Was Malifaux Your First Gaming System?

[D-A-C]

Hey everyone.

I'm just curious as to whether or not Malifaux was your first tabletop gaming system or not?

For me I got into tabletop games via Warhammer 40k, and after playing that for nearly 10 years now, I just happened to come across Malifaux by chance, and quickly became a convert because of how cheap the game is to get into, how much character it has and finally, the fact you can cheat cards in order to activate things (no more ones on a dice for me!).

Also, over the years I've begun to get really sick of Games Workshop, their price increases, incredibly stupid fluff alterations (Necrons and Blood Angels ... really?) and the fact they have levels of secrecy that make the CIA, MI5 and the KGB look like amateurs.

So, anyway, ranting aside, I'm just curious if anyone else came across Malifaux after years of paying other systems and how it compares to your first one, or if its the only tabletop game you've ever played?

[Gruesome]

40K... Hated all the shenanigans... (My son's Necron army is nigh unto worthless now)

Malifaux... Better game, better people, better company.

[sassylady]

This is my first tabletop minis game, though my husband plays a few others that shall remain unnamed. I enjoyed watching his games, but never had a desire to join, until he started Malifaux, then I jumped in both feet! I loved the fluff, the models & the game. And I really enjoy playing with people. Some other gamers are too intense. This is a fun game!

[Gertz]

Well I used to use Micro Machines to play Car Wars when I was a kid but I think Warhammer was probably my first, followed closely by Blood Bowl.

I was looking to get back into miniatures but didn't want the expense of another Games Workshop game. I found this game looking for a good low cost of entry skirmish game.

[Huang Da Wei]

I started with 40k and fantasy, lost interest over the years and now have no time for the company and staff.

A friend told me there was some awesome models around that I could paint and they were for a game where a baby in a nappy and armed with a knife could kill you. I bought a few models and then the rulebook and got addicted.

Malifaux is the best time ever for gaming, I liken it to the game of othello because that game is quoted as 2 seconds to learn and a lifetime to master. We have a game that is very simple to pick up enough basics to play yet tons of variables to keep it interesting.

[dragons_lair04]

I started playing warhammer fantasy and 40k back in first edition for both systems. I still play them on occasion but no where near as much as I do malifaux.

40K... Hated all the shenanigans... (My son's Necron army is nigh unto worthless now)

Malifaux... Better game, better people, better company.

I'm not defending warhammer, but a necron army is the best army in the game at the moment and is kind of op. I agree with what people are saying about gw, they have ruined the game for many people. I am in total agreement about Wyrd and their people, better game better company, and much better customer service.

[Gruesome]

I'm not defending warhammer, but a BRAND NEW NECRON ARMY THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE THE $600 IN MODELS YOU ALREADY OWNED is the best army in the game at the moment and is kind of op.

Fixed that for you...

[Forar]

Malifaux is my first miniatures game.

I used to use miniatures for combat in my days with Palladium books (Rifts in particular), 3rd edition and 4th edition D&D, but that was more for immersion/convenience sake, depending on the battle and the system at the time.

That said, I've always been a fan of tactical games (X-Com, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Master of Orion 2, etc), so there's some similarities to things I already enjoy, and it's been an experience in expanding my skill repetoir, as I'm new to assembling/trimming/priming and painting these things.

[dgraz]

I dabbled with Battletech in the early 90's. Then about 10 years later it was GW Fantasy....always hated 40k. Dabbled in a bunch....Warmachine (when it first came out), Flames of War, Battlefleet Gothic. A few years later I really started moving away from GW and got heavily into Hordes (and a few others like Uncharted Seas)....but when Hordes got even bigger and moved steadily into the 'infantrymachine' that it is now, I found Malifaux...in 2009 and been there ever since.

[BlueStar86]

I've played dozens of systems, Malifaux is one of the latest in that list, and I don't feel particularly inspired to go back to the other systems.

[Ensis Ferrae]

Like many here, i started with 40k, and whfb. I also left them to the curb with this years' latest price increases.

