman with a henchman reserve of 5 would be able to hire 40 stones worth of minions. However, in exchange for this, that master could keep no more than the reserve, (which in this example is 5) stones for the game itself, whereas a master could keep 8.

A master can hire any minion from their faction, unless otherwise restricted. Henchmen are generally restricted to hiring certain models if they run as a master, but that information will be on their card. most masters can hire any model with the mercenary trait for +1 stone cost(some are +2, which will be on the mercenary model's chart) and some individual models will have abilities allowing them to be hired into a master they normally would not be hireable for. The easiest way to find this out is honestly going to be to read the model information in the books, but if you hang around the forums, you'll get a decent idea of which ones that might be as well. Also, Ratty's Crew creator is wonderful.(http://www.malifaux.com/Crew.php)

I'd definitely check out the pull my finger wiki (http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/)for information on powers and how to play models. Other than the books, it's probably the most complete place of information on what powers each model has, and how best to use them tactically.

The ten Thunders are a new faction out of the upcoming book. Many of them are dual factioned, which means that they can declare as either ten thunders, or as one of the other factions, depending on the master--Mei Feng, for instance, can declare as either arcanist or 10T. As arcanist, she has access to any Arcanist models for hiring, but is restricted on 10T models, and as 10T, she has access to all 10T models, but is restricted on which Arcanist models she can hire.

Edited August 29, 2012 by Dracomax

[dgraz]

Hi and welcome. Yes, there is a lot to this game and it can seem quite daunting at first. But after watching the Magic players at my shop and all the crazy cards and card combos they remember I'm sure you'll be able to wrap your head around it.

I had a whole big thing typed up but when I reviewed it I noticed that Draco had beaten me to the punch, so I'll save you from having to read pretty much the same stuff all over again.

Nice one Draco.....damn you.

[Dracomax]

Hey, I have to get in first sometimes.

Just glad I didn't miss anything obvious.:ShortLeg_Puppet:

[Beaker]

Henchmen have different hiring rules--I'd recommend not getting a henchman set to start, just because of the extra rules you have to learn, but basically, Henchmen have a cost, as they can be hired as masters. they also have a reserve--this functions like a cache, but a little different, in that rather than being a cache, it gets added onto the SS total for the game. So that in a 35 stone game, a henchman with a henchman reserve of 5 would be able to hire 40 stones worth of minions. However, in exchange for this, that master could keep no more than the reserve, (which in this example is 5) stones for the game itself, whereas a master could keep 8.

See, people always say this (don't start learning the game with a Henchman) but really I don't think it's such a big deal. All these supposed extra rules... you basically just described in a single paragraph. It's not exactly as though Using Henchmen as your Master is terribly complicated. Frequently, Henchmen have fairly straightforward rules, which would be excellent to learn the game on. For example, I would easily recommend Kaeris or Von Schill as great starter sets for learning on, simply because they can be played in a straightforward manner quite successfully.

[Adran]

Henchmen crews are often very good for demo games, but can get complicated when trying to explain ways of expanding the crew.

It can also be more complicated in explaining that whilst this model is currently your leader, and gets all these bonus because of that, when he isn't the leader he doesn't get things like Immunity to obey.

When giving advise over the internet it can be tricky to explain these sucessfully (i'd be comfortable doing it face to face with people and knowing that what I said made sense to them).

[96p]

Long Story short, to learn the game just buy a starter Box and play... most masters take some time to learn anyway no matter how good or bad their starter may be. In the long run you'll buy most models available to your Master anyway, why not start with the Box then

The Ten Thunders are a new faction, but as their models aren't released yet, just start with an available crew that appeals to you.

Concernig fairness, Malifaux is pretty balanced and the skill of the player is way more important then the Crew he's playing

[Jonasty]

Adding a +1 to checking out the Pull My Finger wiki that Draco mentioned. It's a very robust site that gives a lot of info at least so far as starting the game. It even breaks down the starter crews as far as approachability for new players. It also tells you which models can be hired by which masters/henchmen in case you love a certain model and want to buy the right master to use it.

That being said, the starter boxes seem pretty much designed as "pick up and go" so as long as you like the look/feel of the minis, any boxes will be good to give you an idea of the game.

[MrSpiffypants]

You might want to consider what faction models you like the look and story the most. Because of the crossover of units it's often cheaper to buy another starter then individual packs.

On Ratty's page http://malifaux.nezumi.me.uk/ you can read the three Malifaux Chronicle's, might help you get an idea of who you want to play.

[Xander Crews]

Thanks for all the help guys! I checked out the Wiki and its a ton of help so thanks for that. I am going to try out a henchman crew for sure since for soem reason whenever I do something like this I end up just getting attached to something without having tried it and Collodi is that guy this time. So im for sure getting him as my main starter box. Just need to pick out another to I can have one to teach people on and make them want to go out and buy their own.

[ravenborne]

Collodi is a sold starter box. The biggest problem you will have is that the starter box is 19 points worth of models and Collodi is Henchman 7. The easiest way to think about this is that in a 25 SS game:

1) you actually have 32 SS to spend on crew.

2) you can only have 7 Soul Stones in your pool-- that means, actual stones you can use during the game.

So, with 19 points of models in a 25 point game, you will be wasting 6 points. So you will need more models to play 25 SS, and a lot more to play 30 or 35 SS games.

I suppose an easy way to think about Henchman crews is that if you are playing an X SS game, all X points have to be spent on crew or they are wasted.