Ironically one of my gaming buddies in my unit and i were looking at other games at the same time..so far we havent been able to try the others, but my wife plays malifaux with me, so hopefully we can get some more games in soon with that.

[Lamontius]

My first gaming system was the old Palladium TMNT and Mutants Down Under RPGs. Around the same time, I was exposed to the 1st Edition of Space Hulk, from Games Workshop.

Played a lot of Rifts, also from Palladium, while working my way into the GW hobby further with Space Marine (now Epic 40K), Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy.

Oddly, the three games that really, really grabbed me from GW were Necromunda, Blood Bowl and Mordheim. There's just something I enjoy more about having a hard-bitten crew of characters to lavish attention on, rather than a massive army. I like both styles, but given my choice, I'll always choose the skirmish-style game over the army-sized battles.

After about 15 years away from gaming, my wife and I sought out a pencil-and-paper RPG group earlier this year, for giggles. We both played when younger, though never while we knew each other, and both looked back on it fondly. Figured we'd give it a go and started playing Pathfinder together. We found two great groups in our area, and have been at it ever since.

After a few sessions in our RPGs, I began looking for a couple of miniatures to represent our characters on the tabletop a bit better. The painting bug had re-grabbed me and I wanted to give it a go. While searching for miniatures...I discovered Malifaux, and well, it set its hooks in deep.

My wife took a look and got interested as well. We just attended a gaming convention after a few weeks of eyeing the game and thanks to an awesome group of Henchmen and the Socal Malifaux group, we were able to play against each other in a great demo game.

Now, we're in the process of building our first crew, Seamus and his ladies. Once they're done, we're going to add Lady Justice and her Death Marshals. Our goal is to learn, have a blast and eventually spread Malifaux here in our area to all of our gaming buddies!

[Clousseau]

Played WW2 land & air wargames at school ('70s) I then discovered 40k through encouraging my children! Also played WFB before discovering skirmish games through a demo of Confrontation, which I loved. Worked my way through Infinity, AT-43 and Hell Dorado before discovering Malifaux at its UK launch and so its been downhill ever since! My meaning is that my small skirmish game now fills 2 KR cases.

I'm also trying out 7ombieTV and Dystopian Wars.

[TekDekay]

Malifaux is my first, and only, table-top gaming system. (thanks Gruesome)

The last time I used a miniature in a game before playing Malifaux was purely for decorative purposes during AD&D 1st Edition campaigns I ran as a kid. Even then, using a miniature was rare due to both the fact that my parties never seemed to encounter creatures whose miniatures I had purchased (how often do you run into a "Shambling Mound" and the fact that my purchasing power as a 9 year old was fairly limited.

[Cats Laughing]

If you don't count boardgames like Monopoly, Risk, or Candyland, and you don't count cards games like Gin, Hearts and Whist, and you don't count RPGs, like DnD 1st Ed, Champions, and others, and only count miniature games, then my first game was:

Adeptus Titanicus, or as it had become called, Epic. I followed that up shortly with Warhammer Fantasy Battles, then got into 40k, Bloodbowl, Necromunda, Warmaster, etc...

Then I branched out into other companies, playing Babylon5Wars for a while. I miss making snap turns with capital ships

Then I left the states for a year, came back and all my friends were playing WarmaHordes so I joined in. Much cheaper than 40k/WHFB at the time and I eventually dropped those games and played only WarmaHordes. However, overtime, my collection grew and my carrying case got too small...

Eventually I saw these boxes for Malifaux and thought "cool minis" and "cheap starter boxes." There were a few early adopters, who assured me that you didn't need much beyond the starter boxes, and my WarmaHordes crew was looking for something new, so we jumped in. I love the fluff and mechanics and went hole hog, while most other friends stuck to a crew or two, or at most a faction. I've now got multiple crews for every faction, but haven't even used all of them Must find more gaming time.

In short: Malifaux was not my first game, but I didn't marry my first crush either...

[Alviaran]

If we talk miniatures only, my first would have been Mage Knight. Broke that in half pretty easy in the first edition (Storm Golem + those adepts was dumb). Years later in high school, got into 40k and then later Fantasy. Played BFG too for a bit.

After GW managed to alienate me completely to the point I have no love for them at all (making my models illegal is a GREAT way to do this), my best friend and I dropped all of their games and went to Warmachine. He fell out of miniatures gaming a few years ago, but I still play Warmachine a lot (it's my primary game and I'm actually a Press Ganger over there). Our group picked up Malifaux last year and it has become our secondary game. Since Gencon this year, we have started some Dark Age as well, as a beer and pretzels kind of game. (And it will be interesting to see what we pick up at Gencon next year since 2011 was Malifaux and 2012 was Dark Age)

Have dabbled a touch in Infinity as well. We have a couple guys who play Flames of War, though I have resisted that one (despite being a former WW2 reenactor myself). And some of us jumped on the Relic Knights Kickstarter.

So, after leaving GW, I've been much more willing to branch out and dabble in a lot of other games. We looked briefly at Dropzone Commander but after getting a brief demo of it at Gencon, I decided to avoid it (too much like 40k). But I wanted to take a look. In my GW days, I never would have imagined a game other than GW games. But I was a dumb kid (redundant, I know).

[DeltaOmega]

Well my first Tabletop game was with the new world of darkness (Changeling if I remember right) and Mutants and Masterminds. I only recently got into Pathfinder.

Miniature game wise however, Malifaux is my first game. I considered 40K in the past since everyone else I had met was playing it, but the price pretty much had me running in the opposite direction. That and hauling a massive army around did not hold as much appeal to me.

[Absolution Black]

Hmm..

Heroquest..........Bloodbowl..........Warhammer............WH40K..............Malifaux.

Thats pretty much the major timeline, obviously smaller systems have come and gone, but I still regularly dabble in all the above, except Heroquest...can't find that game anywhere.

I still have it, but must be in the loft!

And I'm not venturing up there alone.....

[Bunny_Avenger]

I started with Warmachine (For the Motherland!). I liked it enough to keep playing with friends, but never really caught on for me. Then one of those friends bought me Lilith for Christmas a few years back, and I started learning the rules. I found that I liked Malifaux a lot more.

[seiryu]

Malifaux is going to be my first gaming system. I went to Socal Smackdown a couple weeks ago for the board games, watched a demo game of Malifaux, played a demo game and haven't been able to get it out of my head since. It's been YEARS since I painted miniatures or models and I've started reading up on it, preparing to get a couple boxed sets. I think I'm obsessed!

[G. Footman]

wfb, still have a skaven and vampire counts army, just dont get to play as often. 40k next, still into it, don't get to play as often as I'd like, mageknight before it was retired. short stint with heroclix, now i mostly just collect them rather than play, got into malifaux because i like steampunk, i like zombies, and i don't (usually) need to plan months in advance to get a game in.

just recently beginning to get into battletech, as well as considering a small khador force with warmachine

there's really no 1 game only for me, i like variety, and not one for quitting a game unless there's noone else around me playing it, and even then I just put my forces in temporary retirement until finding new players. having said that, I'd kill for a decent fast paced squad based 40k ruleset I could use my armies for, other than killteam

Edited December 8, 2012 by G. Footman

[necroon]

My first system was Warhammer Fantasy... after a long break I got into warmachine but sadly didn't pick the "right" faction. I got a bit frustrated with matches against Everblight (I played Retribution in MKII) and every match degrading into a caster-kill regardless of scenario. I was sold by our local henchmen who showed me Nicodem and his Samurai Zombies (I mean come on... the dude has SAMURAI ZOMBIES!) and instantly fell in love with the system and the fluff.

[G. Footman]

considered getting a small Khador force, doubt i'd expand it too much past the small force like I have malifaux and the warhammers though

[adary]

The first real system I played (that wasn't invented by me and my friends using little tin soldiers) was Gorkamorka. After that I got hooked on GW stuff for years until I switched over to WMH and now to Malifaux

[Jonas Albrecht]

Nope. It went Mordheim > Warhammer Fantasy > Legends of the Old West > Various and Sundry systems > Malifaux.